While there are many job opportunities for youth in the development sector, young job-seekers and fresh graduates often do not have the required technical or soft skills, said speakers at a roundtable organised by Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) Thursday.

Those interested in making a career in this sector should learn both soft and technical skills, they added.

Moderated by Ejaj Ahmad, founder and president of BYLC, the virtual roundtable on emerging trends in development sector jobs included industry experts from the development sector who focused on how youth can prepare themselves for a career in development and meet the skills demand of a rapidly changing world.

Speakers discussed the changing trends in the development sector as Bangladesh is set to evolve into a middle-income nation in 2022.

They also mentioned the importance of skills such as agility, flexibility, multi-tasking, empathy, communication, and readiness to learn, be more employable and meet the demands of the industry.

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"We want to use the insights gained from development experts to build our bootcamp curriculum. It is only when we know the demands and expectations of the industry will we be able to identify the skills gap and work to bridge that gap," said Ejaj.

Speakers at the roundtable included Farina Ahmed, director of new business development at Save the Children, Zahedul Amin, co-founder and director of strategy and consulting services at LightCastle Partners, Helal Hussain, head of portfolio at Swisscontact, Lamiya Jabbar, adviser at Danish Embassy.

Mahmuda Rahman Khan, senior programme development specialist (gender) at USAID, Ashapurna Das Purba, programme manager at private sector engagement and employment, skills development programme at Brac, and Mahjabeen Quader, senior policy advisor for economic affairs and CSR at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh.