When the World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab coined the term Fourth Industrial Revolution in 2015, not too many people took this age-defining nickname seriously. Now, following the mass adoption of AI and subsequent tech layoffs of 2023, the concept is clear for everyone. The boundaries between the digital and physical world are officially blurred, with robotics, automation, and cyber goods a part of everyone’s daily routine.
However, the transformation is not in full swing yet, which raises the question of what we should expect from the global employment market. Which jobs will be in highest demand, how will the workplace evolve, and how will all these transformations affect the hiring process? Below, we will try to answer all of these questions based on the current market developments.
The Ever-Growing Demand for AI and Big Data Experts
Artificial intelligence and the ever-growing automation of processes are the hottest job market topics these days. At the moment, it is already clear that AI, at least as it is today, is not the evil job-taker many feared it to be. However, it is actively transforming job responsibilities across different industries and displacing many workers across various occupations. Right now, the job market emphasis is on skills — often soft and transferable ones. And, even though artificial intelligence can already accomplish an astonishing range of repetitive tasks, the technology cannot keep developing without people, which is why the demand for AI support engineers is now peaking.
However, AI-related vacancies are not limited to the IT sector alone — in fact, as businesses search for the optimal ways to integrate new technologies into their operations, companies from all industries imaginable are on the lookout for AI-savvy consultants and managers to oversee the new operational routines. So, besides displacing some jobs, AI also creates new career opportunities — but to leverage those, professionals will be expected to regularly upgrade their skills because continuous learning is the only way to keep up with the fast technological pace.
Advances in AI and machine learning also increase the market demand for qualified data scientists — who, similarly to AI engineers, will have plenty of employment opportunities outside the tech sector. At the moment, the industry’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeds 30%, while its total value is already estimated at $140 billion. For comparison, 2022 reports projected a 15.8% CAGR for 2024-2030, with a total market value of up to $150 billion. In just two years, the first projection has already been doubled, and the market value almost reached the projected estimate five years before the deadline. At such a pace, we can count on new CAGR records soon enough.
The Rise of Sustainable Energy Jobs
IT, with its AI and automation advances, is not the only industry drastically transforming the world around us. Sustainable energy is another example of an industry that develops at a pace never observed before. The change is backed up on a governmental level, with carbon-free plans aiming for 2050 and beyond. In Europe, the shift is regulated by the Paris Agreement, and in the US, the recent Inflation Reduction Act has a separate section dedicated to accelerating the adoption of clean energy sources.
In the US, government initiatives on green energy applications already resulted in a huge job demand for skilled technicians. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 60% job increase for wind turbine service technicians in 2023-2033, followed by solar photovoltaic installers, with a projected growth rate of 48%. Compared to the average market job growth of just 3%, those are truly cosmic figures to be reckoned with. Considering that a shift to sustainable energy is not something that can happen overnight, engineers and technicians with relevant skills will be in high demand for decades to come.
Emergence of a Truly Global Workplace
The office space is also transforming. Strengthened international collaborations, mass adoption of hybrid and fully remote work models, as well as technological advances in communication and collaboration tools transform modern offices into truly global hubs. Besides, younger workforce demographics emphasize the social need to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices at work.
The tendency toward creating partly remote, fully inclusive workspaces has its pluses and minuses, of course. A culturally diverse environment can act as an innovation driver, inspiring new ideas and motivating everyone on the team to think outside the box. At the same time, purely legal regulatory challenges do remain, as does the potential for cultural misunderstandings. Besides, with the number of cyberattacks increasing each year, maintaining data privacy over national borders also poses a series of technical challenges. But for better or worse, the workplaces are already transforming — and employers who have not yet outlined their DEI policies should catch up as soon as they can.
Acceleration of the Hiring Process
By the end of this decade, millennials and Gen Z will become the ‘sole’ demographics in the workforce. In 2024, Gen Z already account for 24% of the global workforce, while the number of professionally active millennials will reach 75% in 2025. This will dramatically change the hiring process — in fact, the need for new, people-centric approaches is already transparent.
Digital natives, notorious for their short attention spans and used to the fast technological pace from early childhood, are particularly put off by the prolonged recruiting process. The rising popularity of contact databases like SignalHire, allowing recruiters to contact potential candidates directly over email instead of relying on social media messengers, also indicates the need to streamline recruiting funnels and accelerate the hiring process.
Moreover, automation keeps strengthening its positions in the world of hiring, as most recruiting and applicant tracking software today relies on artificial intelligence for data analysis, interview scheduling, and even assessing the candidate’s cultural fit. The latter also gains special prominence considering the new employment demographic because the current workforce often seeks purpose and meaning in their work – more than previous generations used to.
Besides, compared to previous generations, millennials and Gen Z are way more easygoing in changing their employers — most likely because they are more accustomed to constant change. Consequently, many of them expect to make good money right from the start as opposed to slowly climbing the career ladder that, as they well know, can crumble with any new social or technological shift.
So, employers who wish to attract and retain top talent should be prepared to invest in their employees — not only through high salaries but also through adopting innovative ways of leading a business. In this fast-paced century, embracing change and innovation is almost equivalent to survival, both on personal and corporate levels.
These are only some of the trends that have already made themselves obvious, but of course, new developments will surely surface soon enough. In any case, the hiring focus will shift towards adaptable professionals because the need for continuous learning will only increase as the technological pace accelerates. At the moment, it may be too soon to talk about the full transformation of educational curricula — most STEM jobs do require a strong academic background, after all. Still, the market demand for transferable skills and change-resilient experts is already obvious, implying that the academe might also be forced to embrace a less ‘classic’ approach to educating young talent.
