MK: A very-very shallow article with more or less interesting start and a devastatingly poor second half.

Challenges

• Finding, keeping and developing talent is always hard – crisis or not.

• Better to understand who the employees are to help them adjust.

4 Vulnerable Groups

• The Young: just leaving uni, likely with student debt and unclear future.

• Mid-Career: (a good shot at middle class) Financial obligations without ability to adapt to new tech changes. [MK: actually, this is driven by their companies, not employees]

• Close to retirement: may not have sufficient savings/pensions, have to keep working.

• Workers on the Margins: hard to get by, job prospects are slim. Need government support in acquiring new skills.

• Maybe, all these four groups can benefit from the government’s intervention.

The Career Ladder is Dead

• Problem solving (vs career) is the skill to seek, as the skill is transferable regardless of tech.

• A platform (in the local context) is a place where people learn new future-focused skills; interesting problems —> future employability.

• The future is about moving between platforms (i.e. problem domains) utilizing the skills and methods of solving problems. Companies recognize people’s skills, not titles.

• STEM is the measuring stick. [MK: No STEM – no future.]

New Fads

• Local First – hiring people in the community being served.

• Unscaling– dismantling old structures to optimize and reorganize.

• Agile adjacency – apply skills from a different industry to a new job. Nothing new, though. The question is not how to apply skills, but how to successfully apply for a job.

Make it even if you fake it

• Building a network [and relying on it later] requires consistent communications about yourself.

• The usual B.S. of starting a company if you’re good at something, or upskilling to keep up with the job requirements. Really????

MK: Conclusion (sorry, no news here): start figuring out what you’re good at now, or start lowering your standards of living now, too. You can’t have both.

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