Which skills of the future do we need for the coming job market? Digital skills, for sure. But certain soft skills will become increasingly important. Many people will no longer work 9 to 5 in an office, with a permanent position. Instead, self-employed people and freelancers who work on a project basis will be the future. A fact that will require a lot of self-initiative and self-management since there is no superior to manage everything for you.
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Workers will need these 7 skills of the future
And we will also need the ability to reinvent ourselves again and again since automation will also eliminate jobs that we could not have imagined before – at an increasingly rapid pace. In short, we will need these 7 Future Skills for the job market of the future:
1- Creativity & initiative
There will soon be no more repetitive work. We have to be creative to get the most out of new products, work methods and technologies. And we must do this on our own initiative – and not because the boss tells us to. Like rigid hierarchies in general, that is now a thing of the past.
2- Flexibility & resilience
You may think these are two different competencies. But in truth, these are two sides of the same coin: in a volatile job market, we will constantly have to adapt to new teams, assignments, work environments. Of course, this generates uncertainty, disengagement and stress. The only way we can cope with all this is to train our resistance or resilience.
3- Self-management
This means the ability to drive personal and professional development without constant feedback and support from others:
- Making plans for yourself.
- Setting goals.
- Realizing what knowledge you need to acquire for this and what tools you need.
What’s also needed: The ability to postpone impulses and steadily pursue one’s goals – and to have one’s own emotions under control in stressful situations.
4- Thinking critically
We have to be able to think beyond ordinary solutions and identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions – and, moreover, present them so clearly that others are able to penetrate them logically. Thinking critically also means constantly questioning one’s own work – and the work of others – to improve results.
5- Learning Ability
We need to actively learn and develop continuously in the future. Whoever constantly works on their skills will also be successful in a volatile job market. What we need is a growth mentality: to acquire new knowledge, look for challenges, and learn from mistakes.
6- Problem-solving in complex situations
We must be able to behave strategically in situations of high complexity, opacity and dynamism – to cope with the fact that there are multiple goals at the same time that need to be prioritized. We shouldn’t want to process all the information simultaneously but should clear the thicket so that we can deal with the remaining slice of reality.
7- Compassion
Being compassionate is critical when working in or leading ever-changing teams. You need to understand what you and others are going through. You need to be able to feel for someone, that is, really care about your (perhaps virtual) counterpart. And: you should really have the intention to help. That is the only way teams can be successful in the future.
