Preparing For The Future Of Work: Jordan Carroll On The Top Five Trends To Watch In The Future Of Work

An Interview with Phil La Duke

The world will become a more borderless society: There will be less restrictions on working in certain countries. Digital nomad visas, or other similar visas will continue offering people flexibility to work for extended periods of time in their countries. However, it is important to note how some people could still be excluded because of their passport or the visa requirements.

There have been major disruptions in recent years that promise to change the very nature of work. From the ongoing shifts caused by the COVID19 pandemic, the impacts caused by automation, and other possible disruptions to the status quo, many wonder what the future holds in terms of employment. For example, a report by the McKinsey Global Institute that estimated automation will eliminate 73 million jobs by 2030.

To address this open question, we reached out to successful leaders in business, government, and labor, as well as thought leaders about the future of work to glean their insights and predictions on the future of work and the workplace.

As a part of this interview series called “Preparing For The Future Of Work”, we had the pleasure to interview Jordan Carroll.

Jordan Carroll is obsessed with helping others on their path to personal liberation through remote work, habit optimization, and lasting health. To those ends, he creates content, courses, and coaching programs to help high performers get connected to legit remote job opportunities.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers like to get an idea of who you are and where you came from. Can you tell us a bit about your background? Where do you come from? What are the life experiences that most shaped your current self?

Originally, I grew up in California in the United States, but also lived on the East Coast and PacNW.

I found my first remote job on Craigslist as a telemarketer when I was still in college. This job was about as glorious as it seems. I would squeeze in hour-long “call-blitzes” in between a full-time university course load & two other part-time jobs. Little did I know, the remote work movement would become the most impactful cultural phenomenon in my life moving forward. Since then, I’ve worked remotely, consistently, upwards of 7 years for a global Fortune 50 tech company, a fully distributed, remote-first travel company, multiple other startups, as well as my own businesses.

Remote work fundamentally changed what was possible for me. I built my work around a life of travel, inhabiting 15 different countries in 3 years, ultimately moving to Mexico. It gave me time to pursue hobbies: video production, Spanish, & stand-up comedy. Remote work gave me the flexibility to prioritize health. I lost 40 lbs & 15% BF in 90 days, quit cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, and started competing in Spartan Races, Tough Mudders, & international marathons. It gave me the freedom to meet hundreds of connections on LinkedIn IRL & join communities like Nomad Cruise, Remote Year, Running Remote, Nomads Giving Back & more.

These experiences gave me a unique perspective, and I realized there’s a learning curve to both finding remote jobs as well as becoming an efficient, high-performing remote worker. These aren’t subjects taught in school. So, I set out to educate others. My alter ego #TheRemoteJobCoach is a result of helping others learn a proven system that enabled me to get hired to work remotely as a high performer, without the “traditional application process.”

What do you expect to be the major disruptions for employers in the next 10–15 years? How should employers pivot to adapt to these disruptions?

The shift towards remote work has and will be a major disruption to employers for years to come. Remote work is becoming a mega trend and in 10–15 years most new companies will be remote by default. Eventually it will be more unusual to find a job listing with a location than it will be to find one that’s remote.

Today, many companies are remote by accident. The COVID 19 pandemic has forced these companies to work remotely, even though they were structurally designed for office work. The reality is, there are many companies that CAN’T go fully remote, nor should they. Here are two companies that are prime examples:

IBM, being over a century old, has 345,000 employees in 175 countries and 70M square feet of office space. Uber began as a startup in Silicon Valley, and their data shows 2/3 of their employees prefer a hybrid model, missing the camaraderie of working in person. Both have major concerns about fully remote work and its implications on culture, team building, and growth. Both companies were built with office-first culture in mind. These companies will struggle with the remote work disruption, but they need to find solutions that fit with their business structure.

Many new companies would do well to build their businesses using a remote first structure (think “all-remote” like GitLab). They will not need to struggle with transitions to match an increasingly remote workforce, and they will be well positioned to court talent with their benefits of flexibility and choice.

The choice as to whether or not a young person should pursue a college degree was once a “no-brainer”. But with the existence of many high profile millionaires (and billionaires) who did not earn degrees, as well as the fact that many graduates are saddled with crushing student loan debt and unable to find jobs it has become a much more complex question. What advice would you give to young adults considering whether or not to go to college?

To be successful in any capacity, you need to develop your professional value so that you are the solution to problems in your chosen field. Sometimes, this can mean getting professional experience rather than college. I think the difficult reality for most young adults is that they feel the pressure to “know it all.” Social media tends to highlight success and a false narrative of certainty. They constantly see people who appear to have everything and know everything, while internally they feel terrified to make the wrong choice. That fear of making a choice is often what keeps people playing small and avoiding risk. When you’re young, you can rationalize taking more risk, but my encouragement is for young adults to choose a direction and figure out the “how” on the way.

