Summary
The focus of essential skills has shifted to emotional quotient, social skills and personal development
By 2025, 97 million jobs may emerge that are adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms
Change is the only constant, yes. But right now, we are in the middle of a world changing way faster than ever before. This has led to a major shift in how the job markets operate. With the emergence of new technologies and an urgent need to adapt to the post-pandemic world, the requirement of skills for jobs of tomorrow has changed too. In October 2020, the World Economic Forum released the ‘The Future of Jobs Report’, which provides us with a map of what to expect in the next five years and how to prepare to stay ahead of the curve.
What is crystal clear from the report is that the focus of must-have skills has shifted to emotional quotient, social skills and personal development. But what is causing this seismic shift? Automation is taking over tasks that were previously done by humans. It is estimated that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced due to this shift, and 97 million jobs may emerge that are adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms.Therefore, human skills that cannot be replaced by machines are claiming the top spots.
Here are the top 10 skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow.
1. Analytical thinking and innovation: When a project falls through a day before the submission date, we may mostly end up despairing and giving up. However, there are some who would take in stock the time left, the exact problem at hand and the available options to complete the project in the best way possible, instead of giving in to despair. This skill refers to the ability of identifying challenges and implementing innovative solutions, as an alternative to regular thinking.
2. Active learning and learning strategies: Termed a self-management skill, active learning refers to the trait of voluntarily seeking out learning opportunities and nurturing one’s learning quotient. Along with being proactive in learning from anything and anyone, taking the time to stay abreast of new technologies and trends is a value addition.
3. Complex problem solving: The skill of being able to solve challenges with resilience has emerged as an extremely important trait that employers are looking for while recruiting. The ability to look at a problem from multiple angles and define the challenges at hand is key to building a workforce that is resilient to ups and downs.
4. Critical thinking and analysis: This refers to being able to think on your feet, analyse the data available to you and then reach the most logical solution. Critical thinkers are known to be natural problem solvers, and employers depend on them a lot.
5. Creativity, originality and initiative: These skills provide a much-needed edge to organisations in the post-pandemic world. Using imagination and coming up with a novel idea, bringing in diverse thoughts and fresh perspectives, and having the drive to translate an idea into action are essential in dealing with new situations.
6. Leadership and social influence: The ability to create an inspiring work environment for self and others, taking charge of situations without being asked to, communicating with empathy, and working with an ‘entrepreneur spirit’ are qualities that are in high demand, especially in the virtual world.
7. Technology use, monitoring and control: With rampant digitisation and technology-driven business operations, adapting to the use of the same is a must-have skill. The Future of Jobs Report defines this competency as the ability to:
- Identify technologies and equipment best suitable to perform a job.
- Effectively operate systems, machinery and equipment.
- Monitor technology, machinery and equipment, including watching key indicators, gauges and dials.
8. Technology design and programme: Computer coding has remained as one of the most in-demand skills and it retains its position, with more companies listing it as a required core competency. Being able to re-programme existing technology for new business needs is a valuable quality to have.
9. Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility: The trait to deal with any new situation or challenge and recovering valiantly from a difficult spot has become a must-have competency. In a rapidly changing world, employers are looking to hire adaptable people and build agile teams that can handle the stress that comes with uncertainty.
10. Reasoning, problem solving and ideation: The ability to analyse available data during the problem-solving process, leading to reasoned responses, is a recurring theme in all the top skills, making it a critical one to have.
Sulagna Das is a Learning & Development Specialist and People Skills Coach. She is a Visiting Faculty at IBS, Hyderabad, and L&D Lead at UST.
Last updated on 10 Nov 2021
