Bengaluru: Companies in Karnataka are asking training institutes what talent they will need before courses are designed, reversing the usual order of skilling, urging that jobs come first and training follow. The call came at Bengaluru Skill Summit 2026 at a panel, “Upskilling, Reskilling and Lifelong Learning: Keeping the Workforce Future Ready,” on Wednesday.Gopal Devanahalli, president, Skills Development Network, explained that workforce development has three parts: preparing people for a first job, supporting them while they work, and re-skilling them when industries change. “If we use GenAI as a substitute, we just get it to do a task without thinking, and expertise will not get developed. But if it can be a scaffold, the chance of expertise development will increase,” he said.Asked for one action over the next two years, he proposed ‘hyper-local placement ecosystems.’ “We should start with jobs first before we do skilling,” he said. Many people, he noted, do not want to relocate and prefer to work in their own communities. Demand must be captured from local companies for the next 12 months, covering roles and domains rather than current job postings, and passed on to training institutes. The approach has been tried in about 13 ecosystems across India this year, and he hopes it will scale to clusters across Karnataka.Nidhi Pundhir, VP, Global CSR, HCLTech, said that while skill is scaling, youth carry a heavy burden of supporting both the elderly and the young. “We really need to reverse the migration phenomenon,” she said, calling for locally rooted learning and equal opportunities for women and people with disabilities. She also pressed for equal dignity for every job, adding that India also needs bakers, florists, geriatric care assistants, physiotherapists and apparel makers.Vinay Kumar Swamy, Country Head, Pearson India, outlined three shifts: learning must be continuous, embedded in daily work and evaluated quarterly, and personalised for different learners and generations. “We need short credentials, we need certifications, and more importantly, we need to be able to demonstrate what they are able to do,” he said.Experts said employers now expect first-time job seekers to bring not just AI literacy but AI productivity from day one, even in mid-skill roles such as bank loan officers, where a good understanding of AI tools and use cases is needed. In high-skill roles like software engineering, they said, the job is shifting from only writing code to orchestrating AI agents and tools.They also said students should use AI with curiosity, not just to produce answers for class, since the willingness to keep learning will set candidates apart. The basics of engineering, biotech or literature still matter, they said, because AI is a tool and users need context to apply it well.Experts said industry often wants skills that institutions do not train for. They said hiring demand from local companies for the next 12 months, not just immediate placements, should be captured and shared with training institutes, and that colleges and companies must meet more often as things change fast. AI, they added, is making job and salary information easier to find, helping institutes adapt.They also cautioned that GenAI must not become a substitute for thinking. Citing “deliberate practice” theory, they said expertise grows by doing a task, reflecting on it and asking questions, whether in study or at work.
