Information for parents, family and whanau
The future of work
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Did you know…
- The unemployment rate in New Zealand remained below 4% between 2005 and 2008.
- The working age population is steadily growing.
- New Zealand is facing major skill shortages.
For you to be able to help your child make good career decisions, you need to gain a good understanding of how the world of work is changing.
In this section you will find information on changes in the workplace, what skills and competencies will equip your child for work, and changing perceptions of what a career is.
The changing world of work
New jobs
- Sam O'Leary, web developer - one of the many new careers
If you entered the workforce more than 10 years ago, you wouldn’t have considered entering the following occupations because they weren’t around:
- website developer
- change manager
- 3-D animator
- life coach
- carbon emissions trader
- nurse practitioner.
There is no doubt that the landscape of work has changed over the last 10 years. Globalisation, demographic shifts and technological advances are some factors that have created a highly competitive, rapidly changing work environment.
While we can’t predict what new occupations will be around in the future, we can see what types of industries are most likely to have high demand for workers, and what industries are likely to decline.
New and high demand industries are:
- biotechnology and life sciences - internationally, these are two of the biggest growth areas and government sees the importance of adding value to our primary products
- creative - this industry has been marked for growth, but not high growth as yet.
Long-standing and high demand industries are:
- health
- education
- social services.
Industries that are declining are:
- manufacturing
- banking
- insurance.
Find out more about industries in New Zealand
Check out how careers have changed over time
Changing work patterns
Remember that it isn’t just jobs that are changing; people are also changing their work patterns and perceptions of what a career is. Growing trends include:
- increasing part-time employment
- later entry to the workforce
- ongoing training and/or retraining
- less upward promotion; more horizontal career development
- more self-employment and small businesses
- more emphasis on work-life balance.
Meet Pera Barrett - call centre operator
For 28 hours a week, Pera Barrett is a call centre operator; the rest of his time is devoted to music. He says people do a double take when they find out what he does for a day job. He loves the hours of his job, as they allow him to concentrate on his extra-curricular activities as a rapper and a producer.
"I’m a rapping insurance specialist. It is a bit bizarre. That’s New Zealand for you I guess – full of part-time artists."
Pera Barrett, Call Centre Operator
Changing tactics of employers
As organisations strive to remain competitive, employers are increasingly:
- contracting staff for specific tasks
- ensuring workers and the work they do can be switched and/or changed quickly
- allowing workers to communicate with each other rather than through supervisors and managers
- giving workers autonomy and giving them the opportunity to take responsibility for the work that they do.
What skills will your child need?
“At the heart of it all, most employers are looking for people with some common skills and characteristics. Businesses – just like the rest of the community – want people who are good citizens. In other words, they want people to be honest, to care about others, and to make a contribution.”
Phil O’Reilly, CEO, Business NZ
Changing perceptions of what a career is
What is a career and how do you advance it during your lifetime? There are changing perceptions of this. Gone are the days when upward promotion within one organisation was expected.
Nowadays there is more of an emphasis on horizontal career development, and managing your own career. An example of this would be an IT specialist who believes that she has excellent team leader skills and wants to work more with people, so she starts to seek out opportunities where she can develop and grow the necessary skills to be able to eventually move into management.
Because the structure of work is always changing, it will be important for your child to consider their career as a lifelong journey, rather than a destination. It is no longer enough to ask, “What should I do?” Now there are more questions to ask. Some critical ones are:
- Where do I ultimately want to be in my life?
- How should I do it?
- How does this fit with my life values and goals?
- What could be my next step?
- How can I prepare for the next change as I do my current work?
The key to managing one’s own career is to take responsibility for it. Some things to pay attention to are:
- developing a wide range of transferable skills
- getting feedback
- doing work-related reading
- getting tertiary education and specific skill training
- getting mentoring and/or coaching.
By encouraging your child to think about all of these things, you will be helping them to take responsibility for their career journey.
