Something the past two years has taught us is to not only expect the unexpected, but to also be prepared to adjust to new situations, and quickly! Remember when nobody had heard of a Zoom meeting, or knew what PPE stood for? Cue COVID-19. Now here we are, all experts in the art of virtual meetings and how to properly sanitize our hands. Never has the good old soft skill of ‘adaptability’ been more relevant; heck we’ve turned it into an art form!

As we get stuck into 2022, there remain many unknowns. While it’s natural to worry about the uncertainty of what lies ahead, there are things you can do to help you adapt. From a career planning perspective, keeping as informed as possible about employment trends and the changing nature of work is one way to arm yourself for everything and anything! Ideally, this means regularly setting aside a bit of time to do your research. If you’re not sure where to look, googling terms such as ‘Australia’ and ‘employment trends’ will bring up a multitude of sites. But to get you started, read on!

The pandemic has thrown out the rule book on how we work and accelerated trends in remote work, e-commerce and automation. A major finding published by the National Skills Commission in their State of Australia’s Skills 2021 report, is that approximately half of new jobs that will be created over the next five years will require a bachelor’s degree or higher. Look at you go – as a Curtin student, you’re already ticking boxes!

The report highlights four key skills that will be in demand in 2022 as a direct result of the pandemic. These skills include:

• Care – employment projections show that in the next five years the most growth in jobs will be in healthcare and social assistance, making the caring professions a hot commodity. As the population ages, demand for workers within the healthcare sector is likely to increase, making ‘care’ a key skill of the future. Empaths, you’re up.
• Computing – the report also identifies data and digital skills as one of the fastest growing skills required by employers. Automation, AI and the ongoing digital revolution aren’t going away anytime soon. Time to embrace your inner geek.
• Cognitive abilities – what the heck does that mean? Well, in a nutshell, it’s the ability to think creatively and work out solutions to problems that machines find difficult. Basically, those jobs that require higher-level thinking skills. Humanities majors, you’re looking well-placed.
• Communication – jobs that require very high-level oral and written communication skills are also in increasing demand. The good new here is, good communicators are needed across most, if not all jobs. Those brave peeps out there who don’t mind public speaking will be laughing all the way to the bank, and the professional writers amongst you better polish up on your keyboard skills.

Other examples of skills that are increasing in importance include enterprise resource planning (ERP), social media, infection control, patient care, and graphic and visual design, as these skills are changing the way we do our jobs. So, despite the uncertainty of the year ahead, the future is also full of potential possiblities.

For more information on skills in demand and employment trends, search ‘Career Guide’ in UniHub’s Resource Library. You can then browse the course-specific guides relevant to you.