Career Trends: 3 Tips for Future-Proofing your Career

Edition: January 13th, 2022
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS

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• Excerpts from article by Nate Davis, published on Forbes

Skyrocketing wage gains and cross-industry labor shortages are pouring accelerant on a long-term trend toward job automation. Millions of jobs could be impacted by automation within the decade, according to the World Economic Forum.

Furthermore, we’ve all read stories about working conditions in some shopping and retail warehouses. Robots replacing dangerous work or repetitive tasks can be valuable. But automation can also spell bad news for displaced workers if finding an offramp into similarly paying jobs isn’t possible. For some, the answer may lie in the tech industry.

In a survey, more than one in four respondents said they have considered entering the tech industry. Of those who said they hadn’t considered a tech job, many were worried they don’t have the necessary experience or time to reskill. But that doesn’t have to be the case.

Here are 3 tips for facing down fears and automation-proofing your career:

1. Explore your options for reskilling.

• Quitting to pursue an entirely new career path is a daunting task, especially after the economic, social and psychological upheaval of the past nearly two years.
• But with so many legacy industries changing so rapidly, now might be a good time to make the switch if you were thinking of doing so.
• Nearly every industry is facing serious labor gaps as more people seek better positions that match their skill sets, present opportunities for professional development and offer higher salaries.
• That could mean more opportunities to reskill and level up within their current industry.
• If you want to learn the skills necessary to succeed in big tech, there are a variety of full-time and part-time programs out there from which you may choose. 
• Regardless of the program you pursue, ensure it has a solid track record of job placement post-graduation.
• Workers whose schedules or finances may not permit them to enroll in a full- or part-time certification program may still be able to find reskilling opportunities through their employer.
• Many organisations offer various resources for their employees to grow and develop their skill set while on the job, including cloud-based career portals through which associates can access online training modules that suit their learning objectives or mentorship programs in which younger or newer employees can learn from more experienced ones.

2. Consider realigning your career path.

• There is no crystal ball to tell what the future may hold, but if the present is any indication, there are industries that have strengthened in recent months and others that have suffered.
• By learning the skills necessary to fill today’s most in-demand jobs you can help your skill set outshine that of the robots.
• No matter what you do now or what you studied in school, if you’re wanting to pursue a new career in tech, don’t look at it like taking two steps back.
• There’s a misconception that redirecting your career toward a new goal in a new industry means starting back at the bottom of the career ladder.
• However, a change in objective doesn’t have to negate the years of valuable work experience you have already accrued or the skills you have already acquired.
• When considering a career change, use your personal and professional network to connect you with people in the industry or role you’re most passionate about, and politely request some time to pick their brain about it and learn how some of your experience and skills may be transferable.

3. Look nationally, not just locally.

• The ubiquity of remote work opportunities is one silver lining that has stemmed from the pandemic; remote work is now the norm, not the exception.
• More employers than ever before are offering their employees the flexibility to work from home or build a hybrid schedule that meets their needs.
• That’s why workers should think nationally, not just locally, when it comes to finding the next opportunity.
• Today, more corporations and businesses are willing to hire great talent — no matter where they live.

To be abundantly clear: Automation is coming, whether we like it or not. And it will impact major industries across the board. By automation-proofing your career, you can protect yourself from the “what-ifs.”

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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

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