Technology, skills, and the future of work
I have two news for today, one bad and one good. The first one is — software, technology, and digital age are eating the world. Just accept and put up with it. The second one is even while technologies replace some jobs, they are creating new work in industries that most of us cannot even imagine, and new ways to generate income. So get ready for challenges.
But here is one tricky thing — new jobs demand new us. Since the time we started to use AI in job hunt life became easier and complicated at the same time. Except the basic skill sets, now we have to be adaptive and flexible to the latest tech innovation as soon as it was released. Once I have come across a phrase “Machines will need humans — and workers will need to learn new skills to work alongside machines.” It seemed wise and sencefull to me, so I decided to dig a little dipper and made some research to got to know what are the employability skills of the jobs of the future 2030? Here what I found.
1.Lifelong learning rules
Our parents used to get a job and did that job automatically without passion and love until the retirement but this is completely out of date now. The world is becoming increasingly difficult for people, who want to be told what to do and watched while they do it. However, modern world offers an unparalleled opportunity for those who willing to break away from the convention. The importance of lifelong learning is that it’s no longer restricted to classrooms. With a simple Google search, workers can find the information they need, can attend online courses on different topics and industries — learning can now happen on our own schedules.
For example, you don’t need to spend 4 years studying engineering at the college, you have an opportunity to pass a 3-month online course and get an extensive knowledge in a short period of time. Digital future becomes reality and it helps people build out the pathways they need at any stage of their life to succeed.
2.May technological skills be with you
Remember I told you about the good news? Here is the evidence. McKinsey Global Institute in their research explained how machine learning and artificial intelligence are transforming work. The take away was that in spite of the speed with which automation technologies are developing today there will be enough jobs to gainfully employ everyone. (we can calmly exhale).
But another problem is that they found out that the main reason for entry-level refusal of employment was lack of the necessary skills. There were gaps in learning new technology skills such as STEM subject degrees. You may even notice that on your workplace, almost everywhere you need to work alongside machines. It means that more skills are going to be required machine based learning.
3.Soft skills never die
To completely destroy the stereotypical image of the future I must admit that soft skills will stay in the list of the most in demand skills for the future. According to the research I mentioned above tech awareness and analytical skills won’t shift the ability to work with others. Doctors, teachers, research analysts, software developers or anybody else won’t stay at the workforce for a long if they are not social and emotional developed. Empathy, teamwork, creativity, critical thinking and decision making, and complex information processing will go along with artificial intelligence and life in 2030.
In conclusion, future world will not like an Aiesec Asimov’s movie. Being more adaptable, flexible and able to re-educate yourself these are probably the most important skills to fit into the future jobs.
The next few years will be crucial in ensuring that we still keep the power. This is why we need to equip ourselves with the top employability skills that will keep us competitive in a very high-tech workforce in the future.
I hope you found this article useful and helpful to figure out what new skills you need to gain and what other competencies you need to work on. With machine learning training and human-to-human approach — we always need to upgrade ourselves and develop the skills that are desperately needed for the future workforce.
