Speaker 1: Join the conversation. This is Kate Talk. The conversation turns
Speaker 1: to family matters, and today we're going to reflect on
Speaker 1: the concept of future proofing our kids. We all want
Speaker 1: to set our youngsters up for future success, but the
Speaker 1: difficulty in the current environment is knowing what that actually
Speaker 1: even looks like. How do you help prepare them for
Speaker 1: jobs that in some cases don't even exist yet, or
Speaker 1: for workplaces which are so entirely different to the kind
Speaker 1: of workplace that you and I have inhabited through our
Speaker 1: working life. It could be a very difficult path to
Speaker 1: help them navigate. And in fact, the answer lies not
Speaker 1: so much in getting fixed on what are you going
Speaker 1: to be what specific career are we preparing you for,
Speaker 1: but rather looking to the question of what skills are
Speaker 1: going to be highly valued in future, what personal attributes
Speaker 1: are going to be sought after, regardless of the environment
Speaker 1: you might be heading into, And to help us reflect
Speaker 1: on this, I'm delighted to recruit via Zoom Bryce Decker,
Speaker 1: who is a Durban based organizational psychology just an educational
Speaker 1: planner who's really passionate about helping young people in particular
Speaker 1: to plan their pathway their study choices their next steps
Speaker 1: towards a professional career to plan it from a perspective
Speaker 1: of building a bouquet of skills that will take you
Speaker 1: forward regardless of which industry you end up in. And Bryce,
Speaker 1: it's lovely to have you joining us on the show today.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Cape Talk.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks so much for having me in prepared such
Speaker 2: a producib with you and everywhere this oftenoon.
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time. Perhaps as a jumping off point,
Speaker 1: we can take a quick look at the latest Future
Speaker 1: of Jobs Report, Bryce, because this is a very good
Speaker 1: sort of way of indexing what the industries aren't there
Speaker 1: are saying about what they're looking for and what they
Speaker 1: think they're going to need and value. For those who
Speaker 1: are not familiar with this report, it's an annual report
Speaker 1: that taps into labor markets and employers all over the
Speaker 1: world and gives insight into things like which jobs are
Speaker 1: fading away, which jobs are growing in demand, which skills
Speaker 1: are most in demand, what our employers look looking for
Speaker 1: when they're recruiting. Right. I mean, it's very interesting to
Speaker 1: look at some of the big trends and influencing factors
Speaker 1: in this year's report about what the job market of
Speaker 1: the future might look like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think that at a high level, though,
Speaker 2: the greatest thing that kind of caught me was that
Speaker 2: fact if you look at the jobs that are going
Speaker 2: to be created versus those that are going to be displaced,
Speaker 2: there was overall the seven percent gain globally that's expected,
Speaker 2: which quite reassuring for all of us. I think you
Speaker 2: know that there jobs are going to be created. I
Speaker 2: think careers are going to certainly evolve quite dramatically over
Speaker 2: the next role. But I mean, certainly the big trends
Speaker 2: that kind of front of mind, digital access, I think
Speaker 2: that's obviously very topical for many of us. I think
Speaker 2: climate change mitigation is a big kind of focal point.
Speaker 2: And then I think the cost of living and the
Speaker 2: fact that I suppose you've got to show a little
Speaker 2: bit more return of investment, certainly from an educational perspective,
Speaker 2: is a big thing. And then quite topical Auto moments. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Generation Z kind of entering the labor market and their
Speaker 2: perspectives to work and finding purpose around work. I think
Speaker 2: all have a big driving factor going forward and driving force.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no surprises in the list of jobs that are
Speaker 1: on the decline, those that are seeing the steepest fall
Speaker 1: off are the likes of bank tellers, postal workers, data
Speaker 1: entry clerks. A lot of those sort of admin roles
Speaker 1: are being absorbed by computers and AI, and we know
Speaker 1: that that is the way it's going. But what does
Speaker 1: make for very interesting reading is the list of the
Speaker 1: fastest growing jobs and BRYCE, as you've mentioned, the ability
Speaker 1: to interact with the big data, the AI. So many
Speaker 1: people are scared of AI replacing jobs, but what this
Speaker 1: list is telling me is that a human ability to
Speaker 1: engage with AI and to analyze the information that is
Speaker 1: being produced and to massage it and repurpose it is
Speaker 1: still going to be absolutely crucial. So cyber security specialists,
Speaker 1: big data experts, robotics engineers. I mean, these are quite
Speaker 1: scary concepts for a parent who doesn't really even understand
Speaker 1: what some of those mean. BRYCE. To then have to
Speaker 1: try and advise a child you might be taking on
Speaker 1: a role like that one day can be quite daunting,
Speaker 1: can't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think it's daunting for the parents.
