Looking to future-proof your career? These are the skills that will help you land a job in the future

31 Oct 2016

Over the next few years, experts predict that technological, demographic, and socio-economic disruption will transform the global job market.

This means that those of employable age should keep themselves up to scratch on the latest trends in skill sets and industries.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), two-thirds of children starting primary school in 2016 will probably find themselves working in jobs that don’t even exist yet, while up to 45 percent of the activities people are paid to perform today could be automated using current technology.

In fact, some of the most in-demand skills today, like cloud computing and SEO marketing, didn’t exist around 10 years ago.

The jobs of the future – and two skills you need to get them https://t.co/2zNA0ym8Hj #wef pic.twitter.com/9EUPcv1ytf

— World Economic Forum (@wef) October 30, 2016

In its Future of Jobs 2016 report, WEF predicts that “more than a third of the desired core skill set of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today”.

The report forecasts that due to the nature of change in various sectors, as many as 7.1 million jobs could be lost through redundancy, automation, or disintermediation, with the greatest losses in white-collar office and administrative roles.

However, the report also predicts that 2.1 million new jobs will be created, partially offsetting the loss.

In the fast-evolving #HumanAge, #learnability is how to stay relevant and move up the career ladder: https://t.co/NgHJXCr0Gq

— ManpowerGroup (@ManpowerGroup) October 28, 2016

The healthcare sector is expected to see the greatest decline in terms of jobs over the next five years, followed jointly by the energy sector and the financial services sector.

Unsurprisingly, the industry that stands to create the most jobs is information and communication technology (ICT), followed by professional services, then media, entertainment and information.

For the media industry, almost three-quarters of the skills currently required to carry out your job will likely still be relevant in 2020.

To give you some idea of the skills you’ll likely need to attract job offers in a few years’ time, here are the 10 skills WEF thinks will be the most desirable to employers, in comparison to those in 2015:

So it’s not only technical knowledge that will help get you that job, but being able to solve complex problems and think out of the box.

Besides that, social skills also play a big part in what makes you employable.

In a 2015 study by David Deming at Harvard University, the ability to “play well” with others is vital, as social skills help workers do their jobs more efficiently.

Employment-oriented social network LinkedIn also recently unveiled the top 10 skills that employers are currently looking for in prospective candidates:

Image via LinkedIn

But who knows – in a few years’ time, the list is likely to change.

So how do you future-proof yourself? According to a survey by ManpowerGroup, millennials attribute career success to having the right skills more than having the right connections.

For them, to get ahead means to never stop learning and to be open to new experiences.

Overall, they’re pretty upbeat – two-thirds are optimistic about their immediate job prospects, while 62 percent are confident that if they lost their main source of income tomorrow, they could find equally good or better work within three months.

Image via Unsplash