I have a few friends who one way or another are looking for jobs without much luck. Yesterday night we discussed how the working world is changing, and we tried to evaluate which might be the professions of the future. The same question could also be, what would you suggest your children choose as a profession, and what would be the best way to prepare for it?

A good friend of ours, who is working in the educational sector, mentioned that hairdressing is considered a profession which will still be present in the future as it is not easily replicable. Other professions such as taxi driver and supermarket cashier are positions that may be replaced by electronic devices. Banks will also be radically different from what we know today, which for Switzerland is a major challenge, since banks play a big role in the country’s economy.

A big challenge is the role of the educational structures. Since technologies have significantly increased the speed of change, a risk that students face today is learning for a long period of time, only to, once finished with formal education, discover that the industry requirements have changed. So what should schools teach, and how should they teach? I, for example, was taught to learn by books, reading in libraries, doing research. With the introduction of tablets in the classroom, will all of this still be necessary? How will the libraries change (and the role of the librarian, how will it develop? Will it?)? A critical point for schools is the relationship with the working world: discussing with each other, and having someone from the educational field in our circle was of great help. We agreed that there is a big gap between educational structures and the working world. It appears that the educational system is backward, where a student was able to choose an educational path to follow, and this would bring him to a position in the industry of his choice. But it is not like this any longer, and schools have not yet adapted to that, and some of us believe that they would not know how to adapt.

We tried to answer that question, and we agreed that it would be best to keep as general a profile as possible and specialize only later. Also, as the majority of people have access to higher educational skills, the educational curriculum followed will be less compelling than personal, unique characteristics, soft skills and cultural background.

In concluding our exchange of opinions we agreed that the roles which would be interesting in the future are probably the ones covered by artisans with a managerial education, who are able to identify market niches and make them accessible to the masses. Of course a lot of work is part of the deal. We also discussed working slavery, meaning that in society we are pushed to work more and more, but for what? Perhaps a topic for the next post….