Institute For The Future

Job Preparedness in Uncertain Economic Times

How do you prepare for a job of the future? What kinds of skills will you need to have twenty or thirty years from now, what kind of worker will you need to be, and how is the marketplace changing? Those were the questions posed to me and to Doug Hardy, former editor in chief of Monster.com, by Kerri Miller on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Midmorning” show this morning. I responded that having hybrid skills—accumulated by moving through multiple jobs and multiple degree programs—can be great preparation for jobs of the future. It’s a sign of adaptability, which I think is an absolutely critical skill for the future. If you’ve lived in different countries, held different jobs, have different kinds of friends, you’ve had to adapt and can do so going forward as the world of work changes. Listen in for more as callers make comments and pose questions.