EMPLOYMENT LANDSCAPE, JOB PROSPECTS AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
Salaried people face challenging and uncertain times. Career advancement and job security are just illusions. Wake up, salaried men and women! Jobs are created in the best interests of companies and NOT the employees. The job that you hold dear may disappear tomorrow.
Futurist Thomas Frey may sound very dystopian but according to him, some two billion jobs would be gone with the wind by 2030. Singapore, too, is experiencing seven-year high layoffs. NTUC, Singapore’s labour movement, has expressed concern over rising in resident unemployment and redundancies in the city-state. We can blame factors like global economic slowdown, the rise of political populism, emergence of next generation technology, globalisation, outsourcing and hosts of other predicaments.
But, do salaried workers and career professionals take aim and blame themselves instead? The onus is entirely on you and only you alone can make that difference whether you can stay employed. Are you seriously gearing up for retraining and reskilling for the work of the future? Some countries like Singapore where the government of the day takes responsibility in partnering manpower and training institutions to offer a large suite of skills future training and financial support to ready its people for jobs of the future. So, what are you waiting for? Go, take advantage of these offerings, lest you feel sorry for yourself.
· ROBOTS AND COMPUTERS WILL DO MUCH OF THE JOBS HUMANS NOW DO.
· WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF) REPORT 2016 ESTIMATES 5M JOBS WILL BE LOST TO AUTOMATION.
· INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE CITES THE FOLLOWING JOBS TO BE IN DEMAND IN 2020
§ TECHNOLOGY & COMPUTATIONAL THINKING:
Related jobs: software developers, computer system analysts, market research analysts, marketing specialists
§ CAREGIVING & HEALTH-RELATED:
Related jobs: medical technicians, physical therapists, workplace ergonomics experts, veterinarians, medical secretaries & assistants
§ SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE AND NEW MEDIA LITERACY:
Related jobs: Jobs with heavy reliance on soft skills, emotional intelligence, & cross-cultural competency: marketing specialists, customer services specialists, retail & other sales-related professionals
§ LIFE-LONG LEARNING: World Future Society predicts people will need to keep on learning new things by using technology to find best resources to keep knowledge current.
Related jobs: educators, teachers, trainers, researchers
§ ADAPTABILITY AND BUSINESS ACUMEN: Understanding how businesses work in line with the rapid emergence of the “gig economy”.
Related jobs: entrepreneurs, management analysts, accountants, auditors
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TOP SKILLS REQUIRED IN 2020
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· COMPLEX PROBLEM SOLVING
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· CRITICAL THINKING
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· CREATIVITY
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· PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
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· COORDINATING WITH OTHERS
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· EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
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· JUDGEMENT & DECISION MAKING
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· SERVICE ORIENTATION
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· NEGOTIATION
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· COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY
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INSPIRE • TRANSFORM • LEAD
