The future of work is changing — fast

Have you ever thought about what kind of job you'll be doing in 10 or 15 years? Chances are, it will require new skills and different responsibilities. For college students or people in their early career years, there’s a good chance the career they’ll end up pursuing hasn’t even been invented yet. That’s the prediction from a panel of experts assembled by the Institute for the Future (IFTF). The IFTF estimates that up to 85% of the jobs today’s students will have by 2035 don’t currently exist.

This finding underscores how rapidly the job landscape is shifting, driven by technological change, new business needs, and evolving societal demands. The careers of the future will blend different disciplines, leverage new tools and technologies, and solve problems we can’t yet fully anticipate. In other words, the future of work involves continuous learning, adaptability, and being open to roles that may not have existed when you started your career journey. The days of picking one professional path and sticking to it for life are waning.

For those of us in recruiting, this outlook reinforces the importance of hiring those with a strong foundation of transferable skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, and digital literacy. It’s about looking for those with a mindset of being a perpetual learner and the ability to evolve alongside the changing workforce needs.

While the specific jobs of 2035 are unknown, one thing is clear: the workforce of the future will need to be comfortable with change – and organizations will need to be ready to adapt.