Your future work skills

How job roles are changing

If you look at job adverts or career sites today, you may notice recruiters talking about the need for new and changing roles.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report found that:

So, what are the reasons for these changes? 

We'll focus on three:

New technology

The growth of online shops is one example of how technology has changed our lives. 

Think about the skills you would have needed to work in a shop. This is a very different set of skills from the one you might need to work for a company with an online shop. Retailers today might have just a few high street stores or even none!

This means less staff needed to help people in the store, use tills and create shop window displays. Instead, they’ll need people with skills in web design, social media and online marketing. Some roles may disappear, while new ones are created.

The type of technology we use today is changing, too. Employers are learning more about the benefits of AI and automation. For example, health centres can automate patient record-keeping tasks. Marketing and sales teams can use AI to personalise their adverts and customer emails.

What digital skills do I need?

Digital skills are part of most workplaces:

What do we mean by ‘basic digital skills’? The Consumer Digital Index (PDF, 4.1Mb) lists Essential Digital Skills for Work. These are part of the Essential Digital Skills Framework (PDF, 351Kb).

They include:

Defining ‘advanced’ digital skills is harder. Some of these depend on the role. For example, marketing teams may need Search engine optimisation (SEO), graphic design and data analysis skills.

An employer may also have their own systems that they need teams to use, so this is where it helps to adapt.

How can I grow my digital skills?

Once you know where your skills gaps are, you can start to plan how you’ll fill these. There are many free resources to help you. A good starting point is the Skills Toolkit from the National Careers Service. Here, you’ll find free courses for these skills.

We’ve talked about using AI tools as a skill in itself. Like any tool, we can learn these by starting to explore and practise using them. 

How can I grow my hybrid working skills?

Some of these skills improve with practice.

Take time management, for example. We can break this down into different ‘mini-skills’:

• Planning your workload and deadlines.
• Prioritising your tasks.
• Knowing the times of day when you’re most productive.
• Making sure you don’t take on too many extra tasks.
• Using tools to keep you on track.
• Checking and updating your plans regularly.

It’s important to get to know the tools. Many of these can be free, like Zoom, Slack and Google Workspace.

Core skills

The Future of Jobs Report  shows the skills employers want their workers to have. These are core skills. They don’t depend on the type or job or work you do.

Top-rated core skills include:

• Analytical thinking
• Resilience and flexibility
• Leadership and influencing skills
• Creative thinking
• Motivation
• Digital skills
• Empathy and active listening

Most of these are ‘soft’ or interpersonal skills. Some people have these naturally, while others need to work to develop them.

These skills tend to last a long time. They’re less likely to change or drop in demand. This means they’re useful in any job or role.

Resilience and flexibility are especially important. These can help you cope with the many changes you’re likely to see at work. Being able to embrace these can help you thrive.

Role-specific skills

These are the skills that you usually need to train for. They are used for certain types of work. For many of them, keeping up-to-date on the latest rules or techniques is as important as that initial learning.

Examples of role-specific skills:

• Medicine
• Technology – for example, cyber security.
• Education
• Law
• Construction