What Does the Future of Tech Hold? Industry Leaders Weigh In

Ask any founder or CEO what the biggest obstacles to growing their company are and you’ll likely hear one common answer: a lack of tech talent in the pipeline.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) surveyed tech industry leaders on current and future workforce issues and found tech companies, both large and small, anticipate challenges in finding and retaining qualified people over the next five years. To address these challenges, CTA recently convened the New American Jobs Summit; a gathering of policymakers and industry leaders to examine the future of jobs in the US.

Here’s a breakdown of the survey results as well as some key findings from the summit.

Job Skill Requirements

Most companies surveyed by CTA (86%) said they “will need more employees with technical skills” and 70% said they “will hire more employees” in the coming years—particularly larger organizations.

So what kinds of skills are needed? Bruce Stephen, of Monster Government Solutions told the Jobs Summit: “The top skills in demand show the sophisticated mix of technical and soft skills that are prevalent in tech hiring today.”

US Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) said these skills change as quickly as the technologies are disrupted, and pointed to the need for preparation and education: “Part of this revolution is that jobs are just changing so quickly so you’re not likely to have the same job for most of your life. So, we’ve got to understand how to educate not just kids to be prepared for their first job, but adults to be prepared for their third or fourth job.”

Ease of Finding Skilled Candidates

Finding those qualified candidates isn’t always easy. A majority of the industry leaders surveyed (71%) said it’s difficult to find candidates with the right skills and abilities, with only 9% believing it will become easier to find those qualified candidates in the next five years.

How do we train today’s students to be the skilled candidates of tomorrow? US Rep Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said it’s about flexibility and following the disruptions. “You have to know how to adapt to new things.”

Some Jobs Don’t Even Exist Yet

US Rep Susan Brooks (R-IN) told the summit “There are careers out there that we just don’t know anything about and we’ve got to promote lifetime learning to be sure.”

CTA’s Steve Koenig, senior director of Market Research, agrees. “Education and training hold the key to enable America’s workforce to anticipate the jobs of tomorrow. Specifically, we must make education in STEM subjects and technical disciplines a priority to ensure American workers are ready to meet the increasingly technical requirements of jobs in the future.  At the same time, we must also make sure our technical workers are armed with 'soft skills' of strategic thinking, communications, teamwork and adaptability to ensure we maintain our leadership in innovation and creativity.”

Recruiting

If you use social media you might have an easier time finding new job opportunities. Almost two-thirds (60%) of companies advertise their positions and look for qualified candidates on social media (e.g., LinkedIn), according to the survey. Forty one percent of companies say they work with professional associations and 29% make use of on-campus recruiting with universities and community colleges.

The Future of Work

What exactly will “work” look like over the next decade? While no one can say for sure, it’s clear from the Jobs Summit discussion that it will include more automation, more technical skills and more collaboration between human and machine. CTA’s Koenig wraps it up this way:

“CTA’s research suggests future jobs will likely require more technical skills and that more job functions will be automated. The synthesis of these developments will result in more human-machine partnerships, but also new jobs altogether. Automation will, in most cases, address specific tasks, such as optimizing workflows or handling dangerous duties. Some jobs performed by humans today will be entirely replaced by technology in the future; but, invariably, new roles for humans will be created because of technology advances. This virtuous cycle has been around since the industrial revolution and has led us forward as a society.”