Soft skills

Thomas Oppong’s blog post, “How to Prepare Yourself for the Future of Work” really reflects the ideas and responses I have regarding the shift of skills needed for the future workplace.

It is clear that technology will continue to evolve the workplace and demand a new skill set. This is why it is imperative that we are able to acclimate to the changes. In order to grow and achieve success in the workplace, we need to be able to adapt to the constant changes that will occur throughout our entire career.

Due to an increase in the automation of task-oriented jobs, we need to work on developing our soft skills now more than ever. Thomas writes, “so far, humans are vastly superior at any work that relies on creativity, entrepreneurialism, interpersonal skills, and emotional intelligence” (2016). In other words, machines still cannot compare to these skills that us, as humans possess.

Aim to be indispensable. While thinking about the requirements that our career entails, consider both your skills and personality traits. You want to stand out and be known for our unique characteristics. This will make us unreplaceable. We need to prepare for the future of work by investing in ourselves. We need to know and understand the things we truly value.

Take time to think about the things you value as a person and the morals that have been instilled in you as you have grown. Employers expect excellent communication skills and they take into consideration the values you have because they shape who you are as a person. Oppong supports this idea stating, “highly emotionally intelligent people rank high on responsiveness, empathy, listening, and self-awareness. And they excel at interpersonal interaction” (2016). That is to say, emotional intelligence plays a huge role in how we form relationships with others and recognize their emotions as well as our own.

Oppong, T. (2016, May 26). How to prepare yourself for the future of work. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://medium.com/the-mission/how-to-prepare-yourself-for-the-automated-future-107ed5bc763