So how do we prepare for jobs that don’t yet exist?
“It becomes a question of having your finger on the pulse by constantly being in contact with industry, and understanding current trends,” says Dr Deonita Damons, director at Boston City Campus. “Accept that most jobs and professions require lifelong learning to remain relevant, keep up-to-date by enrolling for a qualification, elevate your CV with a higher education degree. Boston’s PGDip is upper management level gold for those looking for a promotion or opportunity in a new company”
A brave new world
Technology is indispensable and reshapes our workplaces in many ways, through the adoption of tools like the internet and email communications, and artificial intelligence that monitors Boston’s degree and diploma students.
Continual learning
Author Alvin Toffler predicted that the future belongs to those who can unlearn and relearn. History tells us that technology creates more opportunities and jobs. Sounds odd right? The thinking was that automation would cause people to lose their jobs!. Virtual or tangible, automated or humanised, work is changing in many ways, but the fundamentals remain: acquiring skills to meet new-age workplace demands.
Job market as barometer of economy
A recent CareerJunction report shows a continued increase in recruitment activity over the last 13 months - encouraging because it signifies that employers are showing confidence in the local economy with more opportunities becoming available for job seekers. This despite the ongoing challenges faced by our economy.
Between March 2021 and March 2022, hiring activity increased by 39%, CareerJunction said, representing an uptake of 18% in job advertising, compared to the year-on-year stats for March 2020 to March 2021.
Jobs in demand
CareerJunction Index says that although Information Technology continues to be the top-performing employment sector in South Africa, hiring activity in this area has declined slightly in the last three months.
“This decline may be partly attributed to increased emigration as travel restrictions are relaxed, as well as the growing trend of ‘digital nomads’ in the IT space,” the report said. “Digital nomads are location independent, allowing them to work in any region of the world. While this enables a flexible lifestyle, it also drains the country of necessary talent to fill positions,” says Dr Damons.
Back to work
Interesting to note, according to CareerJunction, the Admin, Office & Support sector has seen the biggest increase in hiring activity at 17%., this possibly because an increasing number of local companies are moving back to a more office-bound working environment as Covid-19 restrictions continue to ease. “Despite this trend, remote working resulting from the pandemic has definitely changed the workplace with a fluid approach by companies to job locations. This has given rise to a hybrid environment with employees alternating between home and work, according to job requirements and company policies,” says Dr Damons.
Skills in demand
Along with the increased demand for digital skills across the board in most occupations, there is a demand for a higher-level thinking in order to accommodate this digital transformation in the workplace. Key skills include Cognitive Flexibility, Emotional intelligence, Critical thinking: and Decision making, all skills that graduates of the Boston BsocSci gain in this degree.
We are living in a time of flux where the demand for essentially human skills such as decision making, empathy, critical thinking is growing in tandem with the digital evolution.
Boston is an award-winning SA private higher education institution. Contact Boston on 011 551-2000, e mail [email protected], visit www.boston.co.za, or Facebook.
