9 in 10 business leaders say thinking skills are vital for hiring and growth in a tech-driven workplace

SINGAPORE, Nov. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In an evolving job market that increasingly values unique human competencies, more than nine in ten business leaders (34% very important, 60% somewhat important) consider strong thinking skills important in their decision to hire candidates for their organisation, with nearly all (47% very important, 49% somewhat important) viewing thinking skills as crucial for augmenting or supplementing employees' technical skills in the face of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).

With nine in ten business leaders (45% very important, 51% somewhat important) placing the importance for all employees to be equipped with a basic level of thinking skills, regardless of their industry or job role, nearly all (44% strongly agree, 52% somewhat agree) agree that combining thinking skills with technical skills enables employees to take on higher-value roles in a technology-driven world.

However, more than four in five of them (28% to a large extent, 57% to a moderate extent) acknowledge that there is a gap in thinking skills in their organisation to a certain degree. Despite this, less than half of business leaders (43%) have sent their employees for thinking skills training in the past year, citing a lack of clear metrics or tools to measure progress in thinking skills development (41%), inconsistent understanding or definition of what constitutes effective thinking skills (38%), and difficulty in tailoring thinking skills training to suit diverse roles or departments (38%) among the key challenges they face.

These are some of the key findings from NTUC LearningHub's Special Report 2024 on Thinking Skills in a Digital Age, which investigates how thinking skills complement technical skills to build a resilient workforce capable of navigating the complexities of the emerging digital economy. Based on a survey involving 200 business leaders, the report also explores the transferability of thinking skills across industries and roles, underscoring the need for training to enhance workers' adaptability and career prospects.

Despite ongoing challenges, half of business leaders (41%) believe that combining thinking skills with technical skills is essential for maximising human capital in their organisation, where they place equal importance on a range of thinking skills such as problem-solving (12%), strategic thinking (11%), critical thinking (10%), analytical thinking (10%), and logical thinking (10%). As such, nearly four in five of them (24% very likely, 54% somewhat likely) are likely to send their employees for training in thinking skills, with more than half of business leaders (55%) intending to send their employees for training in thinking skills within the next six months.

Additionally, thinking skills can help employees navigate career transitions and advancements, keeping them relevant and employable as technology evolves, as corroborated by nearly all business leaders (40% strongly agree, 57% somewhat agree).

Commenting on the report's findings, Mr Amos Tan, Chief Core Skills Officer, NTUC LearningHub, says, "In today's fast-paced and tech-driven workplace, success hinges on the effective augmentation & application of technical expertise and thinking skills. The interplay among these skills enables employees to tackle challenges, adapt to changes, and make calculated decisions, especially as technologies like AI become integral in the workplace. For instance, strong problem-solving, critical and creative thinking allow employees to purposefully steer generative AI systems to produce optimal and accurate outputs. Also, while AI can process data quickly and predict outcomes based on patterns, offer insights or recommendations, at the same time when combined with human's strategic and critical thinking, AI helps decision-makers interpret these insights within business contexts and nuances, guiding decisions that align with the organisation's values and goals. As the demand for thinking skills grows, so does the skills gap and this underscores the vital need for comprehensive training in thinking skills. Arming employees with thinking skills not only boost organisational productivity but enhances individual career resilience and allows employees to unlock new opportunities for career growth."

To download the Special Report 2024 on Thinking Skills in a Digital Age, please visit https://www.ntuclearninghub.com/media/research-reports/2024/Thinking-Skills. To find out more about the courses, training, and grants, please contact NTUC LearningHub at www.ntuclearninghub.com. 

About NTUC LearningHub

NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since our corporatisation in 2004, we have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Infocomm Technology, Generative AI & Cloud, Healthcare, Retail & Food Services, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources & Coaching and Foreign Workers Training.

To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 29,000 organisations and achieved more than 2.6 million training places across more than 2,900 courses with a pool of about 900 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forge partnerships to offer a wide range of relevant end-to-end training. Besides in-person training, we also offer instructor-led virtual live classes (VLCs) and asynchronous online learning. The NTUC LearningHub Learning eXperience Platform (LXP) — a one-stop online learning mobile application — offers timely, bite-sized and quality content for learners to upskill anytime and anywhere. Beyond learning, LXP also serves as a platform for jobs and skills development for both workers and companies.

For more information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com.

** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **

9 in 10 business leaders say thinking skills are vital for hiring and growth in a tech-driven workplace

9 in 10 business leaders say thinking skills are vital for hiring and growth in a tech-driven workplace

- SK hynix to showcase technological capabilities, participating in the world's largest consumer electronics show, CES 2025, from January 7-10

- Featuring a wide range of products driving the AI era, from HBM, the core of AI infrastructure, to next-gen memories like PIM

- Company to present new possibilities in the AI era through technological innovation and provide irreplaceable value

SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SK hynix Inc. (or "the company", www.skhynix.com) announced today that it will showcase its innovative AI memory technologies at CES 2025, to be held in Las Vegas from January 7 to 10 (local time).

A large number of C-level executives, including CEO Kwak No-jung, CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Justin Kim and Chief Development Officer (CDO) Ahn Hyun, will attend the event. "We will broadly introduce solutions optimized for on-device AI and next-generation AI memories, as well as representative AI memory products such as HBM and eSSD at this CES," said Justin Kim. "Through this, we will publicize our technological competitiveness to prepare for the future as a 'Full Stack AI Memory Provider¹'."

¹Full Stack AI Memory Provider: Refers to an all-round AI memory provider, which provides comprehensive AI-related memory products and technologies

SK hynix will also run a joint exhibition booth with SK Telecom, SKC and SK Enmove, under the theme "Innovative AI, Sustainable Tomorrow." The booth will showcase how SK Group's AI infrastructure and services are transforming the world, represented in waves of light.

SK hynix, which is the world's first to produce 12-layer HBM products for 5th generation and supply them to customers, will showcase samples of HBM3E 16-layer products, which were officially developed in November last year. This product uses the advanced MR-MUF process to achieve the industry's highest 16-layer configuration while controlling chip warpage and maximizing heat dissipation performance.

In addition, the company will display high-capacity, high-performance enterprise SSD products, including the 'D5-P5336' 122TB model developed by its subsidiary Solidigm in November last year. This product, with the largest existing capacity, high power and space efficiency, has been attracting considerable interest from AI data center customers.

"As SK hynix succeeded in developing QLC² (Quadruple Level Cell)-based 61TB products in December, we expect to maximize synergy based on a balanced portfolio between the two companies in the high-capacity eSSD market" said Ahn Hyun, CDO at SK hynix. The company will also showcase on-device AI products such as 'LPCAMM2³' and 'ZUFS 4.0⁴,' which improve data processing speed and power efficiency to implement AI in edge devices like PCs and smartphones. The company will also present CXL and PIM (Processing in Memory) technologies, along with modularized versions, CMM(CXL Memory Module)-Ax and AiMX⁵, designed to be core infrastructures for next-generation data centers.

²QLC: NAND flash is divided into SLC (Single Level Cell), MLC (Multi Level Cell), TLC (Triple Level Cell), QLC (Quadruple Level Cell), and PLC (Penta Level Cell) depending on how much information is stored in one cell. As the amount of information stored increases, more data can be stored in the same area.

³Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module 2 (LPCAMM2): LPDDR5X-based module solution that provides power efficiency and high performance as well as space savings. It has the performance effect of replacing two existing DDR5 SODIMMs with one LPCAMM2.

⁴Zoned Universal Flash Storage (ZUFS): A NAND Flash product that improves efficiency of data management. The product optimizes data transfer between an operating system and storage devices by storing data with similar characteristics in the same zone of the UFS, a flash memory product for various electronic devices such as digital camera and mobile phone.

⁵Accelerator-in-Memory based Accelerator (AiMX): SK hynix's accelerator card product that specializes in large language models using GDDR6-AiM chips

In particular, CMM-Ax is an groundbreaking product that adds computational functionality to CXL's advantage of expanding high-capacity memory, contributing to improving performance and energy efficiency of the next-generation server platforms⁶.

⁶Platform: Refers to a computing system that integrates both hardware and software technologies. It includes all key components necessary for computing, such as the CPU and memory.

"The changes in the world triggered by AI are expected to accelerate further this year, and SK hynix will produce 6^th generation HBM (HBM4) in the second half of this year to lead the customized HBM market to meet the diverse needs of customers," said Kwak Noh-Jung, CEO at SK hynix. "We will continue to do our best to present new possibilities in the AI era through technological innovation and provide irreplaceable value to our customers."

About SK hynix Inc.

SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world's top-tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips ("DRAM"), flash memory chips ("NAND flash"), and CMOS Image Sensors ("CIS") for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company's shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com, news.skhynix.com.

** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **

SK hynix to Unveil 'Full Stack AI Memory Provider' Vision at CES 2025