Technical skills are in hot demand in most sectors, so anyone with technical qualifications may want to start a new job search.Changes due to the adoption of digital technology will continue to cause all kinds of changes to the way in which we look at jobs and recruitment in the future; in fact, this future has already started and appears to be accelerating. The likelihood is that few jobs will remain the same as the technological advances proliferate and here we look at the ways in which the changes will affect your job and your employees.
1. Industry boundaries will diminish
Boundaries between industries and job types will become porous as the common skills of digital work and the techniques they require forge new common experiences. A person working in the finance industry would previously have great and refined skills in matters financial and this would suffice; now, most finance-related employment requires at least some – and often quite highly-developed – IT skills to express and empower the older financial expertise. These skills have many elements in common with the IT language used in digital media, for example.
2. Job descriptions will mutate, and constrain less
This works not only at industry level but also at the level of individual posts. By increasing their own digital expertise, this similarity allows individuals to pursue career paths away from their original speciality. Looking particularly at roles within digital technology, designers of software were previously different to developers of the software; now, it is becoming common for designers to also undertake coding, look at realms such user experience (UX), and undertake testing.
3. New job types will be created
New job roles are proliferating. Five years ago, who would have known what a robotic process automation analyst or a data storyteller were? Today, these are becoming more common adjuncts to the older roles of data administrator and marketing manager. The power of digital technology encourages employers to be creative in their requirements.
4. Threatening? Maybe – Challenging? Definitely
It would be wrong to think of these changes as only being a threat. With automation, many older jobs will cease to exist in their current form, but the new technology opens up many opportunities for creative entrepreneurial thinking. The technology will always be used by people – the clever people are the ones who can be flexible and adaptive with their skills, while the successful employers will be the ones that can stretch the uses of the technology to new purposes.
5. New skills will be essential
To get the most from these swiftly-evolving circumstances, individuals and employers will need to adopt new skills quickly and be open-minded about taking on novel ways of working. Individuals will need to be prepared to frequently enhance and adapt their skills. No longer will “I trained as a widget basher and that is what I will always be” suffice as a career plan; similarly, companies that dare to say “We have our team of IT experts, so the job is done” will soon fall behind rivals that can change provision to accommodate new needs.
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