If you want to protect yourself and your job from robots, you'll have to be as un-robot-like as possible.
That is to say, you'll have to show employers that you're human, with all the human skills that robots (at least for now) can't replicate.
That's according to a new report from staffing and recruiting firm ManpowerGroup, which finds that by 2030, the demand for "human" skills, which include social and emotional soft skills, will increase 26% in the US and 22% in Europe.
The report provides some examples of human skills, including advanced communication, negotiation, and leadership. That's why front-line and customer-facing roles, which require these types of skills, are expected to grow.
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It's about being able to bring something to the table that technology can't. The report reads: "Candidates who can demonstrate higher cognitive skills, creativity and the ability to process complex information, together with adaptability and likeability, can expect greater success throughout their careers."
Manpower cites "learnability," or "the ability and desire to quickly grow and adapt one's skillset to stay employable for the long term," as the key skill employers will be looking for.
In an interview with Business Insider, Manpower CEO Jonas Prising noted that companies may start collecting a "learnability quotient" on job candidates, based at least partly on assessments of their cognitive ability and emotional intelligence. "We'll collect enough data to be able to predict if somebody's going to be a lifelong learner to a greater degree than others," Prising said.
Meanwhile, Stefano Scabbio, president of Mediterranean, Northern, and Eastern Europe at Manpower, told Business Insider that flexibility is one of the most important skills modern employees can have "because you need to be ready to move from one job to the other."
Interestingly, the Manpower report indicates that while it can be hard to train employees on technical skills, it can be even harder to teach in-demand soft skills. Prising described learnability as a two-way street: "As a company, you have to make the ease of learning available, but you also have to set an expectation on the individual."
Ultimately, employees shouldn't rely on one particular skillset to keep them afloat in an ever-evolving labor market. As Scabbio told Business Insider, given the rapid shift in desirable skills, "learnability is the only driver that can help you move forward in your career."
