As the economy and job market slowly rebuilds itself in the post Covid world, you are going to rewrite the future of workplaces. Yes ‘you’! And this is not something novel, instead a cyclical process that happens after every major world event – War, Economic Depression, Natural Disaster or in this case a Pandemic.
Management think tank points out that our future proof skills must be aimed at building ‘career resilience’.
Now what is career resilience? I am not simply trying to throw weight around by using complex terms just for the heck of it. According to Merriam- Webster dictionary resilience means ‘an ability to recover or adjust easily to misfortune or change.’
Career resilience would mean to develop skills that help us to handle the sudden curveball thrown to us in future. These very ‘skills’ are our future proof-investment in building and fortifying a career.
According to LinkedIn’s 2020 data:
· The job market for graduates today is the worst since the Great Depression
· Soft Skills are the most in demand across all industries as pointed by job postings
· Soft Skills are the ‘foundational skills’ that every professional should build in themselves
As heralded by Emily Poague, VP, Marketing for LinkedIn Learning, the skills that help graduates to stand out from the crowd, begin their careers and flourish towards advancement are the ‘Soft Skills’. As she goes on to write, “Having the right skills can make all the difference, even in difficult times.”
Soft Skills are the skills, abilities and attributes of your personality that help you to effectively navigate your professional and personal environment. The good news is that these skills need not be inherent, but can be developed through experience, learning and practice.
The fact that these skills are difficult to replicate by any machine or artificial intelligence makes them even more imperative to cultivate, as they help you to add your unique value to the workplace.
These 10 Soft Skills are going to be the ‘Future Proof Toolkit’ for you to flourish:
Leadership
Communication
Critical thinking
Emotional Intelligence
Problem Solving
Creativity
Teamwork
Adaptability
Social Skills
Interpersonal Skills
The “Future of Jobs Report 2018” by World Economic Forum, points the fact that these attributes would continue or amplify by 2022.
In a world with ever changing technology at your disposal each day, there is one habit that will keep you on the track towards future self-investment and that is the curiosity to ‘learn’. Simply keeping up with the change isn’t enough; you need to ‘prepare’ yourself with these tools.
Don’t worry if you do not know exactly what skills to learn, simply having the curiosity to try, experiment, fail, succeed and gain experience is sufficient for you to prove that you are on the right path. The idea of learning, your willingness to grow and embracing a growth mindset is the first step to your development of Soft Skills.
This can be motivating, exciting or even overwhelming and scary for some but it promises to prepare you for the uncertain and unpredictable world. Go ahead and embrace the curiosity!
Comments