Getting the skills you need to beat the robots Tristram Hooley

How is work changing?

Things robots aren’t good at Creativity Complexity Tasks with limited scale and scope Adaptability Empathy

Choices Give up and welcome our new overlords? Work with robots? Resist and deny?

Skills for human/robot collaboration Capacity to learn Flexibility Techno-awareness Technical skills Trust and criticality

Will (human) work run out? There is stuff to do. (Just come round to my house to see some of it). Work will change. Some industries are more likely to employ people, others robots, all will be some kind of mix. Not all work is paid. Some work loses value the more it is commodified or automated e.g. caring and parenting.

Political implications Machines PRODUCE but do not CONSUME. Wages are a key mechanism for redistributing wealth. Wages also enable consumption. Without political action on inequality robots will increase it. Without addressing inequality the economy will collapse as no one will be able to afford to buy the stuff that the robots are producing.

Implications for careers professionals Understand that robots will change the nature of the labour market. Help clients to understand and respond to this changing reality. It is difficult to be replaced by a machine.

Remember you are not immune Big labour market data Client questions Robot adviser (drawing on career theory) Gamified environment

So ask yourself Where are robots better than you? Where are you better than the robots? How are you going to bring this together for your clients?

References Ford, M. (2015). Rise of the Robots. New York: Basic Books. Hooley, T., Shepherd, C. and Dodd, V. (2015). Get Yourself Connected. Derby: International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby. Pollick, F.E. (2010). In search of the uncanny valley. Available from www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~frank/Documents/InSearchUncannyValley.pdf [Accessed 9th November 2015]. Stormer et al. (2014). The Future of Work: Jobs and Skills in 2030. London: UKCES.

About me Tristram Hooley Professor of Career Education University of Derby www.derby.ac.uk/icegs t.hooley@derby.ac.uk @pigironjoe https://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com/