Jobs 2020: AI will make most jobs pointless, so job security is about making sure jobs remain meaningful

Many people, including some of the richest and brightest in the world, seem to concede that AI and super-intelligent machines will make many existing jobs somewhat pointless in this new decade. 

Maybe so – but not necessarily meaningless.

To be really good at something, one must believe in its meaning and commit to it. To be good at your job, no matter what it is, you must make your work meaningful.

For me, having built almost my entire career in recruitment, what gives my work meaning has always been to help people become the best they can possibly be. There will always be a market for that. Even if technology has changed “how” I recruit, my commitment to the “why” has never wavered.

If anything, technology has actually freed me from the most tedious (boring?) parts of the job, and given me more time to focus on what’s really important – relationships. 

That said, technological change brings forth a lot of unknowns – including unseen opportunities that will favor people with certain skills.

Technology changes how information flows and how it’s accessed across the value chain. 

So, understand how your current job fits into the overall flow and value chain, and how it impacts revenues and customers. This will help you see whether technology will reorganize specific job requirements in your role, or eliminate the role entirely.

Job requirements normally have three distinct parts:

• Technical, professional qualifications
• External relationships/partnerships associated with access to customers, clients, partners or government contacts that are key to the company
• Specific skills to perform the job, both hard and soft skills

All of these requirements are being changed or eliminated, but many of the soft skills that make us successful now will become even more important and sought after in the future. What are these skills?

Communication skills, particularly reductionism and storytelling

Communication skills will remain important no matter what. How we communicate, to whom we communicate with, and how often, may change as jobs change. But the essential skills of communication – delivering a message that sticks and connects with others – these will never change because people will always look to connect with other people, not machines. At the end of the day, it’s this “human connection” that gives meaning to what we do.

A friend of mine recently told me about her daughter, who at 26 years old is considered a prodigy and one of the most sought after talents in the insurance industry, which is ripe for disruption.

When asked what was the one skill that made her stood out, she said it was her daughter’s ability to explain something very complex in the simplest terms that people can understand (reductionism) and emotionally connect with (storytelling).

These skills will become increasingly important in the 2020s because humans are hardwired to be scared of the unknown, and the ability to articulate simple solutions to complex problems, and to tell stories, will help make the unknown more knowable. Again, there’s a market for that.

Even at the C-level, “Digital Transformation” is one of the top agenda among CEOs today. If your CEO can clearly define and articulate how digital transformation impacts your job, then you face fewer unknowns in your job and your future in the company.

Ability to work independently, yet interdependently

Companies are empowering employees with greater independence today. How do we excel in a job that gives us greater freedom?

Working remotely, hotdesking, co-working will continue to be trends in the 2020s due to rapidly improving connectivity and millennials’ growing influence on work culture. 

Much has been written about the pros and cons of remote work, but for me, it all boils down to whether you can get things done – consistently and reliably. 

While it’s amazing to have the freedom and flexibility to work anytime, anywhere you can be at your most productive and creative, that freedom comes with greater responsibility.

Trust is the most valuable currency in an interconnected world, and nothing erodes trust faster than not doing what you say you’re going to do.

2020 and beyond…

Who knows what the new decade brings? Maybe we will all work less because robots will take care of everything for us. Maybe “Universal Basic Income” will liberate the world and pay for our most basic needs, giving us greater freedom to explore our deepest passions and highest pursuits. Or maybe the doomsayers are right: AI will supersede humans someday, climate change will make Earth unliveable, and our only hope is to emigrate to another planet. 

As 2020 begins my spirit of adventure gives me hope. This spirit of adventure helps me in times of sadness and uncertainty. Losing my mom at the end of 2019 cast a dark cloud on my life as she had been my anchor of strength and courage, my very reason for living and being. 

Trusting that time will heal the wounds and that she is in a better place gives me comfort, but it has not helped me embrace the unknown. Mom gave me the power and kindness to love and to give, the courage to fight and to hope, and the curiosity to learn and to explore. With these, I am confident I can take on any job.

Lots of Love,

Louisa

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