PEDESTRIAN.TV has partnered with La Trobe University to get y’all thinking about the future. If you’re looking for ace advice on your next step, the team at La Trobe can help. Visit their website HERE to learn more, or register for Advisory Day (that’s going down December 13) HERE.
FYI: 44% of Australia’s 5.1 million current jobs are at risk of, y’know, ceasing to exist due to digital disruption in the next 20 years– so it’s obviously important to keep an eye on those soon-to-be-popping-off sectors of employment. Additionally, another way to help ensure you’ll be fruitfully employed down the line is to future proof your damn-fine self.
Professor Leigh Drake, Pro Vice Chancellor (Employability) at La Trobe points out that, “It is vital that, as far as possible, we ‘future proof’ our students and develop the key skills they will need for a successful career in a rapidly changing labour market”.
We couldn’t agree more, good professor.
To give y’all a bit of direction / a few career paths to consider, we caught up with Social Researcher, Trends Analyst and Director of Research at McCrindle Research, Eliane Miles.
Miles has a fab grasp on what industries + jobs will go off like a cut snake in 2020, so if you like what you read below and wanna know more, you can catch her at La Trobe’s Advisory Day (you can register HERE) where she’ll be the keynote speaker.
HEALTH CARE & SOCIAL ASSISTANCE
- Projected growth rate by 2020: 16.4%
- Highest projected growth sub-industry: Medical Services (26.8%)
- Current job examples: Midwives, Psychologists, Massage Therapists
- ‘New’ / high demand job examples: Medical Nanotechnologists, Medical Engineers, Aged and Disability Care Agents
“Demographic changes such as Australia’s ageing population is creating new demand and opportunities, not just for the aged care sector but also for retirement service agents,” says Miles. “Australia’s record birth rates and more affluent parents are creating new childcare services and carer roles. From cultural diversity to changing family structures, population shifts create new demands and industries.”
As Miles mentions, there’s going to be huge growth in the Aged Care sector. This growth, however, won’t be limited to jobs like Aged Care Nurses like you might imagine. Medical Nanotechnologists, for example, will be in demand to engineer treatments for the elderly that will be delivered on a hella small scale. Imagine if tiny robots could replace a hip?! It’d remove threats like post-op infections, which are a huge issue for patients in their later years.
PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL SERVICES
- Projected growth rate by 2020: 14.8%
- Highest projected growth sub-industry: Architectural, Engineering & Technical Services (19.5%)
- Current job examples: Accountants, Interior Designers, Solicitors
- ‘New’ / high demand job examples: Digital Services Officers, Data Visualisation Experts, Virtual Reality Engineers, Cognitive Computer Architects
“75% of Australia’s fastest growing occupations require ‘STEM Skills’ – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths,” says Miles. Not all STEM-based roles will be based in this particular industry, of course, but a large chunk will.
Data Visualisation Experts, for instance, will benefit from having some STEM skills under their belt. Their job is to collect data – a lot of which will come from science / tech fields – and present it in an easy to digest format (think: a sexy lil’ infographic). As data science continues to boom, the need for folks being able to present it in a fool-proof way will boom too. If you’re a human who likes numbers just as much as design, we highly recommend you look into this field.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
- Projected growth rate by 2020: 13%
- Highest projected growth sub-industry: Preschool Education (20.5%)
- Current job examples: Secondary School Teachers, Driving Instructors, Gallery + Library & Museum Technicians
- ‘New’ / high demand job examples: Classroom Avatar Manager, Teaching Avatar Designer
Just as it has been for the past, y’know, forever, the education industry is gagging for newbies to join its ranks. What we’ll see change in our lifetime, however, will be the rise of technology’s role within the classroom. There’s a chance teachers will be replaced by ridiculously smart avatars (AKA human-like computers) who’ll work with students in a way that best suits them (e.g. more hands on approach as opposed to traditional study). The human touch will still be needed to best pair these avatars with pupils, and that’s where Classroom Avatar Managers come into play.
ADMINISTRATIVE & SUPPORT SERVICES
- Projected growth rate by 2020: 7.8%
- Highest projected growth sub-industry: ‘Other’ Administrative Services (14.8%)
- Current job examples: Commercial Cleaners, Conference & Event Organisers, Telemarketers
- ‘New’ / high demand job examples: Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) Specialist
As tech changes, so too does the way communities and businesses need to be supported. The perfect example of that is the SIEM Specialist, whose role will be to ensure an event is safe from a cyber perspective. No, we’re not talking about someone who’s trying to stop Stacy stealing Maddy’s wifi password at her sweet sixteenth; we’re referring to something like an international conference where confidential documents are being shared between nations.
RENTING, HIRING & REAL ESTATE SERVICES
- Projected growth rate by 2020: 11.9%
- Highest projected growth sub-industry: Real Estate Services (13.8%)
- Current job examples: Real Estate Sales Agents, Land Economists & Valuers, Conveyancers & Legal Executives
- ‘New’ / high demand job examples: Drone Pilots, UAV Technicians
Seeing as buying a house will be one of the greatest struggles faced by anyone born in the 90s, it makes sense that we’re going to be hugely selective when purchasing a crib (if we manage to amass enough money to get a foot in the door to begin with). To paint houses in the most positive light, Real Estate Agents will need to get creative when presenting abodes to the market. Enter: Drone Pilots. They’ll be used to capture gawjus shots of houses in an effort to entice buyers.
Not that you needed a reminder, but as the whackier jobs described above demonstrate, the landscape of employment is shifting in a big way. To keep up with all the changes, Miles reckons that focusing on people / communication skills – skills often taken for granted, mind you – will help future-proof your career:
“It’s important not just to focus on academic outcomes but the people skills,” she says. “Not just the learning, but on the ability to work well with others.”
Professor Leigh Drake says a typical comment from employers is, “We need graduates who are able to build great relationships, solve problems with creativity and critical thinking and who understand who they are – this is what differentiates one graduate from another”
This is why La Trobe has taken it taken it upon themselves to launch a new approach to enhance employability of their graduates – the Career Ready Advantage launching in 2017 focuses on developing the key skills and personal attributes that graduates need, both within the degree and via important extra-curricular activities such as volunteering, entrepreneurship and internships.
If you’re interested in some more advice to help shape your future, hit up La Trobe‘s Advisory Day taking place on December 13 (register HERE). The uni’s a pretty bold thought leader that’s firmly focused on preparing students for workplaces of the future, so it’ll be worth yo’ time.
Head HERE for more info on La Trobe University.
Photo: The Simpsons.
Statics: The Department of Employment’s Labour Market Information Portal (‘2016 Industry Employment Projections Report‘, ‘Industry Projections – Five Years To November 2020‘)
