A recent article in The Vancouver Sun entitled What are the jobs of the future? examines the skills and careers likely to be most in demand as the 21st century progresses. The article cites a study by Sharon D. Crozier, of the University of Calgary’s Counselling Centre, on “Waves of the Future and High Demand Careers” — waves in this case being career categories.
The main waves are:
Information Revolution
High Technology & Materials Creation
Global Village
Natural Systems Awareness
Demographics
Patterns of Working
Emerging Careers for the 21st Century
The “Global Village” section reads:
Global Village
E-commerce, Internet, telecommunications, free trade agreements, open borders, cheap travel alternatives – these are all contributing to a shrinking world with business, trade and tourism happening on a global scale. More and more companies are doing business on a worldwide scale, both with having offices and employees around the globe as well as selling internationally. Do you know the most well known Red & White logo in the world? It isn’t the Red Cross – yes, it’s Coca-Cola! The Internet has opened both lines of communication as well as being an amazing venue for both retail and service sales. Borders are opening not only for business, but also for skilled immigrants, and many developed countries such as Canada, Australia and the United States are increasingly multi-cultural environments.
High Demand Careers
- Internet Specialists
- Web-page Designers
- International Lawyers
- Protocol Officers
- Language and Cultural Experts
- Translators
- Sensitivity and Diversity Trainers
Yet another reason not to listen to people who say learning languages — and by extension, learning about other cultures and culturally-based forms of diversity — is irrelevant.
By the way: the University of Calgary’s study dates from 2001, so it’s more than 10 years old. Any thoughts on how careers are developing with respect to the predictions?
By Marian Dougan
Misplaced optimism? The « University of Calgary’s study dates from 2001».
Yes, it does. I’m interested to see what people think – about translation and the other careers mentioned in the study. Have the predictions come to pass?