Future-proofing your skills
The recent situation with COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown has been a setback for many organisations and their employees. However, while there is a challenging road ahead as the economy begins to revive, it has also been a unique time period which has given all of us the opportunity to take stock and think about what the future of work might mean on a personal level.
It’s a silver lining that many organisations and individuals are taking advantage of, rethinking their career broadly and the skills they need to get where they need to be.
Education – particularly in the online postgraduate space – has a key role to play in helping people re-orient their career direction, and acquire the transferable skills they need to keep up with the rapid pace of change across many of our industries.
How should you future-proof your skills? Thinking around this is changing. Technical hard skills continue to be important – for instance in growing areas such as blockchain, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and UX design – according to a recent LinkedIn study, but this isn’t the end of the story.
Soft skills defining the future of work
One common trend that is emerging – and perhaps accelerating at this unprecedented time as many of us work from home – is that soft skills are becoming increasingly vital.
Technologies inevitably change, but the skills we use every day – to stay connected with our colleagues and collaborate effectively – are transferrable across almost every industry. Whether we are working virtually or face-to-face, the social and productive connections we maintain at work are fundamentally important.
Another anticipated shift in the workforce is towards further automation, meaning that lower-skilled technical jobs may not exist in future.
By putting time and effort into developing your soft skills, you’ll build a dynamic skill set that will serve you well throughout the entirety of your career, which won’t be replaceable through automation.
Roadmap to the future through lifelong learning
The savviest of employees set themselves apart from the competition because they never stop learning and developing.
This is not as difficult to achieve as it sounds, and if you find yourself in your ideal industry – or know exactly where you want to go – it’s something you’ll likely be dedicated enough to pursue for its own sake. In which case it’s just a matter of finding the best way to go about it.
Online postgraduate study is a great way to re-energise your career, in a structured but flexible way, along your lifelong learning journey. It’s something both positive and practical, equipping you with the real world skills you need to get you where you need to be in your career.
Whatever changes you need to make to adapt to the changing needs of your industry, future-proofing your skills – which you can do in a variety of ways – will help you develop professionally and ensure your career is always moving in a positive direction. Forward.
At QUT Online we are committed to providing our online students with a range of options across six disciplines. We’re here to support you, and help you future-proof your career skills, so you can excel in the changing world of work.
Explore our range of postgraduate courses and short course single and micro units today.