Speaker 2: It's certainly very daunting from my experience for the kids involved,
Speaker 2: you know, and I think often the advice to them
Speaker 2: is to control what they can and often you know
Speaker 2: they've got a lot of advice coming to them from
Speaker 2: all the fen angles and I suppose, like any kind
Speaker 2: of good mentor would tell them, it's just controlling the
Speaker 2: controllables and what they can control. So I think when
Speaker 2: you look at that report closely, they define the top
Speaker 2: skills that are required by twenty thirty, and when you
Speaker 2: break it down at a skill micro level, I think
Speaker 2: it's a lot more easier to grapple with, and kind
Speaker 2: of the skills that they talk about is Sydney analytical
Speaker 2: thinking and developing some resilience and having a little bit
Speaker 2: of agility in terms of the way that you look
Speaker 2: at your future path, leadership, social influence and from my experience,
Speaker 2: I mean when you look at those skills being developed
Speaker 2: and you look at the ecosystem at Mania of our
Speaker 2: children of privileged to be educated with a lot of
Speaker 2: those opportunities exist within a schooling and ecosystem. So I
Speaker 2: think sometimes to make it less daunting is to focus
Speaker 2: on building the skills required for those long term choices,
Speaker 2: often easier way of approaching it.
Speaker 1: How do you build those skills because it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: a pathway straight into university to go and do a
Speaker 1: degree in AI and a machine learning. That's certainly not
Speaker 1: the only way to get there. Bryson. You've you've spoke about,
Speaker 1: you know, building up what you can in terms of
Speaker 1: acquiring skills. How do you start? Where do you go
Speaker 1: about doing that?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, for you know, I suppose a
Speaker 2: big folk for a child is just finding out, you know,
Speaker 2: what they're good at and what they enjoy. If you
Speaker 2: can find the combination of those two, specifically academically and
Speaker 2: those subjects as an example that they're enjoying and they're
Speaker 2: getting good reward for, that should be a good indication
Speaker 2: of where their strengths lie. And if you can endeavor
Speaker 2: to find what is my unique little skill set that
Speaker 2: I'm offering to the world. In doing so, I think
Speaker 2: they'll build confidence in themselves with that, and once building
Speaker 2: some confidence, hopefully you kind of whatever they wherever they go,
Speaker 2: whatever they do after school, You're wanting your kids just
Speaker 2: to build a level of confidence in their own ability.
Speaker 2: And often once they start developing that confidence and the
Speaker 2: skills that emerge to them. So again probably it's a
Speaker 2: little bit of a wish you wash it on. So,
Speaker 2: but I think just kind of go gain for the student,
Speaker 2: go back to the basics. Find it is what your
Speaker 2: unique mark is on the world, and you can take
Speaker 2: even your subjects. You know, thirteen grade ten advising a
Speaker 2: lot of my pupils going forward into the fet component
Speaker 2: of the high school experience. You're wanting them to find
Speaker 2: subjects that they that they enjoy, that they're getting good
Speaker 2: reward for, and almost don't get too formulate with that
Speaker 2: kind of just just put your kind of one foot
Speaker 2: in front of another and just try and focus in
Speaker 2: on what subjects are I enjoying? You know, what subjects
Speaker 2: when I go to the class the time fliers buy
Speaker 2: and by the time I've looked up, the class is
Speaker 2: finished and I'm receiving pretty good reward for it. And
Speaker 2: that should be a good indication of where your academic
Speaker 2: skills line. Once you can find that, you know, you
Speaker 2: don't have to be as direct and linear with developing
Speaker 2: those skills. An example like drama for example, at school,
Speaker 2: if a child loves you know, kind of that as
Speaker 2: a subject, you know they're getting good reward for it.
Speaker 2: The skills that you can get from a subject like
Speaker 2: that might not be as obvious to the are, but
Speaker 2: you can by doing that, you're going to develop so
Speaker 2: much like great confidence with other people, you develop your
Speaker 2: leadership skills. So it's not always as directors what we think.
Speaker 2: But again I think just the big message is find
Speaker 2: what your strengths are, push into those, and through that
Speaker 2: journey and your skills will emerge.
