The Job Space Race and the Invisible Mandate
Imagine being at school, spending up to thirteen years preparing for the same future your parents were prepared for, only to emerge into a world in which the job you’ve always (been told you) wanted no longer exists. By popular estimate, around 65% of jobs that exist today will not be an option when current primary students enter the workforce. In addition, the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) indicates that today’s young people will potentially have 17 jobs over 5 careers. We are at the edge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which the world of work is changing exponentially, and as we shift further into the gig economy, the need for future skills, otherwise known as employability skills or the more dismissive soft skills, has never been greater — but has anyone told HR?
In many occupations, applying for a job today is an almost identical process to twenty — even fifty — years ago. Certainly the advertisements are mostly online rather than in the “Positions Vacant” section of the newspaper, but this is really only a case of substitution. A higher number of applications may be received for each position, but entering data into an online application makes it easier to sort, so nothing has really changed. Applicants are still required to submit a CV, the format of which has not changed for generations, and answer questions that allow the recruiting office to check boxes and narrow down the “most qualified” into a short list for interview. The rest disappear into the ether as if they never existed. This is occurring daily across a swathe of industries including, sadly, education.
Tomorrow’s world is here. We have the technical capabilities to collaborate with people across the globe; the internet has conquered the tyranny of distance. We are no longer even restrained by gravity, as an increasing number of people either currently work, or are preparing to work, in the vastness of space. 65% of today’s jobs may not exist in twenty years, but how many of today’s jobs didn’t exist in 1998? Who had ever heard of a blogger? Online influencer? Wellness coach? Genetic counselor? Sustainability manager? In twenty more years, we might well be considering astrobiology as the field to be in, as we head to work in our flying drone buses. These are exciting times, and technology presents us with phenomenal opportunities, but to take full advantage of this, education and industry must move together. The days of “I have the qualification I need for this industry” will soon disappear forever. The gig economy is dynamic and it’s time for lifelong learning to take centre stage.
The problem — or challenge — is that we don’t possess a magic portal to the future and we don’t know what technical skills will be required for tomorrow’s invisible jobs. How do we prepare? By ensuring that today’s students are so well-versed in Future Literacies (such as those detailed in the FutureWe Framework) that they don’t think twice about self-directed, just-in-time learning, or bite-sized courses to attain micro-credentials. And of course, convincing industry to take a more individualised, personal approach to recruitment and consider the whole person rather than a set of criteria. Without encouraging the devaluation of university degrees, what’s required is an examination of whether a single degree, perhaps earned years ago, added to years of experience in the same job, is the best measure of whether or not a potential employee will help take your business into the future. It’s time to rethink the way we look at informal, personalised learning and consider what that indicates about a person’s attitude toward success and continuous improvement.
The internet presents us with a unique opportunity to capture evidence of these skills and micro-credentials in online portfolios or lifelong learning records, ensuring a “perfect match” between employee and position. Add to that the reality that an employee’s positive digital footprint on social media and networking sites such as LinkedIn adds to the reputation of a business, and an employee who is valued as a unique human being is far more likely to broadcast content that is beneficial for the employer.
Industry: the people you employ are assets, and their value is increasing as their voice is amplified by technology. In an economy that enables people to design their own jobs, and move fluidly between occupations, do you really want to be left ticking boxes for dinosaurs?
References
Burnett, Nick. (2018, 26 July). The Learning Wallet. FutureWe. Retrieved from https://medium.com/future-u/the-learning-wallet-6d2538dc824c 29 July 2018.
Fawcett, Kelly. (2018, 27 July). Young people, job mobility and building a healthy future economy. Foundation for Young Australians. Retrieved from https://www.fya.org.au/2018/07/27/young-people-job-mobility-and-building-a-healthy-future-economy/ 29 July 2018
Kinsley, Sam. (2017, 11 July). Spatial Machinations: 65% of future non-existent jobs (which doesn’t exist) 70% of jobs automated (just not yet). Retrieved from http://www.samkinsley.com/2017/07/11/65-of-future-jobs-which-doesnt-exist-70-of-jobs-automated-just-not-yet/ 29 July 2018
Ryerse, Mary. (2017, 7 November). Competency-Based Micro-Credentials are Transforming Professional Learning. Retrieved from http://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/11/micro-credentials-transforming-professional-learning/ 29 July 2018.
World Economic Forum (2016). The Future of Jobs Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 1st ed. [ebook] World Economic Forum. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf 29 July 2018
