The hot jobs of the future might not be the ones you’d expect.
When you have young children, you wince when you think how ancient your earlier life will sound to them. Like science fiction, but in reverse. “Yes, you had to wait a whole week to watch your favourite show. And then another whole week to see it again.” “We had these paper pictures called ‘maps’ and they showed us where to go.” “There were no mobile phones. When we went to school in the morning no one expected to hear from us again until we came home.”
But now that the speed of change is more like the warp speed of change, it’s very hard to imagine or envision how the world will be when your kids are older. As such, it’s daunting to consider how to help them prepare for it.
Canadians are big believers in science, technology and math education as the keys to future success. In a recent survey, over 90% of Canadians identify them as the most important subjects to prepare students for their future careers. So, forget the arts degree? Nudge your kids towards the chemistry sets and coding classes instead?
That might not be the case. A futurist’s look at the world of work reveals many “jobs of the future” are going to grow from the fields of social services, professional services, hospitality, retail and culture.
The Inspired Minds project gives Canadians a sneak peek into promising professions through 2030. Created by Canadian Scholarship Trust Fund in partnership with futurists and industry leaders, it gives a fascinating take on the job market your kids may be entering.
For example, in 2030 robots are expected to play a large role in home care services, taking on the role of servants or caregivers. Enter the robot counsellor – a resource for picking the right bot for the family. The counsellor will observes how the family interacts and identify their needs and lifestyle so they can make a wise decision about the type of robot they need. If a robot isn’t fitting in, or if family conflicts arise due to the new house robot, the robot counsellor can provide better options and ongoing customer service.
Robot counsellors aren’t going to be building technology – they’ll need many of the skills that today’s family counsellors have. For those counsellors who specialize in robots for living assistance, training and education about different cultures and generational relationships will be vital.
To read more about the jobs of 2030 and the Inspired Minds initiative, visit http://careers2030.cst.org/
