Usha Albuquerque
Looking ahead at 2019 and beyond, is not just about jobs and careers of the future, but more about how we should prepare ourselves for what could be a completely different world 10 years hence! Ten years ago, Facebook didn’t exist, nor did Whatsapp! Ten years before that, we didn’t have the Web. Yet today everyone is on a roller coaster speeding ahead to a world where nothing is predictable, nor impossible.
But what is apparent is that jobs won’t disappear — they will be re-defined, requiring new skill sets. The idea that you get an education when you're young and then you stop and you go and work for 40 or 50 years with that educational training and that’s over for sure now. All of us are going to have to continue to adapt, get new skills, and possibly go back for different types of training and credentials.
Moreover, the skills set needed for jobs in the future are changing along with the advancing technology and the digital world. In fact, soft skills like communication, problem-solving, collaboration and empathy are becoming as much valued as tech savviness.
In such a world, how do we prepare ourselves for the jobs of the unknown future ? We can do that by focusing today's learning towards skills required for a evolving and super charged tomorrow:
Social Skills - Communication
It isn't enough just doing engineering, or some technical course, the better technology gets, the more people will have to focus on their "human skills" to survive in the workforce. As computers get more intelligent, the work that will take over will require human skills like leadership, motivation and emotional intelligence. In fact overall social skills such as persuasion, and teaching others will be in demand across industries, as will cognitive abilities, such as creativity and mathematical reasoning, communication and complex problem solving capabilities. Equally important is Social Intelligence : The ability to connect with others in a deep and direct way to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions ; Cross cultural competence - the ability to operate in different cultural settings; and trans- disciplnary intelligence - literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines
Tips to boost employability
Technology skills
Starting with solid technology skills, essential for every student — Digital literacy skills. The digital transformation impacts every industry, and being able to befriend the “machine” is one of the most critical of skills. Just knowing programming languages is not enough. Even today the maximum jobs being lost are in the IT services sector, where applications are being moved to the cloud, and the focus is on machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics. The ability to embrace technology and machines is about the ability to get stuff done, about knowing the tools and how to use them. They also involve using social media, working with design or video editing software and knowing programming languages.
Some skills that could be useful in a future technology-driven world:
Some ways to develop or improve your technology skills include:
Critical thinking & complex problem-solving
Although we strongly rely on automated technology for some parts of our work, there are some things a computer just cannot do, such as make executive decisions for us. The Information Age requires a brand-new set of skills involving statistics, probability, cost-benefit analysis, principles of cognitive psychology, logic and dialectical reasoning. You need these skills to be able to constantly analyze various situations, consider multiple solutions and make decisions through logic and reasoning.
Problem-solving is a skill we should all possess but as the world advances, we'll be faced with even more difficulties than ever before. In order to find solutions to these problems, you need to have the mental flexibility and proficiency of thinking outside the box, to see the bigger picture and come up with solutions and responses. It involves being able to use a logical process to figure things out.
Start expanding your brain power and tackling a few issues that have been lingering, and you'll be fully prepared for the future.
Some ways to develop adaptability skills :
Start in small ways like changing your route to work, saying 'yes' to something you might normally say 'no' to automatically, or trying a different and unfamiliar food
Look for opportunities to try new things that will keep you learning- learn a new skill, make new friends, try a new type of food, take the initiative for starting something new in your college, community. Whenever you encounter a new challenge, make a quick list of some of the potential ways you could solve the problem. Experiment with different strategies and focus on developing a logical way to work through common problems
Undertake exercises that encourage you to work out several COAs (Courses of action) for hypothetical challenging situations.
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