The Future Of Work: How To Better Prepare Students For The World Of Work
The center for advanced study at Stanford University that is famous in the field of behavioral science conducted a research on the future of work. It found that business, labor, artists, activists, social scientists, journalists and technology leaders are considered the most important influencers who bring changes in the workplace.
Almost all countries in the world are continuously working hard to revolutionize the workplace through advanced technology, creative ideas, innovative products, effective processes, and services. At the same time, there are different factors that affect the working environment and bring more competition in the workplace.
If any nation wants to evolve its workplace systems they will need to focus on these four areas of expertise:
- Students should have the deep understanding to work from this field such as science, engineering, media, fine arts, manufacturing, sales, finance, healthcare, public policy, or accounting.
- a workplace should be facilitated with advanced technology that is extended from email and effective communication software, tools that increase productivity, health informatics, implementation of database management system, cybersecurity, business intelligent software along with robotics machines to perform repetitive and heavy work quickly and efficiently.
- The workplace should have a capability to promote critical thinking and problem-solving techniques among students. As well as the ability to work with cross-functional teams.
- Skills of labor must include interpersonal communication, flexibility, ability to work easily with new technology, adopt change quickly and emotional intelligence.
What do our students need?
With the rapid advancement of technologies, it is hard to say that what the future of work is. But we need to prepare our students for the future. There is a need for creative thinking and problem solving in the future as well as those who have technical knowledge along with effective communication skills. The future work demands that students are willing to learn, adapt and thrive when change happens.
The Transformation of the Workplace
The continuously changing nature of work is becoming the biggest trend in businesses. The fast flow of technology has translated into the jobs available. Today most employees are moving toward freelancing or contract based work which doesn’t necessarily offer benefits or job security but offer flexibility as a bonus.
In some sectors, adoption of new technology and other skills in the workplace can be very slow. Because of the increase in technological changes in the majority of areas it is important that higher education keeps pace with the majority so that students are prepared for this pace of change and are able to bring this information to sectors that may be falling behind.
Despite from all of this Professor Felipe Barrera-Osorio (Associate Professor of Education and Economics at Harvard) discusses what things are required to prepare students for the world of work when they graduate. The skills that Barrera-Osorio highlights as being the most important are to:
Build Soft Skills
One of the most important thing that Barrera Osorio emphasized was for students to establish soft skills so that they perform better in the workforce. Sometimes students can be scared of the phrase “workforce development” during college but it is actually a way to groom students for their future work roles.
Partner with Business
To prepare students for their future careers another thing that Barrera-Osorio mentions is that colleges should establish a partnership with business communities. There are still some communities that allow students to work with them and moving toward the path of success. Additionally, there are degrees that offer work placements as part of the course which helps the students prepare for what working in their chosen field will actually be like.
Prepare to Adapt
According to the research, it is found that students who perform dynamically in their academic life as well as who have the courage to adopt changes. Also, according to Barrera-Osorio Socio-emotional skills is significant for success in the future workplace.
Whilst the above skills don’t cover everything that students need to know before entering the workforce, they provide a good grounding for any school-leaver to prepare for their first move into a career.
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