How to Prepare for a Changing Job Market

A friend of mine, who’s 3 years older than me, graduated from high school in June. I asked him how he felt about entering university, to which he responded, “I just don’t want to become NEET after four years of study.” NEET refers to young people not in employment, education, or training – disconnected, disengaged, and unproductive. I didn’t expect this disheartening reply, but I also understand why he's feeling anxious instead of hopeful. Not only is economy not doing great, but also the job market is disrupted by automation and artificial intelligence. According to research, of the jobs existing today, some will change a lot, and some will disappear. At the same time, some new jobs will appear but it’s not yet very clear what they will be like. There’s just so much uncertainty.

But sitting here worrying doesn’t make us any better off, does it? The key question is how to prepare for a future that’s constantly changing. I’ve searched around for answers and found an RBC study that provides super helpful insights and guidance. Here, I’m sharing my learnings with you.

The world is shifting to a skills-based economy

In the past, people were often hired based on their education background. But that’s changing. Today, employers are starting to care more about what you can do than what you studied. This is called a skills-based economy, where our areas of study in university are not as important as transferrable skills that will allow us to learn, adapt, and take on new roles.

What does this mean? It means we should stop being obsessed with getting into certain majors simply because “they are popular”. Instead, we should focus on building the foundational skills required for learning and growth. In other words, we need to become like Martian Manhunter! Fun Facts: Martian Manhunter is one of the 7 original members of the Justice League. He can transform into any person, creature, or object, and can acquire new abilities by observing and adapting to new environments and situations. How cool is that!!

We should focus on building “human skills”

“Ok, cool,” you may say, “But what skills do we need?”

The RBC study has provided a list:

• Active listening – really hearing and understanding others

• Speaking/Writing clearly – expressing ideas well

• Critical thinking – solving problems and making smart decisions

• Reading comprehension – understanding written information quickly and accurately

According to RBC’s research, these skills will be “relatively” or “very” important for nearly 100% of future jobs across ALL industries. Also, the study says, “Breadth of skills will be more critical than proficiency”. This means having a wide range of skills matters more than having perfect mastery of just one thing. This is actually good news for us young people, because mastery requires lots of practice and experience, which takes time to build up.

RBC also found that many different careers share similar skill sets. They grouped these into six “job clusters.” This is very important because it means we can move between jobs more easily than we might think. We just need to focus on the right skills. For example, by developing a few new skills, a dental assistant could become a graphic designer! So, we don’t need to worry about changes; we just need to become good at rolling with the punches!

Job Cluster	Skill Emphasis	Possible Transition	Disruption Risk
Solvers	Emphasis on Management Skills and Critical Thinking	Mathematician to Software Engineer	Minimal
Providers	High in Analytical Skills	Real Estate Agent to Police Officer	Low
Facilitators	Emotional intelligence	Dental Assistant to Graphic Designer	Moderate
Technicians	High in Technical Skills	Car Mechanic to Electrician	Moderate
Crafters	Medium in Technical Skills Low in Management Skills	Farmer, Plumber	Very High
Doers	Basic skills	Greenhouse Worker to Crane Operator	High

Source: Table from RBC’s Humans Wanted report (2018). See Works Cited for full reference.

Everyone should be comfortable with technology

We don’t have to be a tech genius, but we do need to understand how to use digital tools. Knowing how to work with computers, apps, and smartphones is now as important as reading and writing. We need this kind of digital literacy in almost every job, no matter what field we choose.

Flexibility is key

As mentioned earlier, in the future, employers will care less about our degrees and more about our skills. What matters most is our ability to learn, adapt, and solve problems. While we don’t have a crystal ball that can forecast the future, we can focus on building those "human skills" (i.e. active listening, critical thinking, speaking, writing, reading) and digital literacy, stay curious, embrace changes, and be ready to grow.

Work Cited

Royal Bank of Canada. Humans Wanted: How Canadian Youth Can Thrive in the Age of Disruption. 2018, https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/humans-wanted.html.