Speaker 1: And that journey isn't a fixed point from point A
Speaker 1: to point B along a linear path either. That's one
Speaker 1: of the very interesting things in this report, and it
Speaker 1: echoes what's been said by so many professionals that the
Speaker 1: workplace of the future and the career of the future
Speaker 1: BRYCE is not necessarily I'm going to be profession X
Speaker 1: and that's what I'll do for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: One of the key things that comes out of this
Speaker 1: report is the importance of being nimble, being flexible, being adaptable,
Speaker 1: being agile in your approach to work. That you might
Speaker 1: start out doing one thing, but being able to pivot
Speaker 1: into another aligned role and then find your way into
Speaker 1: an entirely new sector because of the skills you acquired
Speaker 1: in the previous job, that that is going to become
Speaker 1: sought after. It's not I'm thinking now in my parents' day,
Speaker 1: somebody with a CV that had jumped from one job
Speaker 1: to another to another and done all kinds of different
Speaker 1: things might have been viewed in a negative light as saying,
Speaker 1: this person's flighty, they can't commit to anything. We take
Speaker 1: a quite different view of it, CD like that today,
Speaker 1: wouldn't we bryce?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and I and I think you know, some
Speaker 2: of us are lucky enough to converge on a career
Speaker 2: at a very early age. But if that's domina, doesn't
Speaker 2: you know vice majority of us. Actually, if we start
Speaker 2: to think back to ourselves at sixteen years old, we
Speaker 2: had no idea, many of us exactly what we wanted
Speaker 2: to do. And I think like to take the pressure
Speaker 2: off the fact that you know, going forward, careers don't
Speaker 2: have to be that linear and you don't have to
Speaker 2: have it all figured out to school. In fact, often
Speaker 2: my advice to students is you're kind of bolded from
Speaker 2: the ground up. So instead of converging on a career
Speaker 2: from sixteen years old, just focus on what you can control,
Speaker 2: do the best you can in the subject you enjoy,
Speaker 2: and in finding those subjects that they're enjoying they're getting
Speaker 2: good reward for, you'll probably find that you'll dictate the
Speaker 2: Terstie journey that will again play to your unique experients
Speaker 2: and talents, and in that you're once we get the
Speaker 2: journey right, the hypothesis is always is that the career
Speaker 2: will look after itself, but very often it's not a
Speaker 2: linear pathway. And again I think it just comes back
Speaker 2: to controlling the controllables and control that grade ten year
Speaker 2: for example, when you're choosing subjects, and if you get
Speaker 2: the pathway right, generally the outcomes look after themselves. You know.
Speaker 2: Often people also say to my students, like protecting grade
Speaker 2: like sixteen year olds, it's kind of hold your grade
Speaker 2: ten year as touch as you can with your hands,
Speaker 2: hold your career option very loosely in your hand, because
Speaker 2: I find sometimes the danger in choosing a career too
Speaker 2: early is that kids grapple onto it, and you know,
Speaker 2: for example, let's say I want to be a VET,
Speaker 2: but I don't even know yet whether I like you know,
Speaker 2: physical science and biology, you know, and it's too early
Speaker 2: often and there's too much pressure in the student. So
Speaker 2: generally that advice is to hold those career options, don't
Speaker 2: not explore, but hold them loosely in your hand, but
Speaker 2: hold your academic performance certain grade ten in it even
Speaker 2: as touch as you can.
Speaker 1: Just for the sake of anybody who's come into this
Speaker 1: interview midway, my guest joining us via zoom from Durbin
Speaker 1: is Bryce Decker, who is an organizational psychologist and educational
Speaker 1: planner works with a number of schools in KSN and beyond,
Speaker 1: and also with young people already further down the path
Speaker 1: of tertiary study who are looking for guidance on the
Speaker 1: next steps into a professional future. Talking about the concept
Speaker 1: of future proofing our kids and helping them map out
Speaker 1: pathways to success in the future that don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: to be hung to the concept of I am going
Speaker 1: to be a profession x, Y or z and making
Speaker 1: that decision at fourteen and being expected to stick with
Speaker 1: it for the rest of your high school career and beyond. Now,
Speaker 1: our listener, Amanda just emailing me saying, please, won't we
Speaker 1: repeat what that Future of Jobs reports said, We're going
Speaker 1: to be the most in demand skills in the future. Briefly, Amanda,
Speaker 1: Analytical thinking and problem solving top the list, AI and
Speaker 1: big data literacy, cybersecurity, digital literacy. See. But then come
Speaker 1: what some would perceive as the softer skills. But it's
Speaker 1: really fascinating to me that they are still on this list. Creativity, innovation, flexibility,
Speaker 1: social influence and leadership, environmental stewardship, emotional intelligence and empathy,
Speaker 1: and then programming and coding as well. Bryce that that
Speaker 1: fascinating to me. Emotional intelligence and empathy in a world
Speaker 1: where so much of the focus is on the digital
Speaker 1: being able to work with the computers, you might think
Speaker 1: that that would fall almost off the list of in
Speaker 1: demand skills. But do you want to comment on the
Speaker 1: fact that emotional intelligence and empathy is still appearing on
Speaker 1: that list of absolutely crucial skills.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of those skill
Speaker 2: sets that you know takes time to dep I think
Speaker 2: it's opposite. It's one of those skill sets that you know.
