Industries like manufacturing, finance, transport, etc. already feel the impact of tech advances and will continue to do so in years to come. It’s expected that millions of jobs will be lost to robots in the year to come with the greatest impact to felt in retail, hospitality, transport and manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Adzuna’s own research in the UK has shown that automation is already the cause of a decline in jobs.
However, experts believe there are five highly human abilities that robots will never be able to master and can help robot-proof your career. Here’s how:
Human Skills Robots Can’t Do:
- Feeling: Demonstrate your empathy and intuition
- Seeing: Understand the context and see the bigger picture
- Dreaming and…
- Making: Use your imagination to get creative and develop something new
- Learning: Embrace technology to future-proof your career
1. Feeling: Demonstrate empathy and intuition
Research shows that 30% of nurses’ activities can be automated, and similarly with doctors in some specialties.
The obvious advantage for live workers within the medical industry is human touch; this is true in any role. It is important to for you to develop your soft skills because robots cannot build relationships, empathize or show other forms of emotional intelligence to create personal connections with customers and colleagues.
These skills can be improved through training courses, or just going the extra mile for your colleagues and customers during the day-to-day.
2. Seeing: Understand the context and bigger picture
Current AI (artificial intelligence) is very good at solving a single problem, but not very good at tackling a range of problems. For example, IBM’s Deep Blue machine may be able to beat a chess grandmaster – but it’d suck at Scrabble.
Humans can multitask. For example, a nurse can view a person as a whole, not just focus on one symptom. They understand the intricacies and dependencies of the human body – and can correctly diagnose an illness that a robot may miss as it is too focused on one specific ailment.
Diversifying your skills set can help you to optimize your multitasking abilities. “The best response [to automation] is to increase the skills of the labor force,” according to Gregory Mankiw, an economist at Harvard speaking to the NY Times.
You may even want to consider going back to school as a growing number of jobs require a degree.
3. Dreaming & 4. Making: Use your imagination and creativity to develop something new
Curiosity and creativity are developable human traits that robots struggle to embrace. You don’t need to come up with the next Uber or Mona Lisa – but you can bring creativity and innovation to the table at work in a range of ways. For example, you could identify bottlenecks, take risks and participate whenever you can.
You could also build a personal brand to differentiate yourself and show your skill set. Try participating in industry-specific websites where workers can express their ideas on related issues and attend seminars both internally and externally to network. Make an effort to expand your mind and gain new perspective. These ideas may be applicable to your current role, or introduce you to a new concept and career entirely.
5. Learning: Embrace technology to ‘future-proof’ your career
If you understand technology, then you will be prepared for the changes it will bring to your career. You may want to study programming to help you understand how technology works, or learn to provide human support to machines.
For example, human delivery and taxi drivers could help self-driving vehicles to handle trip-related emergencies with the proper training.
Your should not limit your learning to technology only. You must constantly re-skill and up-skill to stay relevant in the workplace because, the truth is, no one really knows the impact innovation and robots will have on your job.