Future proofing your career

The Australian workforce has faced a number of major challenges in recent years including COVID-19, impacts from globalisation, natural disasters and fast-paced technological changes, including increasing pressures from digitisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

In the wake of these challenges, and with the knowledge that change will continue to happen, how can you future-proof your career so you can adapt and respond to change? Here are Skillset’s top tips:

1. Improve your digital skills

According to UNESCO, digital skills are defined as the following:

“…a range of abilities to use digital devices, communication applications, and networks to access and manage information. They enable people to create and share digital content, communicate and collaborate, and solve problems for effective and creative self-fulfillment in life, learning, work, and social activities at large.”

Australian workers are using their digital skills right now and demand for digital skills is continuing to grow. Research shows that 64% of Australian workers are currently applying digital skills in their work and in the next five years, this will increase to 90%. Other research commissioned by Amazon Web Services identifies the average Australian worker will need to acquire seven new digital skills by 2025 to keep up with changes in technology.

To ensure your digital skills stay up to date, consider the following:

• Undertaking further training in digital skills required for the workplace. For example, this could include increasing your abilities in Microsoft Office, or understanding how to use video conferencing software, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
• Engaging in technology training specific to your industry or job. This could include studying tools to undertake specialist tasks. For example, learning how to use online survey software to understand customer insights, or project management apps to plan and execute an event, or analytics software to interrogate business intelligence.
• Learning about a new technology that interests you or you have a passion for, such as website development, cybersecurity or AI in healthcare.

To find education and training to help keep your digital skills up to date, try the following links:

• TAFE NSW
• Go Skills
• Google Digital Garage
• LinkedIn Learning
• Microsoft Digital Skills
• Future Learn
• Open Universities Australia

2. Continually update your skills and experience

In addition to updating your technology skills, it is necessary to ensure your technical skills remain current and that you regularly look for opportunities that add to your skills and working experience. This could be through:

• Formal learning, such as micro credentials, short courses, TAFE or university courses
• On the job learning, where you get the opportunity to develop new abilities, experience different ways of working, or take on additional responsibilities.

To keep pace with change, it is helpful to adopt a lifelong learning mindset. This may mean re-educating yourself if the skills you have are no longer needed and there is an opportunity to learn other skills that are in demand.

3. Develop your soft skills

Research from SEEK has identified that 64% of employers are more likely to hire a candidate with strong soft skills. Soft skills are those skills that help you do your job and interact with others in the workplace. They include abilities such as time management, collaboration, creative thinking, problem solving, communication and team work.

With talk of automation and AI taking over many hard skills in the workplace, it is worth noting that soft skills are much more difficult to automate or replicate. In fact, it is anticipated that soft skill intensive jobs will actually account for two thirds of all jobs by 2030 and the number of jobs in soft skill intensive occupations is expected to grow at 2.5 times the rate of other occupations.

As a result, it is important to regularly review your soft skills and work on improving those skills you are weaker in. For more information on how to improve your soft skills, click here.

4. Keep connected

Another way of future proofing your career is to make sure you stay connected to your industry by maintaining and updating your knowledge, and generally keeping well-informed. To ensure your knowledge is current, follow industry leaders on social media and check in on industry trends and announcements by reading news from quality sources and industry publications.

Networking is also a valuable way of ensuring you stay up to date with your industry. To establish and grow your network, consider joining a professional association and attending the events, seminars and training they provide. LinkedIn can also help you develop your network and gives you the opportunity to contribute to an area of interest and learn from other professionals through LinkedIn groups.

5. Remain open to opportunities and be adaptable

With so much change happening and the inevitability of more change occurring, it is important to look to the future with an open mind and be as adaptable as you can. With the current pace of change, new opportunities will arise in workplaces and embracing these will help you learn new skills, meet new people, be exposed to new technologies and gain new and different experiences – all of these will improve your employability!

So, don’t be fearful of change! Taking steps to future proof your career will help you navigate the challenges to come and feel confident about their possibilities!