As work is being redefined by automation as well as changing economy and social norms, how can technology help us stay abreast, discover, hone and document our skills, and match labor demand and supply?

The Future of Work is one of the most crucial topics for a successful transition to a new era. As such, it takes center stage at the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week. Picking up from where we left in the first part on the interplay between data, automation, and the future of work, we highlight ongoing trends and examine how to approach soft skills and re-skilling.

Based on the WEF’s latest report on the Future of Jobs, we highlight the major forces at play today. We discuss how these effect the technology behind the job market with Panos Alexopoulos, Head of Ontology at Textkernel. Textkernel delivers advanced features such as multilingual semantic search and matching technologies for Careerbuilder, and Alexopoulos is leading a team building knowledge graphs to facilitate this.

An ongoing trend in the world of labor is that towards more independent work. On the one hand, this translates to freelancing. While there is an ongoing discussion on whether this is voluntary or not and what this signifies, there is no denying that this is a reality.

Freelancers may cover the whole range from very specialized professionals to people performing commodified tasks. Outsourcing specific tasks, rather than investing in full-time employees, is a reality for many employers. In any case, going freelance means having to learn and apply skills such contract negotiation or invoicing for example, in addition to keeping up with the specifics of one’s trade.

Another ongoing phenomenon is cross-functional agile teams, in which members are empowered and encouraged to get involved in activities not previously included in traditional job profiles. This may include activities such as engaging with clients or discussing and reviewing different options for product evolution, and is part of a broader paradigm shift towards more collaborative ways of working.

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