{"id":35076,"date":"2016-11-01T13:49:26","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T11:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.power2improve.com\/en\/?p=35076"},"modified":"2017-04-23T19:03:34","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T17:03:34","slug":"how-future-proof-are-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.power2improve.com\/en\/blog\/2016\/11\/01\/how-future-proof-are-you\/","title":{"rendered":"How future-proof are you?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future, and yes, also the labor market, is quite unpredictable. How helpful would it be to show up\u00a0well prepared and to be able to tackle every possible change, supported by your personal, future-proof skills set? You can do this! Becoming a real, future-proof T-shaped professional helps you to eventually get your (new) dream job and to maintain this throughout the rest of your career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"T-shaped,The study you graduated from during the last couple of year(s), or maybe even far before that, has probably provided\u00a0you with lots of in-depth expertise in your specific field of discipline. But only possessing this in-depth (I-shaped) knowledge does no\u00a0longer get you that dream job<\/a>, considering the fact that you have to take part in this 21st century, ever renewing professional world with rapid technology and societal developments. J. T. O\u2019Donnel, career expert, author of books as <\/span>Mandatory Greatness: The 12 Laws of Driving Exceptional Performance<\/span><\/a> and America\u2019s most popular career advice\u00a0column \u2018JT & Dale Talk Jobs<\/a>\u2019 (with a weekly reach of 6 million readers), also states that developing yourself and adapting your skills to the current labor market reduces your chances of being disposable<\/a>, and therefore preventing you from\u00a0ending up standing at the sidelines of it.
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Unique in adaptability<\/h2>\n

Developing these skills is not only relevant for people who have\u00a0already been working for years. It is also the case for students, or brand new job-searchers on the labor market. The current young employees and those from the future (Generation Z: born in between 1995 and\u00a0now) have a significant greater risk in showing weaknesses in their soft skills, says author of i.a.\u00a0<\/span>Bridging the Soft Skills Gap: How to Teach the Missing Basics to Todays Young Talent<\/a>\u00a0and expert on young people at the workfloor, Bruce Tulgan. \u2018This young generation values being unique more and more. To not \u2018fit in\u2019 a company or situation too much, they try to let their work and colleagues fit to themselves, instead of the other way around.\u2019 The development and use of soft skills is specifically designed to better be able to adjust to all kinds of situations and persons, stresses the author. ‘This is almost against all things that Generation Z tries to stand for.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

The so-called \u2018soft skills gap\u2019 that arises here has become even bigger in the past few years, says\u00a0Tulgan. <\/span>That doesn\u2019t mean that generation Z has to let go of their desire of being unique and let others adapt to them. Yet, past research by CareerBuilder states that 77 percent of current employers<\/a> still value these soft skills as equally important as only substantive knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Wide and generally employable<\/h2>\n

So no matter what age or background you have, you need to show your current as well as your future employer\u00a0that you are a true T-shaped professional. The broad and generic T-shaped soft skills<\/a> consist of your ability to include:<\/span><\/p>\n