I saw a quote in a recent Forbes.com article that stated: "Up to 65% of the jobs Generation Z will perform don’t even exist yet and up to 45% of the activities people are paid to perform today could be automated using current technology. This won’t necessarily mean fewer jobs, but it will mean new jobs requiring different skills.” That scared the wits out of me. My kids fall into Generation Z (born in the late 1990s/early 2000s through the early 2010s); but, my fear is not for them. It is for me. At some point, I am going to be in the working world with my kids; so, obviously, I am going to be facing some of these same realities.
We are always reading about the importance of change in the business world. Companies need to change to meet the growing needs of their customer, employees need to change to remain competitive and relevant in the workplace, and leadership needs to change to manage the ever-evolving workforce. That quote from the Forbes article should serve as a call to action for all of us. Who knows if those predictions will hold true, but clearly things are changing at a rapid pace and we as employees always need to be figuring out ways to add to our skill sets. As our organizations adjust the roles we play within them will look very different or may not be there at all.
My challenge to you this week is to embrace this opportunity. Change might be inevitable, but we shouldn’t sit back and wait for it. There are plenty of things we can do to proactively prepare ourselves for the evolving workplace. Even if we don’t know what direction our careers might take us, there are plenty of things we could/should be doing to position ourselves for continued professional growth and success. Take the opportunity to work with new technology, spend the extra hour learning about a new product or service your company is working on, or work a little harder on expanding your professional network. You never know what tomorrow might bring and how different your job might look in a few years (even if you are sitting behind the same desk), but learning all you can is a great first step.
Onward and Upward