By Carla Tanas

The Institute

A Digital Career Bank Guiding Students Towards Tomorrow’s Careers

by Carla Tanas, Dean of the Institute

Exponential technologies and organizations are drastically changing tomorrow’s working landscape, bringing a shared global challenge in guiding students toward future careers.

“Effective career guidance enables young people to develop informed, critical perspectives about the relationship between education and employment, helping them to visualize and plan their transitions through schooling and into attractive work” (OECD Career Readiness Project).

But how can we guide students when “an estimated two billion jobs are expected to disappear by 2030”, estimates futurist Thomas Frey? There could be an upside, however, as billions of new types of jobs could potentially be created within the next two decades, potentially even exceeding the number of jobs lost.

The world of work is more dynamic and chaotic than ever.

The global population is changing demographics with a significant impact on the workforce needing alternative ways of working. An increase in life expectancy is outliving pension schemes; diverse age groups are working on the same team; women in leadership positions are increasing diversity in perspectives; millennials and GEN Z are craving meaning and ownership in their work and prefer alternative working environments rather than an office desk job. The global pandemic has forced organizations to envision new ways of working through remote and virtual practices. In addition, with many organizations increasing cross-border collaboration and enhancing an international footprint, more digital innovations bring opportunities for flexible working models.

With the accelerated global need for new product and service solutions, over 100 million new businesses per year are being created shifting large corporation dynamics into a more entrepreneur-driven society.

Future work trends are shifting, requiring career guidance to expand knowledge on expected labor market demands, essential skill sets, up-and-coming industries and technologies, as well as options for entrepreneurial success.

While we may not be able to guide students to future proof their job, we can; however, guide them to future proof their inspired professional paths through a digital career bank bridging today’s world with tomorrow’s potential careers. This is the inspiration for creating the KNOWLEDGE SERIES (theinstitute.gr/ks).

The KNOWLEDGE SERIES consists of five-minute career videos featuring industry experts across all fields and all nations that briefly highlight their career, what makes it interesting, the skills it requires, and how the profession is anticipated to change in the future. The content heavily focuses on future insights with creative direction to offer visual imagination. This career bank offers students a platform to explore career options in each field as well as opportunities for discussions with their families, career guidance experts, teachers, and other stakeholders.

The digital career bank aims to house a volume of videos as we believe every expert has a piece of the ambiguous puzzle of what the future holds. Acting as a living organism, new videos are added to the career bank, offering diverse perspectives and new ways of thinking in this fast-changing world.

Ultimately, the KNOWLEDGE SERIES aspires to provide a connection between experts and students in hopes of developing a mentorship relationship where students can even contact their expert of preference through our platform and gain further guidance.

With an extensive network of influential experts, leaders, and professionals, we can begin to delve deeper into what our new world might look like in the coming decade.