Future Jobs - What are some of them and how can we prepare for them?

One of the biggest discussions with regards to future jobs is that technology will revolutionise nearly every facet of our civilisation.

With the advent of artificial intelligence and soon robotics, there is a possibility that a very large number of jobs today will be wiped out in the coming years.

While nothing is certain as of now, we can see a trend evolving:

• Mechanical jobs are slowly being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence today.
  
• AI and present day robotics still fall short when it comes to creative work.

Of course there is also a possibility that creative jobs will also be gradually replaced by artificial intelligence, but it will take a while (at least many more years).

Currently, the job environment is going through rapid changes and with the increasing use of automation, there is less predictability and stability in jobs. This is why Upskilling is very important. Upskilling helps employees and employers stay knowledgeable about the ever-changing demands of the workplace. 

According to PWC, almost 77% of employees find a need to upskill to adapt to the growing use of technologies in the workplace.

Here are some things you can do to upskill:

1. Identify key areas of interest - this may be in an area in your career you are passionate about or you feel has a lot of potential in. 

2. Research skills you will need to develop in conjunction with your area of interest. For example, if you want to develop your data analysis skill you might want to improve or develop skills such as Python, R etc.

3. Find compatible courses that fit your schedule and skill level. There are resources such as Coursera, Edexu, Udemy and others. In my previous example, for data analysis you can look into Datacamp.

Over the next five years, as technology becomes more widely used, in-demand skills across industries will shift, and skills gaps will widen.

By 2025, 40 percent of essential skills will have changed for those who stay in their jobs, and 50 percent of all employees will require re-skilling.

Employers believe critical thinking and problem-solving abilities will become more important in the next five years.

Self-management abilities such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance, and adaptability are new this year.

The vast majority of CEOs (94%) now want their employees to learn new skills on the job, compared to only 66 percent in 2018.