So I picked up a book today at the antique market for a few dollars, titled “The Job That Fits You”. Published in 1946 by John & Enid Wells, it runs through a series of capability tests (referred to as Basic Aptitude Tests) that will, without a doubt, point you to the perfect JOB FOR YOU! Simpler times maybe…
One of the later chapters in the book discussed the developing jobs of the future (chapter 16: New Horizons) , where the reader explores the up-and-coming newly emerging industries in exciting fields including:
- Agriculture
- Diesel automotive
- Air Conditioning for the home and small business
- Phonograph and radio wave tech (why not start your own business even!)
- Televisions in the home
- Plastics, and more…
Some industries of which are still relevant today (but won’t look anything like they did 70 years ago), and some clearly dated. Which leads us to important questions of…
Where is this heading?
In the past, as Learning & Development professionals, we’ve worked hard to upskill our learners for the jobs that they have – think compliance training sessions, job skills training, on-the-job learning & mentoring and more. Moving into the future, we need to think about developing competencies and not just skills to better serve our learners and organizations – and not just in our small micro-spheres of influence, but in the larger global macro world. We need to prepare our learners, not just for the jobs of today, but the jobs of tomorrow.
| Popular jobs in the 1950s | Popular jobs today |
| Farmer Factory Worker Teacher Secretary Salesperson Doctor Lawyer Manager Business Owner Engineer | Software Developer Data Analyst Social Media Specialist Medical Assistant Customer Service Representative Sales Representative Marketing Specialist Human Resources Manager Project Manager Business Analyst |
So back to the question: Where is this heading? What do we need for the future? What are the skills needed, the industries that are emerging, and the roles that don’t even exist yet? So while this video is an advert for a collaboration between both Josh Bersin & EightFold , it does discuss at high level what some of these questions look like, and how they might be addressed with AI –
Moving from the past & present into the future
Lots of things to unpack and explore as we move through the journey of exploring where we’ve been, where we are, and what we are moving towards! We will continue to explore past and present models, modalities, and ways of working, while we try to make sense of what the future has in store!
Or… we can go back to the past and learn some skills to fit better into the 1950’s world!
Free Tools to explore:
I like to include some free tools as I find them, in hopes that they might help someone else:
- Google Fonts: Atomic Age ( https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Atomic+Age )
- VectorStock: Mid century fifties modern atomic retro colors vector image ( https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/mid-century-fifties-modern-atomic-retro-colors-vector-35092414 )