The publication in the last months of different studies on promising job positions like « Livre Blanc les métiers porteurs horizon 2020 » (White Paper on promising job occupations horizon 2020) by Career Builder, one study of E&Y / LinkedIn, the study « The revolution of Jobs», Study France Stratégie, April 2015) is for Alhambra International the opportunity to inform you on the future of professional job positions. This analysis will deal with the French job market but will also include international markets.
The labor market has been changed by diverse economic phenomena, – the mondialization of services and goods exchanges, and different financial crisis (particularly the one of 2008) – and by technological and social changes as well as new regulations. All these changes favor the creation of new job occupations and alter the existing ones.
A link exists between promising job positions and a shortage of talents on one side and a high unemployment rate in Europe (9,6% in the European Union) on the other side. This shortage of talents concerns at the same time highly qualified populations (especially executives in the IT sector and particularly in the digital part of this sector) but also a more manual labor force like qualified workers in the mechanical, metallurgy and graphic industries, maintenance technicians and sales persons.
The first category of promising job occupations is linked to the technological and digital revolution. The development of new technologies has a huge impact on the universe of IT job positions, but also in the areas of communication, marketing, commerce, production and engineering. The most important reasons are the following ones:
– The technological advance with the rise of new services in the IT sector (especially with the cloud and the virtualization) with infrastructure and network security issues increasing the number of Cloud, Virtualization and Security Engineer positions.
– The information explosion linked to the internet of objects, notably with the emergence of Big Data analysis and management, leads to the buildup of « Data Analysts », « Data Scientists » and « Big Data Application Developers » for storing, for exploiting, for understanding an exponential mass of information and for better managing the knowhow of the customer/patient/user.
– The new usages of consumers which are linked with the e-commerce, M-commerce and of the omni channel explosion. New positions are being created in order to optimize the usage and the visibility of company internet sites and applications, especially on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) and to make them more attractive to favour purchases and consumer loyalty. Companies have also to reinforce their brand, to give the brand a unique sense, to tell a consistent story, to create content etc…. Among the promising job positions in this sector are: Brand Ambassador, Brand Operations Manager, Web Ergonomist, Traffic Manager, E-commerce Responsible, Community Manager.
– The development of new managing models, of new manufacturing processes and new products. Favored by the new digital technologies, the manufacturing sector is more and more concerned by the machine to machine (MtoM) communication and by more and more complex manufacturing processes. In the next years the digital technologies will for example improve medical care, manage traffic lights and street lights and will optimize the growth of cereals by tractors linked to satellite navigation systems. The promising job positions within these sectors are: Professional Services consultants and specialists of ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning: Software systems for integrated finance, production, supply chain solutions…) Software Research and Development Engineers, Technical editors, Technologies Web Engineers…
The 2nd category of promising occupations is linked to new regulations, to environmental constraints and to the planning and mutualizing of complex tasks:
– Slowly more and more conformity, risk and governance functions are created and become part of the daily work routine in the companies, due to the ever increasing obligations and laws to be respected. Mastering risk and production costs by at the same time maintaining or improving quality, security and profitability are important stakes. R&D is facing new legislative constraints, especially in the manufacturing sectors. Globalization has made more complex the logistic chain which is becoming the core of enterprise planning. Finance is also evolving with the constraints of SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), the IFRS norms, US GAAP … Among the promising job occupations in these areas one can find: Financial Controller managing the IFRS and US GAAP norms, Risk Manager, Compliance Manager, Specialist in regulatory affairs, Supply Chain Manager, Lean Manufacturing Engineer, Industrial performance engineer, QHSE Responsible.
– New job opportunities are created due to the need and wish to focus on environmental issues linked to the energy transition, to the circular economy and to new construction constraints… ’OECD studies show that the environment protection policies have positive consequences in the countries which have focused on these issues for a long time. It’s also a comparative advantage for exporting their goods and knowhow. Furthermore, as a consequence, these policies and exports are creating jobs in these areas. So, the emergence and the development of the renewable energies with a model focused on decentralization (possibility of these energies to be produced, distributed and locally exchanged) will also generate new promising job occupations (Xavier Desmaison from the Cabinet Antidox estimates that between 180 000 to 300 000 new jobs will be created in the years to come). The circular economy which is favoring the production of goods and services by limiting the consumption and the waste of the commodities is also part of sustainable development. The same can be observed in the Transport and Construction occupations. Among the promising job positions in these sectors we can find: Project Manager, Electrical Maintenance Biofuel Plants Technician, Wood Boiler Installer, Wind Energy Project Manager, Wind Energy Construction Engineer, Heat Pump Product Manager, Solar Energy Engineer, Eco conception engineer of polluted sites and soils Nuclear Destruction Engineer…(Source: Ademe which has evaluated 50 promising occupations).
– The mutualized positions linked to the cost optimization and to the standardization of complex tasks (also called shared services) – sometimes by externalization – have created new positions. Initially dedicated to the IT sector, the mutualized occupations have been opened to the Finance, Purchase and Human Resources functions. Analytical competences have often been added to these job tasks. Sometimes they are completing traditional positions like Accountant, HR Assistant, Local Administrative and Finance Clerk,… Here are some of these promising job positions: « Shared Services Center Specialist, Financial Back Office Specialist, Accountant, HR Specialist…
Finally, the tertiarization of the economy constitutes also an important job pool, especially in France:
– All medical care related job positions will benefit from a strong dynamism due to the ageing of the population and the necessary backing of elderly people which are in a dependence situation (either by living at home or by living in senior residences or service houses for the elderly). The number of Nursery Assistants will continue to grow faster than the rest of the job positions in order to answer to the still unsatisfactory children day care solutions existing nowadays. Among the promising job positions one can find: Home Care coordinator, Medical/Psychological Aide, Medical Assistants, Nurses, Midwives, Childminder.
– Education / Further Education / Training are in progress. According to the EY/LinkedIn study, 56% of the CEOs estimate that the lack of certain competences curbs the development of their companies. That is why Training consultants and Trainers/Coaches are so important. to support employees in a labour market becoming more and complex.
– Tourism: a market in steady growth. Tourism is an economic sector which creates sustainable job positions. With more than 2 million people directly or indirectly employed in this sector in France and with more than 7% of the French GNP, the importance of the development of this sector is major. According to François Nogue, author of a report on this subject in 2013, 50 000 opened positions could not be filled in France in 2013. The tourism sector in France is still growing due to the fact that more and more people travel. Around 84 Million foreigners have visited France in 2013, generating more than 41 Billions of Euros turnover. Among the promising job occupations one can find are: Guides, Travelling Companions, all kind of hotel and restaurant employees, Promotion and Communication Assistants and Managers (especially for the digital communication).
The promising job positions are sometimes adaptations of already existing occupations, but also new jobs linked to technological, social or environmental changes or due to new regulations. The consequence for the persons seeking employment or wishing to pursue an interesting way of earning money to live is to manage their career like a « startup »: Reid Hoffmann, creator of Linkedin and author of the book « The startup of you », employed the term “startup” for the first time in the field of a person’s career development and goals: One has to adapt, has to invest in his or her own development and has to take risks. The classical work contract is more and more similar to a kind of alliance where the employer and the employees invest mutually in their respective developments.
Pierre MAURIN
Alhambra International