Article : work
What does the future of
work look like?
The world is changing and with it comes exciting new opportunities.
M
any of us will find ourselves working in
newly created industries and roles in
the next decade or two, where boring
tasks will be automated increasingly, freeing workers
to take on more stimulating jobs and that this is
something to embrace – not to be scared of. Work
might become more stimulating for many of us in the
future but we’ll need to upskill to take on the new
challenges.
FUTURE JOB FACT 1: In the future, more of
us could be freelancing or contracting for multiple
employers. “We need to get away from the notion of
a particular skill,” if we are going to work in a world
where we will have six careers and 14 job changes in
our lives.
FUTURE JOB FACT 2: Disruptive innovations
will continue to change the way existing industries
operate, following in the footsteps of companies such
as Amazon, Uber and Airbnb. This same trend will be
seen in the workspace, where technology will make
work more transactional. Workers who embrace these
changes and become more entrepreneurial may find
themselves freed from the 9-to-5 grind.
“We will be seeing many jobs not being done Monday
to Friday,” particularly as businesses begin to employ
more freelancers for one-off jobs. Service roles will
increase as our growing need for instant gratification
means we’ll be employing people to do one-off tasks
for us through websites such as AirTasker.com.
FUTURE JOB FACT 3: Soft skills will rule.
“Hard skills will be something we will gain as we need
them, however soft skills such as empathy will allow
us to be flexible.” Work on those interpersonal skills
by studying management, organisational behaviour,
or human resources, and paying attention to how you
interact with those around you.
FUTURE JOB FACT 4: Professional success will
require a flexible attitude to training. Start now, and keep
up with changes in your industry. Read up, network,
attend conferences and workshops, and look for
opportunities to expand your skill set whenever possible.
emerging technologies, and challenging ourselves
with short courses and workshops.
FUTURE JOB FACT 6: As computers relieve us
of the dull repetitive jobs, we’ll be freed to do much
more interesting work. Actually, we’re already starting
to see these changes occur in professions like nursing
where, in the past, a nurse was needed to do patient
monitoring, but these days a machine can monitor
a patient’s vital signs, which frees nurses for more
specialised roles.
It’s what we’ll see more of in the future:
“Technology answering
the questions and humans
questioning the answers”.
This is the litmus test of whether a job or a skill is
going to stand up long term.
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FUTURE JOB FACT 5: Unsurprisingly,
Australian jobs will be more technology dependent.
We will all need to keep our computer and
communications skills up-to-date by keeping tabs on
Sky Business - Switzer
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