Top 4 job skills for the future according to W.E.F

The emergence of AI and other technological advances has changed the landscape of the job market. Many businesses are now using technology to automate their working environment thus reducing the workforce in order to save money and make more profits.

To make matters worse, Covid-19 has caused a lot of damage to the world economy. Millions of people have lost their jobs worldwide and many small scale businesses were forced to shut down way before they can operate to their full potential.

As a matter of fact, 20.6 million lost their jobs in the USA with an unemployment rate of 14.6%.

With all this in mind, World Economic Forum released their report having a list of top skills to learn in order to prepare for the future. Surprisingly, two of the highest-ranked spots were not on the previous list. They are as follow:

1. Analytical thinking and innovation
2. Active learning and learning strategies

Some of the key points from the WEF report are as follow:

• As adoption of technology has increased and will increase in the future for sure, 50% of all employees will need reskilling in order to match the requirements
• Critical thinking and problem-solving top the list of skills employers believe will grow in prominence in the next five years.
• The new entrants in the WEF report of 2020 were skills related to self-management like active learning and resilience

According to Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder, and Chief Executive Forum:

“We have the means to reskill and upskill individuals in unprecedented numbers, to deploy precision safety nets which protect displaced workers from destitution, and to create bespoke maps which orient displaced workers towards the jobs of tomorrow where they will be able to thrive.”

Following are the top 4 skills that you should work on to get jobs in future

Analytical thinking and innovation

Analytical thinking is the ability to tackle complex situations and make decisions based on information that you have gathered and analyzed.

Employees with analytical thinking tend to find patterns in the dataset provided to them and are expected to provide creative solutions. Analytical thinkers help their team members embrace new ideas and bring innovation to their work.

Employees with analytical thinking and reasoning skills can land a job easily in any field they want. They can be better than others because they are keen learners and try to look for the logic behind everything.

Currently, people with such skills are in high demand in I.T industry, especially in software development.

Some jobs which require skills of analytical thinking and reasoning is Data Analysis which is a highly in-demand skill for big companies.

Some ways to improve your analytical thinking and reasoning skills are as follow:

• Read more
• Be more observant
• Improve your mathematical skills
• Play brain games that challenge you to think deeply and logically

Technology Design and Programming

This one is not surprising at all considering the role technology is playing in shaping our future.

If we look at the list of companies with the highest market capitalization in the world, the top 3 are all software companies.

Software development is a large field so I have listed down some domains which has seen rapid growth in the last 5 years and will continue to grow in foreseeable future. They are as follow:

AI and Data Science is the most in-demand skill in the software and programming industry with rising of electric and self-driving vehicles. Big companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix are hiring Data Scientists with strong analytical skills to make decisions regarding their finances and customer demands.

You can learn these skills for FREE on platforms like YouTube, Khan Academy, Coursera, Edx, and many more.

Leadership and Social Influence

Leadership skill is very important to create a positive work environment for your employees and to use them in such a way that it increases the efficiency of the work. Moreover, leaders guide others to do the right thing. It is one of the highest in-demand soft skill

Whether you work as a Project Supervisor or a Business Executive, the decisions you make as a leader have a direct impact on the business’ bottom line

Now the question arises, Can Anyone be a Leader? The answer is “it is not as easy as it sounds”.

All leaders are expected to be good communicators because their job requires consistent communication between the employees and employers.

A large number of employees think their leaders do not have strong communication skills. You need to have good leadership skills in order to maintain a friendly and trustworthy relationship with their employees, have good management skills, and should know how to utilize manpower in efficient ways.

The most important leadership skills that you need to work on are as follow:

• Creativity
• Analytical Reasoning
• Good Communication
• Active listening
• Ability to build trust

Following were the top 4 job skills for the future that must acquire for landing a job as projected by World Economic Forum in their report.

Originally published at https://info-maniac.org on February 6, 2021.