CSIRO’s View on The Future of Careers

Ewin Hannan writing for the AFR in 2016 summarized a report by the CSIRO on careers of the future — specifically with a view to 2035. Whilst the article is 4 years old it is still relevant for young Australian’s evaluating career direction and skill development that will stand them in good stead for the future.

The report highlights that 40% of current jobs will have disappeared by 2035 but explores 6 key areas that will develop and grow substantially over the next decade. We have listed them below as well as skills that may help position you well for being able to move into these roles.

Remote Vehicle Operation

Not just in military applications but in agriculture, transport, emergency services and industry (construction and mining). Since the article was written we have seen the increase in commercial usage of drones and companies that have risen up to help facilitate this, including Australian tech company Propeller Aero.

Military job postings highlight the need for computer literacy, other experience operating machinery (including a driving license) and the ability to develop data processing skills

Customer Experience Experts

As commerce increasingly moves online, providing a superior customer experience becomes both more important and more challenging. There will be a vast number of roles created at all levels from entry level customer service agents to C-Level executives who will work alongside the CEO to optimize the customer experience as a key competitive differentiator.

Key skills will be wide-ranging and include social skills (demonstrating “offline” customer service experience such as waitress/er or teaching), management skills for large teams, user experience and user interface design (UI / UX) and familiarity with software platforms that facilitate customer interactions (e.g. Intercom, Helpdesk).

Personal Healthcare and Wellness

Not only are we faced with an aging population and increasing questions of the suitability of aged care facilities, there are also increasing appreciation of the value of preventative wellness. Mental healthcare, physical fitness and diet are all seen as areas that everyone in society can continually work on and are receiving more widespread adoption.

People who are interested in wellness should look into medicine, sports science, psychology and nursing degrees which will be highly valued both now and in the future.

Security Analysts

There are a burgeoning number of risks to consumers and businesses, whether this is online bullying, misinformation or “fake news”, privacy control or identity theft and hacking. This will result in a significant number of roles at all levels and in all industries from specialist customer service at credit card companies and banks to school counsellors and information security.

Skills should range from “people” skills and general “tech literacy” for specialist customer service agents to very specific accreditations and experience for more technical cyber security professionals (including certifications from companies such as Offensive Security and EC Council).

Data Analysts

Similar to Security Analysts — students who didn’t necessarily excel at extension maths shouldn’t be scared off by the title. This job can involve different levels of technical complexity from helping input data and make it readable by machines, and designing charts to make it easy for people to understand through to the more advanced mathematics. As understanding vast volumes of information continues to give companies, governments and charities a strategic advantage there will be more and more jobs in this space. They will also be increasingly specific, so whatever your interests are you will be able to find a role to play in that space.

Maths is clearly a place to start while in school but different university courses often include statistics classes relevant to their vertical. Aspiring data scientists can also take classes and get certifications on platforms such as Udemy and DataCamp

Decision Support

As business operates in an ever expanding universe the number of strategic choices will increase. Roles in strategy both at consultancies like Bain, McKinsey and BCG as well as internal strategy roles will proliferate.

There are many paths to a role such as this from more technical background such as mathematics and accounting to business and humanities. Roles such as these can provide great education in themselves but can be furthered through ongoing study such as MBA (Masters of Business Administration).

Check out www.ikigainetwork.io, we have interviewed (i) nurses who discuss why the career is growing (ii) a pilot, who outlines the future of automated machinery and (iii) a lawyer who is applying her skills to ensuring a higher standard of customer experience at a leading Australian bank

Here is the original article by Ewin Hannan