Work orientation: how to prepare for the professions of the future

According to a study by the World Economic Forum, 65% of the children who go to school today, once they are graduates, will carry out work that, to date, do not yet exist.
How then to prepare for the best for tomorrow’s professions?
As stressed several times on this Magazine and emerged in the study conducted by Impactscool at Futureland, will be some personal characteristics, rather than technical knowledge, to make the difference: flexibility, adaptability and empathy will have a fundamental role, as well as the ability to work in a team.

We talked about these issues, during the Vision Hack organized by Impactscool in Cremona, with Stefano Camerini and Lorenzo Biffi, respectively Candidate Manager and Talent Attraction Manager for Adecco Group Italia, both involved in the design of initiatives to promote connections between the world Education and that of work.

What will be the skills of the future?

L: The skills that do not undergo digital transformation, that is less susceptible to technological changes. These are man’s own skills, the so-called soft skills or transversal skills: creativity, curiosity, empathy, ability to work in a team, emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility. I believe that these skills, with the passage of time, will be increasingly important: we cannot chase technology, which is changing and growing exponentially. Instead, these skills will be the basis of all the professions of tomorrow.

What are the jobs that are disappearing and which, on the other hand, are those that are growing rapidly?

S: Making a list is difficult. In the territory that I manage (Lombardy south) we have an important and varied presence of industrial sectors and companies. Therefore, in this geographical area, the required professional skills are both generic and more technical and specific and, in this sense, there is a continuity with respect to the past.
However, a trend is evident, transversal to different sectors or types of companies, so there is a strong focus on the characteristics that people bring into the company. The focus is on the inclusion of figures that can guarantee flexibility, availability and desire to ride change, characteristics that allow the worker to adapt to the evolution of the profession.

Orientation is also a fundamental aspect of those involved in job placement. How has the school guidance changed and what are the forecasts for the future?

L: The orientation system in Italy will change to give people the tools to interpret changes in the labour market. In the future, we will be able to write a curriculum or to hold an interview, but it will be essential to provide the tools to read and interpret how work and market are changing. We need to provide people, especially young people but not only, to anticipate changes and be able to relocate from the professional point of view. For this reason, we are working to support the workers through a digital platform and to explain them, starting from the skills of the present, what the opportunities for growth and improvement may be.

How will it be, instead, a reality like Adecco in 2050, how will the selection of personnel change?

S: Difficult to say today. The most important aspects will be emotional intelligence and therefore it will be essential to help both the worker and the society to choose considering also the emotional aspects and not exclusively rational superstructures. Moreover, thanks to the digitization and the analysis of the data, the challenge will be to be present in every important moment for the company and the career of people: the interaction must be constant, of course, if the interlocutor is interested in this type of relationship.