What are the top skills for the future of work?

There is one question we all want to know the answer to. How relevant will we be in the future job world? With the pandemic changing millions of jobs worldwide and increasing automation transforming the way we work; we have no idea what the job market will look like in the years to come. Growing information technology and artificial intelligence are changing the way we work, live, eat, and produce.  

The current pandemic has shown us a glimpse of it. The invention of the Metaverse by Mark Zuckerberg will completely change the landscape of traditional work in the future. Most of the work will be remote and online. The real challenge now is that HR managers, directors, and team leaders must manage distributed teams all over the world.

Here are the top five skills that are essential for remote workers. HR managers, recruiters, founders, and CEOs need to make sure that potential candidates have the following skills for optimal performance while working remotely.

1. Ability to work autonomously

In the remote job setting, you will be sitting alone working on a project. Your teammates will not be around you for support or mentorship to complete your tasks on time. They are not available to assist you in solving problems. If you are working as a programmer or remote developer, your colleagues won’t go through your codes to fix bugs. You need to be very good at your job, along with being able to work independently.  ‍

2. Self-motivation

In offices, your co-workers motivate you to do your work and complete it on time. Furthermore, your boss or team leaders keep pushing you to keep you motivated. However, this is not the case in remote work. Creating your own schedule and timetable is important to keep yourself focused and attentive. You also must balance distractions such as family, children, TV, and sleep. Hence, recruiters should make sure that the employees they are hiring are self-motivated to do their tasks.

3. Managing Your Time

Remote work gives you flexibility and independence. You are free to choose your working hours and place. This can be complex if you are not good at time management. Your boss or manager will not walk by you at any time to ensure that you are right on track. Therefore, you need to manage your time in remote work carefully.

4. Outstanding verbal and written communication skills

As you are not in your office, you must communicate with your colleagues and managers using digital tools such as messaging, video, and audio calling, which require strong verbal and written communication skills. Miscommunication and lack of clarity in messages and emails cause a lot of frustration and time loss. As a result, you need to be able to write and express yourself as clear as possible.

5. Extensive knowledge of digital tools

Last but not least, you will need to have a deep understanding of the use of digital platforms. During remote work, you will be using multiple digital tools such as instant messaging, slack, teams, zoom, emailing, transferring files, audio and video calling, project management, and operation management. It is imperative to know the basics of these tools so that you can use them comfortably to cooperate and coordinate with a fully remote team.

Remote work is here to stay. Gartner’s CFO Survey reveals that 74% of organizations intend to shift some employees to remote work permanently or have a hybrid model. This shift requires careful hiring and employee management. With this new revolution on the horizon, Axented specializes in connecting great talent with great companies in Latin America. Find, hire, and manage top tech talent in LATAM and build your distributed dream team with Axented.

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