Parents are routinely told by schools that their children are being equipped with the skills required for jobs that don’t yet exist. But already you’d be forgiven for not recognising some of the job titles out there.
From brand evangelist to hacker in residence, from head of machine learning to innovation Sherpa, the kind of phrases working their way into the employment lexicon are hard to keep up with, with ninjas and gurus jostling with happiness officers and visionaries.
The shifting sands of nomenclature aside, some trends are emerging that are indicative of the skills most likely to be in demand in the coming years.
Of these trends, one of the biggest is automation. “In the decades to come, many tasks traditionally performed by humans will be automated. This is likely to have a major disruptive impact on the labour market, and could change the face of the modern workforce significantly,” says Mariano Mamertino, EMEA economist at global job site Indeed.
With more than 200 million unique visitors a month globally, Indeed has a front-row seat for all of this. “We see exactly which jobs are out there and which skills are in demand. And with that data, we see that the most promising careers for the future will be those that complement the work of machines, or which rely heavily on human qualities that cannot be replicated by a computer.”
Demand for cyber security expertise is set to grow, for example, not least because so many of the world’s biggest tech names are here. “Dublin is a booming tech and business hub and home to more than 1,200 multinationals, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Dell,” says Mamertino. According to the IDA, the top five worldwide security software companies are also located in Ireland.
As cyber attacks increase in scale and sophistication, employers in Ireland are racing to recruit the right staff to protect their business, which has helped fuel demand for cyber security professionals. There has been a 71 per cent increase in cyber security postings over the past 12 months; Ireland currently has the second highest share of cyber security roles advertised in the world, coming only second to Israel, a recent Indeed study showed.
Data scientists
Data scientists are also wanted. “As our capacity for collecting, storing and analysing information increases, so too will demand for people with data science skills. Professionals who combine technical and scientific expertise with the ability to find the important stories hidden in a mass of information will be in high demand.” Jobseekers seem to be aware of this trend, as there has been a 48 per cent surge in the level of search for data science jobs in Ireland in the last 12 months, he says.
Healthcare opportunities will also grow, with improved diet and living conditions and better healthcare leading to greater longevity. “The healthcare sector will continue to grow in Ireland and according to CARDI [Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland] the number of people aged 85 years or older in Ireland will rise almost fivefold, from 74,000 to 356,000. Centenarians are predicted to top 8,500 by 2041,” says Mamertino.
Indeed recently revealed that the number of nursing jobs available for each jobseeker was 4:1, with A&E nursing jobs officially the hardest to fill in this sector. Nearly two thirds of the vacancies were still available two months after first advertised. “Nursing is a people-facing career, far from becoming automated. Strong interpersonal skills, as well as dedication and patience are needed, which are unlikely to be replaced wholly by machines any time soon,” he says. That said, Pepper, a ‘humanoid’ robot, is already touted as an elder-care solution in Japan.
Marketing, communications and design, all areas where creativity and business intersect, are unlikely to be automated any time soon. “Machines do many things well, but coming up with new and surprising ideas is not – yet – one of them,” says Mamertino. “Creative professions which focus on the complex interplay of ideas, words and images with shared cultural and social values are also likely to survive the rise of the machines. Social intelligence and new media literacy are key skills to be cultivated.”
And while driverless lorries and drone deliveries are in the pipeline, the logistics sector will still require human workers to oversee and manage complex, global supply chains.
“This modernisation of the global logistics sector, paired with the increase in popularity of online retail and food delivery services among consumers, has had a notable impact on the number of delivery driving roles coming onto the market. According to our data, in Ireland, consumer demand has driven an 83 per cent increase in delivery driver roles over the past 12 months,” he says.
The continuing war for talent means human resources practitioners will be required well into the future, particularly those that can deliver data-driven HR strategies. “Candidate selection and recruitment will become more data-driven, with automated screening based on machine learning and the use of analytics tools becoming more widespread. Those best poised to succeed as HR professionals in the future will combine soft skills and emotional intelligence with expertise in software and analytics.
Education and training is another area where we continue to see strong demand, especially in developing countries and emerging economies, while becoming a chef could also be a recipe for career longevity. In June, the Restaurants Association of Ireland warned restaurants were already curtailing opening hours for want of qualified chefs.
Skilled chefs
It’s another gap robots would be hard-pressed to fill. “People will always need to eat and they will always enjoy going out to eat food prepared by other people. Chefs combine creative intelligence and complex manual skills in ways which are very difficult to automate in the future,” says Mamertino. In Ireland, demand is higher than supply of skilled chefs, with 16 per cent of head chef, 12 per cent of chef and 10 per cent of sous chef jobs remaining unfilled on the Indeed website after 60 days.
The glut of data already emanating from IT systems is only going to increase once the connected devices of the internet of things kicks in. Having the skills to sift through it all for insight will be key. “There are lots of data science and analytics jobs out there but one title I’m seeing coming through is data presentation expert,” says Wendy Murphy, senior international HR director for LinkedIn, the business social network.
“In the last couple of years we’ve seen the amount of data being generated growing and it’s now at the centre of everything, but being able to present that data to a lay audience, visualising it and making it significant and meaningful, will be in demand.”
Demand for people with the skills to generate virtual reality applications will rise, as will current demand for those with digital marketing skills such as search engine marketing and optimisation, plus information security and network security, says Murphy.
Non techies needn’t despair. “We will also see growth in demand for people with leadership and people skills, which we sometimes take for granted. A lot of technology companies are looking for people with leadership ability, particularly on the sales side, soft skills such as negotiation, persuasion, and really good communications skills. Demand for those traverses all industries and sectors.”
Murphy agrees that human resources management skills will be required too, to cope with not just the changing world of work, but the changing demands of workers. “We are seeing growth in the whole HR and talent management space, and we are seeing that learning and development are growing areas too, particularly the area of personalised learning.”
In the war for talent, HR is a key weapon. “It’s about putting employees at the centre from day one, so that they have an amazing experience, a sense of being listened to, are valued, and are getting continuing learning and development opportunities.”
Those with the skills that are most in demand can pick and choose their employer: “It’s a buyers’ market and they will scour the internet to ensure your talent brand is what you say it is. They are very discerning.”
