What skills do you need to help in the fight against Covid-19?

Job hunting during the pandemic has been a tricky path to navigate but knowing what skills are in demand is a great first step to take. From there you can figure out where you can put your experience to good use and make a real difference. Here are the four key skills that can help in the fight against Covid-19.

Blood taking

Though the predominant method for testing for coronavirus is to take a swab of the nose and throat area, to test for antibodies a blood sample needs to be taken and a trained professional – typically a phlebotomist – will do this. It was the combined effort of phlebotomists and other healthcare professionals (HCPs) that enabled the government to determine that 3.4 million people in the UK were likely to have coronavirus antibodies by the end of June. Phlebotomy is one of the most accessible routes into healthcare - if you’re interested in the role here’s how to become a phlebotomist.

Nursing

Nurses have always been essential in the promotion of good public health, and in the fight against Covid-19 they became more crucial than ever to the healthcare sector. From 2019 to 2020 the number of nurses working in the UK increased by around 5%, up to a figure of 296,008. These HCPs have been working on the front line during the pandemic, taking on a more diversified role which has required them to offer care in operating theatres, intensive care units and in the patient’s home. The selfless actions have acted as a reminder of how important nursing skills are and even led the World Health Organisation to announce 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. Learn more about what a nurse advisor does and why you should become one.

Technology

Those not working on the front line had to embrace the shift towards working from home and in some cases learn new systems and software, such as Trello, Zoom and Google Drive. Learning new and enhancing existing technology skills has enabled businesses to remain operational and allowed key account managers to keep projects moving forward and remain in contact with clients. In the biosimilars space, these professionals have worked on tight deadlines with pharmaceutical companies in an effort to repurpose existing drugs to be used on patients with Covid-19.

Digitalisation has been one of the major changes within the pharmaceutical industry in the 2010s and it seems that technology skills will continue to become more essential in the coming years.

Customer service

Deloitte reports that client-centric businesses are 60% more profitable than those who don’t place customers at the hub of everything they do, but customer service goes beyond this. Following the outbreak of coronavirus, there’s never been a more important time to show displays of empathy and compassion – two essential elements of a customer service job. To offer a good customer experience (CX), you also need strong service insight and knowledge of the product.

Coronavirus has been a confusing and trying time for many people so good customer service has been a reminder that every person has a part to play in the fight against the virus and coming together is the best strategy to beat it.

IQVIA will help you put your skills to good use

No matter where you’re at in your career, at IQVIA we understand each person has a unique skill set and finding the right job is about identifying which role puts your skills to the best use possible. We have exciting job opportunities around the globe and we give our 61,000 colleagues the chance to make a difference in patient care.

Browse our current jobs or set up job alerts to hear about the latest jobs in medical sales