The future of careers is changing. It’s more human than you think.

The World Economic Forum predicts that 65% of children in primary school today will be working in jobs that don’t even exist yet. If we can’t anticipate future jobs, are we prepared with the right skills to tackle them? More so, are we imparting the right skills in our youngest generation so they are geared up for the future?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is erasing the lines between the physical and digital/technical world. New-age jobs will require new-age skills that will aid this growing automated world. With redundancy coming about, the world will realize the importance of developing soft skills as well as continuous learning.

Soft Skills Will Gain Value

Although soft skill training is being given today, it isn’t enough to meet the demands of the future. We’re talking of skills like creativity, innovation, team-building, emotional intelligence, self-reliance, imagination, moral responsibility, etc. These are the driving forces of tomorrow.

Companies have already realized that their future recruitment activities will focus on people with skills such as problem-solving, adaptability, collaboration, leadership, creativity and innovation. Your educational qualification and technological ability will enable you to handle jobs but these core human skills will drive your enthusiasm and purpose in life.

No matter what role, these skills will trump technical skills. Social and emotional skills rank high as well as advanced cognitive capabilities, such as logical reasoning and creativity. You are in for a bright future where your passion is desired by companies, your values are appreciated and your imagination has no bounds. Doesn’t that sound exciting already?

The Merging of Machines and Humans

Machines can do automated tasks but technology hasn’t yet reached a level where these human value-based skills can be replaced. As manual tasks get eliminated, it creates a vast playground for humans to develop and use their minds to their maximum potential.

If this unknown future is scaring you, there’s no need to be. Now that you know the kind of skills needed for the future, you can decide how you can inculcate the ones you don’t possess. Up-skilling yourself will enable you to explore several career opportunities over the course of your life.

The added advantage will be that these skills will make you employable in a variety of fields so that you don’t have to fix yourself to one career for your whole life. It’s quite possible that by the time you decide to retire, you may have experimented with more than 10 career options.

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” – Charles Darwin.

You have more control over your life in the future. Your passion and purpose in life will enable you to align yourself with companies and roles that match these.

It’s simple – You decide what you want. You’re not just another cog in the machinery. You are a key human asset of the future.

(Stay tuned for our next blog as we take you on a journey to prepare yourself for the unlimited possibilities of the future.)