Career Opportunities in a New World of Advanced Technology and Sustainable Abundance
Do you remember your young and full of world-changing ideas self? Those may have been exciting times for some of us. However, choosing and committing ourselves to a career or educational path was never short of challenges and setbacks.
Yet, for those fortunate enough to have had access to formal education or training, having a degree may have helped secure good jobs, good pays, and a comfortable life; not necessarily happiness and fulfillment, though.
One may wonder how today’s young ones, the so-called Millennial generation, are doing; in particular, as we look around and see a mix of high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work (even for graduates) in advanced economies, as well as persistently high working poverty and low access to education or training in the developing world. In fact, the number of young people out of work globally is reckoned to be close to that of the entire population of the United States.
We can’t help but ask ourselves what will happen to this overflow of young people in a world where advanced technology and automation is fast replacing more and more jobs typically done by people. We already see it coming with tablets on restaurant tables taking people’s orders, software guiding our shopping online, 3D printing, and even driverless vehicles.
Nine jobs that humans may lose to robots by Judith Aquino, Business Insider
Robots threaten these 8 jobs by Matt Egan, CNNMoney
So, are Millennials facing a much more daunting task at meeting their needs, let alone, their aspirations?
Well, with greater challenges come greater opportunities. When we think about it, with machines replacing backbreaking work, or offloading a lot of mundane decision-making and tasks, people will be able to do other more fulfilling and productive things. At the same time, brand new jobs are being created to support the existence of technological advances. Who would have thought a company needed a social media strategist, and a social media team, or specialists in online education, online advertising, and data mining and modeling?
On the other hand, humans are likely to be valued for their unique skills and capabilities like creativity, flexibility, and caregiving. As such, activities that cannot be performed by machines and high-technology devices, no matter how sophisticated, will be highly valued. Futurist Thomas Frey predicts several job titles like Plant Psychologist and Memory Augmentation Therapist, by 2030, which is not as far away into the future as 9/11 is in the past to our present.
While previous generations were given predetermined career options in which to try to fit their talents and strengths, today’s young ones enjoy unprecedented freedom to draw on their unique talents, passions, and perspectives, to re-invent career paths.
Thus, Millennials can rejoice in the freedom and embrace the opportunity to pursue career paths that provide them with the means needed to meet both their material needs and their personal aspirations. As such, they will be key in helping us shape a much more fulfilling world; a new world of Sustainable Abundance.
You will lose your job to a robot by Jeff Carter, Points and Figures
Thomas Frey: the future of jobs, CBC Canada
Exercising our birthright to Sustainable Abundance. Namastê!
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