The Jobs of the Future

From XR Immersion Counsellor to Tidewater Architect – the coming decade is set to see a major rise in novel job roles. Here’s an overview of the Future of Work.

If you asked anyone in 2019 who the XR Immersion Counsellor or Cyber Calamity Forecaster of their organisation is, you’d probably be met with strange stares and inklings of being a Love, Death & Robots character. Today, however, is a whole different story: the future is here. Of course, it follows that, of all the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on global businesses, one major aspect was the development of new roles and job profiles as firms and organisations adapted new innovations to meet the myriad demands of pandemic livelihood.

As several major economies now begin to draw themselves out of the pandemic-induced lockdown and get their ‘back-to-office’ corporate engines whirring, several questions surrounding the relevance of many pandemic-induced jobs, the future of several of these roles and in a larger sense, the future of jobs as a whole, remain lingering.

Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

According to a series of recent reports from the Cognizant Center for the Future of Work titled ‘Jobs of the Future’ (CJoF), several novel roles, central to the functioning of businesses, are expected to emerge over the next decade or so. Many of these, such as the role of the Work-from-Home (WFH) Facilitator, have already become more ‘jobs of now’ than prospective ‘jobs of the future’.

WFH Facilitator: “Prior to 2020, it’s estimated that less than 5% of companies had remote policies. Now, with the full post-pandemic expectation that remote work remains the norm, companies want to apply lessons learned to optimize the work-from-home experience. Far from being a futuristic job of tomorrow, WFH facilitators have become undeniable “jobs of the now.” – World Economic Forum
Algorithm Bias Auditor: Given the meteoric rise of online lifestyles (for both work and leisure) and increased statutory scrutiny on data usage, the development and verification of newer algorithms in most data-centric firms will be subject to stricter audits to ensure fairness.
Data Detective: According to the CJoF index, data scientists in the tech-heavy ‘Algorithms, Automation and AI’ family are set to grow the highest, having already seen a mammoth 42% growth in the first quarter of 2021 itself. Given this increasingly rising demand, the role of the data detective is set to evolve to become a future mainstay in bridging the gap between firms and big data.
Cyber Calamity Forecaster: Given the rising wave of both state-sponsored (such as SolarWinds) and individual (such as FXMSP) cyber-attacks, the ability to forecast events such as these will be “critical to forewarn cultural events”. Congruently, the CJoF reports a 28% rise in cyber calamity forecasters in the first quarter of 2021.
Smart Home Design Manager: The rise of the connected smart home using IoT, novel computer and control technologies and communication platforms is set to be central to the residences of tomorrow. The business of the smart home design manager is thus all set to boom as people turn to retrofit their homes with routers, dedicated office spaces, voice-controlled entrances and even Gorilla Glass wall screens.
Fitness Commitment Counsellor: Maintaining proper fitness levels during the pandemic-induced lockdown has led to a major rise in roles promoting ‘predictive and preventative approaches to counselling’, including the use of smart fitness gadgets such as smart watches and FitBit scanners. According to the CJoF Index, this is a role that grew almost 30% in the first quarter of 2021.
XR Immersion Counsellor: In conjunction with technical artists and software engineers,the increased adoption of 3D virtual spaces with the use of VR and AR technologies will strive to increase employee productivity through ‘learn-by-doing’ workforce training and collaboration. Platforms such as Strivr and apprenticeships such as Murison are set to get a major boost.
Tidewater Architect: According to the WEF, “the global challenge of climate change and sea level rise will remain an omnipresent challenge. Tidewater architects will work with nature – not against it – in some of the biggest civil engineering projects of the 21st century. And per the CJoF Index, openings for these jobs grew 37% in Q1 ’21.”
Human-Machine Teaming Manager: The unceasing rise of robotics automation in the workplace is all set to continue unabated. The Human-machine teaming manager will work at the intersection of, and in conjunction with people and robots in order to create and maintain seamless workflow collaborations. In fact, openings for roles such as robotics technicians grew a whopping 50% in Q1, 2021 according to the CJoF index.

Acknowledgement: Jobs of the Future Index by Cognizant.