What we would like to share with you in this article are the future work trends for 2021 and beyond. Now we are at the beginning of 2021 and there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel that we can see in the near future. Here are some trends that we see happening over the next few years.
Trend #1: Specialized skills will be more sought after vs. “well-rounded” job candidates
What we are noticing is that the hiring for a hiring manager for employers will be much more focused on what someone brings from a particular skill set level and that’s simply because jobs are going to be much more defined and specific rather than having someone who can show up in the office and have all those wonderful well-rounded multiple skills that they bring to the table. Companies and hiring managers are looking for much more specialized skill sets. Why is this the case? Partially, it is because we are all having to work from home. Working from home means that you are just focused on doing the job that you have to do.
When you’re working from home, you’re doing your job and you’re meeting with your boss, your co-workers over video chat but really you’re focused on the work that you have to do and hiring managers are now feeling that as well. So instead of looking for someone who’s going to be a fit for the rest of the team and the company who can show up and socialize with the team properly every day, hiring managers care more about the skills that you bring, and they care more about whether you’re going to be able to do that job whilst working from home and that you’re going to be able to do it well. So, that’s why the focus now is going to be much more on what can you bring from a specialized skill sets level rather than are you a well-rounded, well-spoken candidate who’s going to be able to socialize, fit in well with the team and do the job.
Trend #2: Competition for jobs is going to be harder
Because of the pandemic that we are in, many of us are forced to work from home and what that has done to hiring managers is that they are having to find people to fill certain roles but because anyone can work from home, location doesn’t matter. Therefore, there are many more candidates that are applying for opportunities. So, you are now up against not just people in your local town or city, you are up against people potentially from all over the world and anyone who is willing to work those hours and for that company, and can do it from their own home and all of these additional people have suddenly become your potential competition. So, what this means for you is that you need to make sure that you are going to be an attractive candidate for these hiring managers, and you can beat out the competition.
And the way to do that is to have a very strong resume, and to have very good interview skills. In terms of resume, if you have been sending them off and haven’t been hearing back from hiring managers and you feel that your resume just goes into this “black hole” over the internet, then you really want to focus on working on that resume and fixing it for the better. When it comes to interviews, those are going to be extremely more competitive than before. Jobs are now digital and most people can work remotely. You are going to compete with not only people in the same country as you but potentially across multiple other countries. Our consultants can help you to prepare for the interview and to be confident in answering most of the typical interview questions.
Trend #3: Interviews will not entirely be conducted virtually
You might think everything is virtual, and interviewing is going to be conducted virtually just as it has been recently, and that trend is going to continue especially with the first and potentially second round interviews. The first and second interviews most probably will be done virtually, but once this pandemic is over (and hopefully it is going to be over soon) the final round interview is going most likely to be conducted in person. From what we’ve heard from hiring managers is that they are finding it difficult to really identify whether a candidate is the right match for the company by only interviewing them through video chat. So, what they would like to incorporate once this pandemic is over is to be able to meet the person before they make the final hiring decision. So, stay tuned for that because not everything is going to be completely virtual once this pandemic is over.
Trend #4: Employees will continue to work-from-home
Before the pandemic, a lot of companies did not think it was possible to have a completely virtual team but now they are seeing that it is possible, and it is saving companies a lot of money in terms of having to rent out commercial space. So, we see this continuing where companies will maintain this work-from-home lifestyle for their employees and we do think that though they will transition employees back and forth into the office, many jobs are going to continue with employees working from home, at least for the next few years.
Trend #5: Work is going to be focused on the value you bring vs. your facetime or ability to socialize with your co-workers
This will come as a sigh of relief for those introverts who have been working hard at their jobs but feel that they have not been recognized in their workplaces because they have not been very extroverted sociable individuals in their office. You no long necessarily need to be that way. Now that we are working from home, it is really more about the value that you bring – what is the quality of the work that you’re doing and how well are you doing it. As long as you are able to still communicate and stay in touch with your co-workers, with your manager, allowing them to know what it is that you’ve been working on and showing your results through the quality of your work, your value will be recognized. That is really where things are going to be heading.
In the past, a lot of people have been upset about what the traditional work environment is like. The people that play up, the people that are really good at going out for coffee with their potential new managers and are able to sort of brown-nose their way into getting a new job are the ones that traditionally appear to prosper which just seemed unfair. Now, because of the structure that we have where most of us are working from home, it is going to be a lot more difficult to get those type of jobs by winning popularity contests. Promotions and career advancement opportunities are likely to be more focused on the work that you do, the value that you bring, the quality of your work allowing the rest of you not necessarily extroverted but more talented workers to progress and deservedly so.
Those are the top trends that we see are going to happen in the world of work for 2021 and beyond. So, stay tuned and hopefully this article has helped you.
If you are looking for a professional recruitment service provider working across a wide range of industry groups, RSM Recruitment is here to help you. Or if you are a company looking for highly qualified candidates, or alternatively looking to reduce your workforce or incorporate a strong payroll/HR system, or even if you are a job seeker who is looking for the perfect career move, we have experts on hand to navigate you.