Want a Career in 2025? Focus on These Opportunities

Five years from now, about five million jobs will be taken over by automation.

However, there will be new jobs that will take the place of jobs being done by robots.

To be able to compete in the future job market, workers will need to upskill and reskill in order to be future-of-work ready.

Take a look at the jobs of the future and the skills needed to get those jobs.

• Food services industry jobs such as agriculture, restaurant, and in-home food delivery or cooking services



• The housing industry, tiny home expert, 3D printing of homes, and jobs that provide solutions for homeless



• The technology industry, data scientist, software developer, systems analyst, and data analyst. These jobs require technology skills and the ability to match data to business outcomes.



• Entertainment industry, video storyteller, content creator for media platforms, game developer, and interactive media



• Sales industry jobs such as sales analyst, sales professional, customer sales support, and successful skills require emotional intelligence, data solutions, understanding applications, and ability to simplify solutions for customers



• Medical industry jobs such as researchers, medical innovators, and wellness experts in the workplace will require skills such as being able to communicate complex ideas, ability to translate data into innovative solutions, and finding creative and simple ways to increase well-being for workers



• Team leaders in a variety of industries and roles will include managing robot automation and AI, along with diverse teams from around the world—skills will include ability to match human solutions with technology solutions and ability to seamlessly move between excelling with technology and inspiring people in the workplace

You can take any industry that exists and see that disruptions with technology, worker attitude changes, and demographics are rapidly shifting the future landscape of work.

For example, in the accounting and legal industry worker attitudes shift away from billable hours and more toward project pricing.

Younger accountants and lawyers are questioning the value of working to fill a quota of ‘hours' to providing results for clients and therefore completely restructuring the way firms bill and interact with customers.

The opportunities for workers in these industries is to transform the way the work is done by leveraging automation while increasing client satisfaction with results.

With the increase of data analytics, it is easy for a company to see what is and what is not working in business or industry. The ability to translate data into profound solutions is a big future of work opportunity for those looking to guarantee future job security.

If you want to ensure a career in 2025, you need only look at the trends of human behavior. Focus on what people will always want: food, housing, entertainment, or anything to do with health and wellbeing.

Next, focus on continually upskilling and reskilling to meet the fast changes impacting the future of work.

For those who want to upskill and reskill, right now developed skills are:

• Ability to link data with critical thinking that leads to business innovation



• Ability to think with real-time creativity in everyday work scenarios



• Ability to communicate with increasingly diverse teams of varying cultures, personalities, and locations



• Ability to adapt quickly to rapid change



• Ability to turn disruptions into opportunities



• Ability to engage clients and co-workers quickly and effectively



• Ability to bridge diverse opinions into a collective solution



• Ability to inspire and lead change toward consistent innovation



• Ability to link the right technology solution to the business challenge



• Ability to stay positive and solution-oriented in rapid changing workplace culture

The future of careers is exciting—you can create your own future by seeking the industry opportunities and focusing on being a lifelong learner in order to stay relevant and valuable to all future employers.

This article was originally published on Silicon Republic.

Cheryl Cran is a future-of-work expert and the founder of nextmapping.com, a future-of-work research and consulting firm that helps leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs be future-ready. She is the author of six books, including her new one due out at the end of 2018 titled, "NextMapping—How Great Leaders Inspire People to Create the Future of Work."

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.