Combating Skills Obsolescence

The preventive Role of Lifelong Learning

Abstract

Skill’s obsolescence is a phenomenon that people can cope with during their professional life. It is defined as an important loss of a part of their knowledge and/or an inappropriate updating of it.

The threat of professional obsolescence is impending in the careers of those working in rapidly changing fields of knowledge. Over time, it is most likely that knowledge and skills that turned out to be relevant in the past are no longer imminent with the evolution of new ways of doing things. In short, the age of information has an impact on both the organization and employed people. Thus, new requirements should be taken into account; they should keep updating their knowledge in order to maintain a moral balance. Obsolescence should be the concern of technical professionals, managers and human resources specialists of any organization. If it is neglected, it can have destructive consequences on both the moral and the career of the individual, and if it is apprehended it offers new perspective of development. However, studies in this field are still rare.