If college feels like a good idea, try it. Go for a semester, see how you like the classes, try to get involved if possible. While a college education can be an excellent way to develop professional value, it is just one of many ways. You can find a certification, course, or some type of continuing education in the new niche you’re exploring. Pitch an internship with an organization or find some way to volunteer your services. Find a mentor, coach, or community with particular expertise who can help guide and provide knowledge and meet other people who are succeeding in that field. You can choose to go to college or not, but you’re still responsible for your own education.

What’s less talked about is the fact that no matter what age you are, you’re still just a human trying to figure it out. Your decision to go to college, the major you choose, your career, all these things are not meant to be linear, and the answers come with action.

Despite the doom and gloom predictions, there are, and likely still will be, jobs available. How do you see job seekers having to change their approaches to finding not only employment, but employment that fits their talents and interests?

We are entering an era of intense job competition, but also of greater lifestyle opportunities. Before job seekers start looking for jobs, they should ask themselves what lifestyle they want. Perhaps you want to be around your family, travel, or have time to follow your passions. With the rise of remote working, there will be more and more jobs that enable your chosen lifestyle. Once you know what lifestyle you want, the hard work of standing out in the job seeking crowd begins.

Find the companies that offer the flexibility you need for your lifestyle and identify specific job roles that you could fill at those companies. Don’t apply for any and all jobs, get targeted. Choose roles at those companies closest to your skillset, then find the keywords associated with the role and plug them into your resume and LinkedIn profile. You want to present yourself as the best candidate for a specific valuable purpose, this is how you do it.

To really stand out from other candidates you must network with employees at your chosen company and gain their trust as a valuable contact. When new jobs become available, companies will first look to hire internally, listen to referrals from employees, then consider previously qualified candidates, before finally posting the job on a job board. Your goal isn’t to scour job boards for the best job. It’s to be #2 or #3 above for that job, and be the number one person in mind when it’s created.

The statistics of artificial intelligence and automation eliminating millions of jobs, appears frightening to some. For example, Walmart aims to eliminate cashiers altogether and Dominos is instituting pizza delivery via driverless vehicles. How should people plan their careers such that they can hedge their bets against being replaced by automation or robots?

Many job roles, such as drivers and cashiers, have a low bar of entry and can be learned quickly. Unfortunately, these qualities make the employees who fill them expendable. Job security comes from being invaluable, possessing knowledge, skills, or character that cannot easily be replaced. To ensure job security, it’s wise for job seekers to invest time into developing professional value that is not easily attained and is desirable within their industry. At the end of the day, your career success is all about individual responsibility. No one is going to protect you from automation but yourself, make the effort to become invaluable.

Technological advances and pandemic restrictions hastened the move to working from home. Do you see this trend continuing? Why or why not?

Yes, working from home will be an increasing trend going forward. Employees are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of working from home. They can spend more time with family, cut commuting out of their schedule, and enjoy a more flexible work life. We can expect to see more big companies adopt hybrid business models to retain talent. To attract talent, future companies will have great incentives to build remote first businesses from the ground up.

Not all trends point to working from home, we will also see a rise in coworking spaces. While many employees will enjoy the flexibility of choosing where to work, they will feel lonely at home and wish to work around others. Coworking offices will be a good option for this group of people. Coworking spaces provide office space and social amenities for employees, business owners, and freelancers.

What societal changes do you foresee as necessary to support the fundamental changes to work?

The rise of remote work will be accompanied by a rise in locational interdependence. Nations will take on a more borderless feel as citizens travel and move to cities they find suitable. More nations will create digital nomad visas and create incentives to attract remote workers. As of now, there are many legal, financial, and national elements at play that limit where an employee can work and live. We can expect to see several legal, financial, and governmental shifts that will enable employees to live in one region while working for employers based in another region.

As time passes, millennials move into positions of power with the largest companies in the world as well as public office. This trend will lead to more tech savvy governments out of necessity. Governments will always be much slower to move than tech, but the generations that have lived with technology their entire lives will have different styles and priorities. As tech continues to become more available, especially access to phones and the internet, society will adapt.

What changes do you think will be the most difficult for employers to accept? What changes do you think will be the most difficult for employees to accept?

Employers will lose people if they don’t provide choice and flexibility. We see the evidence of this change right now, in the Great Resignation. Employees from all industries are quitting their jobs and looking for new opportunities that provide the lifestyle they desire. Employers who develop remote first companies will have a competitive advantage over their competition because they can provide their employees with more choice and flexibility.

