2022 & Beyond – The skills & jobs of tomorrow

We transitioned into 2021 under the steady grey clouds of the pandemic, many of us waiting our turn to get the jab and hopefully start our own journey to getting our lives back to normal, a Covid normal that is.

Vaccines to suppress Covid-19 were developed at a pace never seen before. Innovation and challenging the way vaccines are commonly developed has led to successes, but with new variants appearing, our best science and medical minds will be hard at work adapting vaccines to continue the gains.

The health and economic shocks we’ve experienced for almost two years have seen many businesses turn to and adopt new technologies. In some cases, the shift to technological innovations has not only allowed businesses to build resilience during this time, but to also strive with new products and services in an environment of constant change and high uncertainty.

Resilience will likely remain a topic front of mind for business leaders into 2022 and beyond. It has also been highlighted in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF)– The Future of Jobs Report 2020, as an in-demand skill:

“The top skills and skill groups which employers see as rising in prominence in the lead up to 2025 include groups such as critical thinking and analysis as well as problem-solving, and skills in self-management such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility“

Moving into 2022 organizations will also need to address and discover innovative solutions to the ongoing supply chain issues, the hybrid/remote working environment, talent shortages and rapidly evolving skill needs.

A July 2021 Gartner survey of 550 HR leaders also found that nearly 60% of them reported that building critical skills and competencies will be their number one priority in 2022.

So what might the jobs and critical skills of tomorrow be?

The pandemic-related disruptions have not only had an immediate effect on the jobs and skill requirements of today and the near future, but will likely have an everlasting effect. It has meant many business leaders, as WEF reports, are not just planning to continue but to accelerate their transformational plans and adoption of technology, creating talent shortages in the present, namely in areas of technology and innovation and across multiple industries.

Skills gaps are predicted to remain high, due to a high number of jobs changes mainly because technological adoption by companies will transform tasks, jobs and skills by 2025.

The top 15 skills as reported by WEF:

• Analytical thinking and innovation
• Active learning and learning strategies
• Complex problem-solving
• Critical thinking and analysis
• Creativity, originality and initiative
• Leadership and social influence
• Technology use, monitoring and control
• Technology design and programming
• Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility
• Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
• Emotional intelligence
• Trouble shooting and user experience
• Service orientation
• System analysis and evaluation
• Persuasion and negotiation

In response to Covid-19 business leaders are not only continuing with their change journey but planning to accelerate changes in the areas of:

• Digitalization of work processes
• Automation of tasks
• Digitalization of upskilling/reskilling
• Ongoing organizational transformations

Job trends

So what has WEF found on what jobs will be in greater or lower demand in the coming years.

The top 5 jobs in increasing demand

• Data analysts and scientists
• AI & machine learning specialists
• Big data specialists
• Digital marketing and strategy specialists
• Process automation specialists

The top 5 jobs in decreasing demand

• Data entry clerks
• Administrative and executive secretaries
• Accounting, bookkeeping and payroll clerks
• Accountants and auditors
• Assembly and factory workers

The adoption of new technology, the increasing demand for new products and services and a trajectory towards innovation and growth across many industries, are key factors influencing in-demand, emerging jobs and declining jobs.

Project, change and agile product development skills and roles will also remain in demand, perhaps not within the top 5 given the immediate focus of business strategies, but their importance cannot be discounted and this goes for other critical jobs and skills related to change. They will continue to remain important roles and skills in periods of high and fast transitions. These skills and roles bring experience and know-how that not only allow the exploitation of the ‘right’ opportunities, but support successful transitions to future ways of working so as to enable the realization of value.

Thinking of a new role or seeking to build skills within an existing role?

Below we’ve complied a simple snapshot of some in-demand jobs and matched these to our Hilogic courses/coaching services that can aid in developing either foundational or advanced skills for such roles.

Talk to us to learn more.