The world is advancing at light-speed, especially when it comes to technology and its uses in every aspect of our lives.  The workforce is one of the places where these changes are being most strongly felt, with many aspects of work becoming more digital and more automated than ever.

This means that the jobs we have now are changing, and that there will be new jobs in the future that have never existed before.

Even without the changes to work that we expect to see over the next decade, its unlikely that you’ll be in the same job your entire working adult life. Unlike what was common in older generations, it’s now much more likely that you will change jobs every few years—especially when you’re early in your career and new to the working world.

But there are ways to be prepared for these as-yet-unknown future career paths, even without knowing what these jobs will be, and that is to build your transferable skills.  Transferable skills are universal, and can be applied to any job – even the jobs that don’t exist yet, or that we can’t yet imagine.

It’s a good idea to start cultivating these skills early, so you will be ready to jump into these future jobs as they appear.

Digital Information and Data Literacy

Everything is becoming more digital and more reliant on data, which means having strong skills in data literacy and digital technologies will be essential to success in the jobs we can expect to see in the next decade.  This skillset involves knowing how to understand and operate digital technologies – both software, and hardware—as well as knowing how to access, read and understand the vast amounts of data being generated by our technologies.

Having strong digital and data literacy skills also means that as new technologies arise, you will be able to learn them quickly and apply them to solve problems and make decisions.

Creativity and Critical Thinking

No technology can match the creativity and critical thinking abilities of the human mind, and much of the work of the future will focus on generating new ideas and making these ideas into reality.  This means that being able to think creatively and critically about problems will be essential. Creativity is a key component of this, the ability to imagine solutions, new products, and innovative concepts. Critical thinking is also vital to parsing information, identifying biases, and examining the truthfulness and accuracy of the data and other information.

These skills combined will enable you to develop creative, innovative solutions to solve complex problems.

Adaptability and a Willingness to Keep Learning

Being adaptable, flexible, and willing to learn new things is a key component of success, and will be more important than ever as new technologies and new careers appear on the scene.  Those who can’t or won’t adapt to these changes will simply get left behind.

The workplace is changing rapidly, and will continue to change going forward – automation, remote working, and new digital technologies will change the shape of nearly every job.  You will need to be flexible about when and where you’re willing to work, and have the ability to rapidly assimilate and begin applying new information and processes.

Continuous learning is part of this, and you should take every opportunity to learn new skills and technologies, take courses and training opportunities, and spend time researching and studying up on things that interest you or will be useful for your chosen career path.

Sources

https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/careers-advice/future-skills-youll-need-your-career-2030

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/future-skills

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/08/22/the-top-10-most-in-demand-skills-for-the-next-10-years/?sh=329f2b517be7

https://hrforecast.com/a-complete-guide-to-top-job-skills-needed-for-the-future-jobs/