Remote work is going to open a global pool of talent for employers, and that change will be the most difficult for employees to accept. Soon, employees will be competing for jobs with people all over the world. If you are not invaluable, you will struggle in the job market. It will be more important than ever for employees to develop their professional value and foster strong professional networks.

The COVID-19 pandemic helped highlight the inadequate social safety net that many workers at all pay levels have. Is this something that you think should be addressed? In your opinion how should this be addressed?

For decades now, there has been a societal shift in the workforce away from lifetime employment and the supposed safety it offers. We now work in a world where an employee can only be expected to work with a company for a few years. Both the employer and employee could end their work agreement with each other at any time. In today’s workforce, no one is entitled to a social safety net. The societal shift in this direction isn’t something professionals can control, so it is best addressed by what they can control.

At the end of the day, succeeding in the modern workplace is a matter of not being entitled and being self-responsible. Acknowledge that no employer, government, or white knight is out there to save you. It may seem safe to work for a “stable company” but you will get further if you are committed to becoming top in your field and are confident in yourself. Develop your professional value, foster a strong professional network, and strive to stand out from the crowd.

Despite all that we have said earlier, what is your greatest source of optimism about the future of work?

Although competition and change will be ongoing challenges, I’m very optimistic about increasing work opportunities. With remote work, your life can be optimized for your chosen lifestyle. The Future of work will make this optimization much easier for many many people. There is a Japanese term Ikigai, “a reason for being,” that usually refers to the things that make one’s life worthwhile. The Ikigai is a powerful concept that is the intersection of what we love doing, what the world needs, what we can be paid for, and what we’re good at. The future of work will make reaching that intersection much easier, combining what we love with what we do, helping more people feel their reason for being.

Historically, major disruptions to the status quo in employment, particularly disruptions that result in fewer jobs, are temporary with new jobs replacing the jobs lost. Unfortunately, there has often been a gap between the job losses and the growth of new jobs. What do you think we can do to reduce the length of this gap?

As I said when speaking about automation, your career is your individual responsibility. Societal change is a force of nature, it’s on us as individuals to step up and find new opportunities. There are new varieties of jobs coming up all the time. With change comes a lot of new jobs that didn’t exist a year ago. A lot of industries you never would think would have remote roles now do.

One of the trends to expect is the rise of the gig economy. Freelancing allows you to offer a skill or a service on a project basis. It’s a very low barrier to entry. It’s flexible. It also allows you to use the experience that you already have to complete gigs and tasks for other people. Working on gigs as a freelancer is a great way to develop professional experience, a side hustle, or even a career. In times with lean job opportunities, gig work can help fill the gap of employment opportunities.

Okay, wonderful. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Top 5 Trends To Watch In the Future of Work?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Asynchronous communication will be one of the most in demand skills: Work will be more focused on “output” than number of hours in a seat. Therefore, your ability to communicate with a global team, asynchronously, as you complete projects, will be crucial in your success.
2. The world will become a more borderless society: There will be less restrictions on working in certain countries. Digital nomad visas, or other similar visas will continue offering people flexibility to work for extended periods of time in their countries. However, it is important to note how some people could still be excluded because of their passport or the visa requirements.
3. Ruralization and incentives to live in different regions: There are already companies, cities, and governments offering amenities & incentives to move to specific regions. Whether it’s benefits or cold, hard, cash, this will help bring people to more rural areas — away from major cities.
4. The default will be remote, not office: Many companies are remote by accident, the companies that are remote first have a competitive advantage. New companies will default to the remote first method to gain an advantage. In time job postings will be remote by default and it will be a surprise if there’s an office location mandatory.
5. The majority of people worldwide will be in the gig economy: People will give less power to companies and focus on their own skills. We have a generation of people that grew up on the internet. There are more creators and entrepreneurs. They will make money on their own terms to support their own lifestyles.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how this quote has shaped your perspective?

“How you do anything is how you do everything.” From the small details to the grand vision, I think everything matters. Whether I’m responding to DMs from someone who has 100 followers or speaking live with an influencer who has 100K followers, I want people to experience me in the same way. I want to prepare and do things in the micro sense just as well as I do them in the macro sense. Provide value to the people around me on all levels.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would love to have a private lunch with Isaiah Thomas. He was the last pick of his NBA draft, he’s actually shorter than me and he’s played at the highest level in the NBA. He’s currently still trying to get back on a roster and he’s been through a lot, has insane perseverance, and is a great human being who I look up to on and off the court.

Our readers often like to follow our interview subjects’ careers. How can they further follow your work online?

Check out an assortment of resources for finding remote jobs on my website: TheRemoteJobCoach.com

Connect with me on LinkedIn: Jordan Carroll

Connect with me on Instagram: theremotejobcoach & Jspensir

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this. We wish you continued success and good health!