There are huge career opportunities opening up in today’s world economy.  And…the good news is these opportunities are yours for the taking.

 

 

“What’s the catch?” you ask.  There always has to be a catch, right?

The catch is you have to be prepared to grab one of these opportunities.  Plus, you have to do the preparation work on your own.  Our education system isn’t teaching any courses on how to qualify for these jobs.

Just what is this wonderful, can’t miss opportunity?

 

Chaos

Huh?  Chaos?  Are you kidding me?

No, I’m not.   Remember, where there is chaos, there is always opportunity.  Now is no different than any time in the past.

Here’s what’s happening.  The World Economic forum estimates losses of 7.1 million jobs due to automation and technology  between 2015 and 2020.   http://bit.ly/2ubfHLc    Two-thirds of these job losses will be concentrated in office and administrative roles. Many more will be in manufacturing and production.

Further, many of the jobs that remain will need skill sets that current workers don’t have. This means many of the displaced workers will be forced into lower paying jobs.

This doesn’t sound like an opportunity to me

It is, but you have to ready to seize it.  And you have to start now.

In his great book, The End of Jobs, author Taylor Pearson notes the following:

1. Somewhere around the year 2000, we began to transition out of the knowledge economy.
2. There is a shift underway from knowledge to Entrepreneurship. Why? Because entrepreneurs are better equipped to deal with complex and chaotic situations
3. The dominant institution is shifting away from corporations and towards individuals.
4. The dominant player is no longer the corporate CEO, but moving toward the  Entrepreneur.
5. The winners in these shifts are those who invest early in the trend.

(If you would like to buy a copy of this terrific book click on the link below)

This shift is already underway.  Forbes estimates that by 2020, 50 percent of the labor force will be Freelancers. http://bit.ly/2tfLsjq

 

How do I get in on this?

Start now.  Today.  Here are the top 10 skills listed by the World Economic Forum Freelancers and Entrepreneurs will need by 2020:

1. Complex problem solving
2. Critical Thinking
3. Creativity
4. People management
5. Coordinating with others.
6. Emotional Intelligence
7. Judgment and decision making
8. Service orientation
9. Negotiation
10. Cognitive flexibility

Rate yourself on these skills.  I can hear you now, “Crap, I’m no good at any of that stuff.”  Yes, you are!  You just don’t realize it.  And…what you don’t know, you can learn.

Like it or not, if you want to succeed in the coming years, you have to embark on a course of lifelong learning. Get good at these 10 skills and you’ll be ready for jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

I’ll be exploring this topic over the next few weeks.  I’ll be taking each of the skills shown above and exploring how you can become more proficient at them.  Just like the old David Letterman “Top Countdowns”, I’ll be starting with #10 and counting down to #1.  So, stay tuned.

 

Click here to buy Taylor Pearson’s The End of Jobs.  (Full disclosure, I am an Amazon Affiliate)