THE FUTURE OF JOBS

50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025

Top skills: Leadership, Technology use, Analytical thinking

New emerging: Self-management  

Since 2016, the World Economic Forum has been publishing regular reports on the future of jobs: which skills are becoming increasingly important. Just how big the upheaval currently is can be seen from the fact that 50% of all employees will have to develop new skills by 2025, according to the estimate. 50% - half of all employees! Artificial intelligence, which is cutting more and more jobs (but also creating new ones), the consequences of the pandemic, the trend toward seeking meaningful and fulfilling work rather than just any work - all of this is having a huge impact on the labour market. 

The good news is that many of the skills the WEF ranks in the top 10 are prerequisites when working above the clouds! Analytical thinking, for example. Every checklist is analytically structured, and the Fordec model used by pilots in an emergency is a prime example that is readily copied by other industries. 

Effective communication is something flight crews learn at least once a year during CRM training, which leads to two other top skills that pilots and cabin crew must have:  Willingness for lifelong learning and leadership. Demonstrating leadership is not just about making and communicating the right decision at flight controls. Leadership also means managing a medical emergency in the cabin, recognizing situations before they escalate, acting with the necessary assertiveness and authority to reassure passengers. Communicating safety. This requires attentiveness and also an inner calmness. 

All these skills are required of applicants for a job in an airplane. They are tested on them before they are hired - but then, over the years, we often forget what they actually do.

Pilots fresh out of training who remember their first flight in a jet know how overwhelmed they were at first. The radio, the checklists, switches, SOPs, announcements. Everything happens so fast, and it's easy to lose track of everything. Later, we routinely take care of the hand movements: Level One Hundred, Reco lights off, Seat belt sign off. Coffee to go. 

What flight crews have to master is in great demand on the ground in other contexts and in other industries. 

These skills can be specifically defined and "sold" in negotiations or job interviews. They are called "transferable skills. Because it is a great advantage to know them, we have dedicated a separate masterclass with an expert for this topic in our online program. Workshops on this topic can also be booked in our online store - also for external visitors to our website. 

So there's no reason for aircrew to worry about their role in the future job market? Well, unfortunately, the phenomenon of complacency also exists - and not only in the cockpit. Due to their very specialized training, pilots sometimes have deficits of which they have no idea. Lack of knowledge of basic computer programs such as MS Excel or PowerPoint are just two examples. Being able to subordinate oneself and pull together as a team player is difficult for others, who have been used to being in charge in the air for decades. 

That's why we also got practical tips from other experts on the subject of job applications (of course, you can also use this knowledge for negotiations with your own employer): from the headhunter who reveals her secrets to the subject of personal branding and the art of "storytelling", everything is included.  Storytelling has nothing to do with making up stories to sell something, or yourself, better. It is a very powerful tool when it comes to tracking down key moments in one's own life. Encounters that have made us emotional, events that have shaped us. These drive us in what we do. Those who find these moments and can convey them to others show themselves without a mask and become credible. Such moments, in which we reveal unvarnished what is important to us, what we believe in, and in which we show ourselves vulnerable, are electrifying. To experience them, pure inspiration! We feel the authenticity, no transparent staging. 

There remains one skill that perhaps decides the most about how we go through life - it is not on the list and yet it is quite decisive whether we are successful and fulfilled with what we do.

One's own mindset. The answer we give when life serves us things. Sometimes even things we don't like. We can't influence one, but we can influence the other. As the famous Viennese psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said: "Life asks the questions. We respond by being responsible”. 

Taking responsibility for what we do. This is what we believe in at OneEightZero. We would like to work with such people and make our network available to them. Far beyond our 7 week basic program.