What is the future of work?

I recently served on an industry panel at an investment conference to discuss that very subject. We spoke a lot about AI, automation, and robotics; job titles, positions, and HR departments; upskilling, reskilling, and hiring friction. But, from my research, career, and I believe far into the future… we will always need a uniquely human workforce. Are jobs going to machines? Yes. Are machines making more jobs? Yes. The ebb and flow will always be… but uniquely human jobs will remain.

We need a uniquely human workforce.

For a uniquely human workforce, technology is used to augment information and automation is used to take tasks away; therefore, elevating thinking and interactions between humans. Business acumen and industry knowledge will coalesce into well-defined buckets that differentiate industries even more than today. Healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and more will be even more specialized but the underlying technology infrastructure will be the same. Common technology infrastructures and platforms will be used by all verticals and industries. With the tech side common, and the industries differentiated, the human workforce will be the most critical.

The three important elements.

The deciding factors as to whether a person will be able to flourish in this new world are the ability to adapt, to transfer competencies, and to be that human element through motivation and emotional intelligence. Where does that leave things now? How can we prepare ourselves for the future of work? The human side of technology skills, industry knowledge, and emotional intelligence are misunderstood by both education and employers. Education and employers are too far apart to see the other side.

The gap is wide.

There are some big differences between what is taught by education and what is expected by employers in these three important future-of-work elements:

So, what should they do?

Both education and employers are doing what they think is necessary and needed, and they are both right… but they need to come together somehow. Should education attempt to provide the real world and first-hand knowledge? Maybe, but they would lose the generality and transferability of what they provide. Should employers lower their standards, take in the non-specialized without applied knowledge? Maybe, but they would run the risk of wasting time and effort or worse succeeding only to have a newly trained worker leave their employment. Though some education and employer partner models do exist... until they come together… we exist.

What do we do?

We start with the end in mind by assisting employers with understanding the future of their work and targeting the competencies their future employees need. We then turn to education to find individuals that most closely match those competencies and hire these future workers into an immersive learning experience. This prepares them for a successful career with their future employer. We believe that this model will exist until we can convince education to incorporate the employer perspective and convince the employer to understand that education is only a piece of the work puzzle.

The future of work.

We believe the uniquely human aspects of technology skills, industry knowledge, and emotional intelligence are competencies which can be taught and can be learned. We believe in the heart of education and its ability to prepare young talent. We believe in employers and their contribution to the greater economy. We are Talent Path… and we believe in bridging the gap between education and employers to prepare the world for the future of work!

Jeff Frey