What Are the Future Skills You Need to Stay Competitive in the World of Work?
There are 33 future skills you need to know
What skills will be needed in the future and how great is the need in industry for such future skills by 2026?
A study was recently carried out with these questions, which examined several million job advertisements. With the aim of finding a basis for how the need for company-specific future skills develops in order to derive suitable qualification measures at an early stage.
The result of this study are 33 Future Skills Clusters from four categories (Technological Skills, Industrial Skills, Digital Key Skills and Transferable Skills) that show which competences, skills, knowledge bases, attitudes and values will be important in the coming years.
This significant “skill shift”, which shows the rapid transformation of the working world, can no longer be stopped. Outdated jobs are disappearing and new ones are being created. In order to remain competitive and successful in the fascinating change of working life, it is worth taking a look at the new Future Skills.
The essential future skills are listed below under the 4 main qualifications, which are supplemented by a few example sub-areas from the study. You can find the complete list in the study.
1. Technological Skills
In order to be able to “progress in economically successful, intelligent, resource-saving and climate-friendly technologies”, both the “transformation to the leading region of digital change as well as a leading position in key technologies such as AI or sustainable and resource-saving technologies are required”.
These are:
- Cybersecurity: firewall security system, encryption, virtual private networks
- Data Management: automated measurement, data quality management, databases, data processing
- Data Science & AI: Big Data Analytics, Deep Learning, Machine Learning
- Design: human-machine interaction, web front development, UI/UX/interaction design
- Intelligent Hardware & Robotics: Communications Systems, Technology Embedded Systems
- IT Infrastructure & Cloud: cloud computing, security, deployment, cloud services, technical consulting
- Sustainable & Resource-Saving Technologies: green technology (green IT), circular economy, environmental management, environmental compliance
- Sensor Technology & IoT: data transmission, development of microsystems, integration of sensors
- Software Development: Agile software development (Scrum), app and web development (Android), automated code development, code testing, container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), DevOps
- Software-Supported Control of Business Processes: CRM, digital material planning & material procurement, digital ecosystems & platform economy, process management, business process management
2. Industrial Skills
“In the midst of the profound industrial upheaval driven by digitization and decarbonization, new expertise and new skills are needed in concrete industry-specific disciplines. Industry 4.0 increasingly requires automation and networking.”
Those new skills are:
- Alternative Drive Technologies: battery development, e-fuels, electric powertrain development, electric engine management systems, energy storage (lithium-ion technology)
- Analytical Chemistry: material analysis ((infrared) spectroscopy), quality management in the chemical industry
- Assisted & Autonomous Driving: data specifications and processing (esp. GPS data), development of driver assistance systems (object recognition), functional safety, networking
- Biotechnology: biochemical analysis (chromatography), genome editing (CRISPR), molecular biological techniques (in vitro), cell cultivation
- Electrical Engineering: digital electronics (digital circuit technology), industrial robotics (fault analysis), laser scanning, performance optimization, microtechnology
- Development of Medical Products: imaging processes (nano biomarkers), development of medical devices (surgical robots, networking), digitization of medical devices (app development, intelligent control), intelligent instruments, wearables / implantables
- Industrial Engineering: automation (programmable logic controller, robotic process automation, automatic assembly), high performance plastic, maintenance (preventive / predictive maintenance), human-machine interaction and integration
- Pharmaceutical Product and Process Development: biopharmaceuticals (mRNA, RNA), quality assurance (quality by design), therapy development (stem cell therapy, individual therapies)
3. Digital Key Qualifications
“The development and use of new technologies is the basis for successfully shaping structural change and digital transformation. The decisive factor is that as many people as possible want to and are able to handle digital technologies and new forms of work confidently and competently. Digital key qualifications include skills and knowledge that enable people to find their way around in a digitized environment and to actively participate in shaping it.”
These are:
- Agile Working Methods: agile methods, agile project management, product ownership
- Digital & Data Literacy: Digital information search, evaluation, selection, critical data handling including ethics, online security including digital identity
- Digital Collaboration & Interaction: Digital interaction (online meeting, online workshop), (digital) teamwork, collegial (digital) collaboration
- Basic IT Skills: application systems, operating systems, data protection
- Programming Skills: object-oriented programming (Java, C++), web programming (JavaScript)
4. Interdisciplinary Skills
“Interdisciplinary skills are all qualifications and skills that go beyond the professional skills typical of the job and, for example, social interaction the environment, but also personal and methodological skills. Goal orientation and problem-solving skills, which result from the data as a future skills cluster, are key in times of volatility.”
These include:
- Personal Initiative: enthusiasm, ability to make decisions (decision making), proactivity, entrepreneurial thinking
- Flexibility: adaptability, willingness to change
- Leadership Skills: coaching & guidance, feedback/criticism, positive leadership (empathy)
- Communication / Persuasion: active listening, real-time communication, storytelling
- Creativity: innovative thinking, change of perspective (open minded)
- Customer Orientation: customer experience management, customer understanding, customer satisfaction, enthusiasm
- Organizational Skills: Result-oriented & systematic work, self-management, reliability / conscientiousness
- Problem-Solving Ability: coordination ability, solution orientation, structuring & conceptualization
- Resilience: Ambiguity Tolerance, Perseverance & Patience, Resilience
- Goal Orientation: Efficient work, result-oriented thinking (Objective and Key Results), structured work
The 12 Future Skills with the Greatest Demand Potential
In recent years, the change in the digital and assisted technology and industrial sector has strengthened, especially in 12 essential future skills from the four categories:
- When it comes to technological skills, software-based control of business processes, data science & AI, intelligent hardware & robotics and design are the four most sought-after future skills, with demand for data science & AI experiencing the greatest increase at 43%.
- The top four industry skills are Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Assisted & Autonomous Driving and Medical Device Development. Assisted driving with an 18% increase and medical device development with an increase of 21% are well represented. Most of all, however, with an increase of 200%, the demand for electrical and industrial engineering has increased disproportionately.
- The most significant digital key qualifications are Basic IT Skills with 13% and Agile Working Methods with an increase of 18%.
- Interdisciplinary skills are particularly in demand for Problem-Solving and Goal Orientation, with an increase of more than 20%.
Conclusion
The job market is always changing. The digitization and automation of production processes have brought about an enormous lead in the working world. New training directions and jobs are emerging, but outdated systems and jobs are becoming less relevant.
In order to continue to correspond to the market and to be able to participate competitively and successfully with your skills, it is important to always take a look at the most sought-after skills in the respective industries.
The 33 Future Skills show where the industries want to go and how the future can form. With these 33 future skills, everyone is well prepared in their specific working environment.
And if not yet, then it is a good idea to expand your skills now and acquire future-oriented skills as quickly as possible in further training and with online courses and certificates.
Are you prepared?
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