Getting Ready For Jobs Of The Future

Kunal Sandhu Sep 07, 2018

Let me ask you something. Do you remember a time when you had to call an agent to book a train or a flight ticket or hail a cab on the road? Or when you wanted to order food from your favorite restaurant but just didn’t have the number? Those challenges seem like a distant memory now, don’t they?

We live in world of constant disruption. Technology has revolutionized the way we view and interact with each other and has dramatically changed the way we think about our Careers. It is now easier than ever to connect with industry experts, look for relevant job roles and apply seamlessly for jobs across geographies. The past five years have seen a dramatic increase in the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning across industries. This technological evolution has led to the automation of jobs that earlier required human intervention making them obsolete, at the same time, it has led to the creation of new job opportunities that did not even exist earlier such as Application Developers, Social Media Managers, Data Scientists, SEO Manager. Today, businesses cannot succeed without them.

Similarly, there are many jobs that are going to come into existence, that are not around today. The power of technology is such that you can start a new company with the click of a button, create an application, launch a campaign that reaches people in the remotest corners of the world, collect, and assimilate this data to derive relevant insights for your business. The world of Careers is changing faster than ever and the future belongs to those who are able to adapt.

While it’s hard to predict the precise future, it’s easy to draw out some of the key trends.

Here are the top trends for Jobs of the future.

Focus on Projects & Assignments rather than specific Job Roles: In the future, organizations will move towards project-based work and set-up teams with people who have the right skills, competencies and motivations to work on a particular assignment rather than defined job roles. Project Managers will need to have well-rounded technical (project-based) and interpersonal skills such as teamwork, communication and planning and organizing. This is not to say that traditional job roles will stop existing altogether, but companies will move towards a mix of both and people will have the opportunity to do many different roles across many organizations rather than just one role in one or two organizations.

Technology will be everywhere: This is already happening. Most of what we do today, whether it’s using an application to book a cab, order food, watch television, order groceries or merchandise is done with the simple click of a button. Not just that, the applications we use to know who we are, where we’re logging in from and where went over the weekend.

Smart Technology is being applied in sectors such as Banking & Finance - through Insurance and Investment Applications; Healthcare – Digital Consultation, Medication Management; Education – Online Learning, Career Simulations and Career Assessments that help you map out suitable Subjects, College Courses & Careers; to Automobile – Driverless Car Technology taking the lead. In the future, our dependence on technology is only going to increase and its application will be seen across the board in the most unexpected of sectors.

Learning will be key: Skill transfer and learning will be more widespread and driven by technology. We’ll see a rise in virtual classrooms, simulations and other evolving pedagogical techniques. Organizations will place more value on skills and experiences rather than on University Degrees. We are already seeing this shift with some leading technology companies who are focusing on hiring talent based on their experiences without focusing too much on degrees.

Problem Solving will become a critically important skill: In the future, we are going to be faced with challenges and problems that have not been seen before. This will require critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities.

Content & Coding: We are all moving towards a content-driven society, where we receive messages every second of our day through social media, mobile applications, infographics, videos and other material. The future is going to see rapid growth in content creation and engagement and is going to be an important skill to develop. Along with content, I believe that a time will come when people will need to have the basic coding knowledge to be able to make an impact.

It is impossible to imagine exactly what jobs of the future will look like. If you think about some of the new professions today such as Virtual Bloggers, Data Scientist – these professionals themselves couldn’t have predicted those roles would exist when they were choosing which subjects to study at school. Traditional Careers in Medicine, Engineering, Healthcare will continue to exist with an influx of technology.