Speaker 2: It isn't always an earlier example I gave you earlier
Speaker 2: around the skills that you did in an indirect way.
Speaker 2: You know, for example, like a subject where there's a
Speaker 2: bit of a creative endeavor, whether it be drama or
Speaker 2: with there's a bit of group work involved with it,
Speaker 2: or consumer studies where there's an element of group engagement.
Speaker 2: Kind of those types of subjects. On magic to develop
Speaker 2: a little bit of an emotional intelligence component to you
Speaker 2: and your profile, and you are Sertney working in the workplace,
Speaker 2: you can never kind of escape those skills, so it's
Speaker 2: so important. You know, it's often you can be the
Speaker 2: cleverest person in the world, but it's how you convey
Speaker 2: that message to others and how you read people and
Speaker 2: how you influence them in a positive way that's such
Speaker 2: a powerful impact on not any your own career directory,
Speaker 2: but the people around you. And you can yes the
Speaker 2: legs that you can gain from developing that skill, So
Speaker 2: it's massively important for whatever you're going.
Speaker 1: To do in absolutely bryce. Let's circle back to the
Speaker 1: parent trying to advise a learner at this point, and
Speaker 1: you've said some very good things about the kind of
Speaker 1: decision making and what is important to hold on to
Speaker 1: and what is important to hold onto more loosely at
Speaker 1: this point when you're making these plans. But outside the
Speaker 1: school environment, are there activities, whether there are social groups
Speaker 1: like scouts, or sporting activities or musical activities, things outside
Speaker 1: of the immediate academic classroom which offer opportunities to start
Speaker 1: developing some of these crucial skills that you think are
Speaker 1: worth encouraging youngsters to stay involved in and not just
Speaker 1: focus on the academics. Do you want to maybe speak
Speaker 1: a little bit about what we learn outside of the
Speaker 1: classroom that's still going to be valuable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think just building on that EQ
Speaker 2: component who referring to earlier, I mean, I think you
Speaker 2: know those things like the President's Award that's after at
Speaker 2: the school after students will say to be priced you
Speaker 2: are you done at the time for that? And you know,
Speaker 2: the skills that you developed back in getting involved with
Speaker 2: non you know, disadvantage communities, things like toastmasters. You know,
Speaker 2: all those skills that you can embark upon to enhance
Speaker 2: yourself and your self worth and confidence or just so
Speaker 2: massively important for life. And I was so interesting though,
Speaker 2: like kind of reading that article. I don't know if
Speaker 2: it struck you a bit. Like also when you talk
Speaker 2: about like, you know, the skills that they develop around
Speaker 2: is some interdisciplinary skills and being able to kind of
Speaker 2: come away from school or tertiary education as a well
Speaker 2: rounded individual. And it's so massively important for whatever you're
Speaker 2: going to do. Enough, and it's particularly you know, when
Speaker 2: you start to look at propose some of those inter
Speaker 2: faculty degree choices that are after the university now, and
Speaker 2: I think that's such a great way of developing transferable
Speaker 2: skills and a bit of agility, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: you know, degrees like your philosophy, politics, economics, with an
Speaker 2: eclectic mix of different subjects from different faculties so important
Speaker 2: to kind of develop a well rounded and thought provoking
Speaker 2: person you try to come up with you when you
Speaker 2: leave both secondary and tersie educational opportunities.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of food for thought. There bryce any
Speaker 1: sort of final words of advice to the youngster listening
Speaker 1: to this, or to the parent feeling a little bit
Speaker 1: overwhelmed by it all and not knowing how to sort
Speaker 1: of advise the youngster on the way forward. What are
Speaker 1: the sort of core things to hold on to, particularly
Speaker 1: if we're talking to that final phase of high school
Speaker 1: where we're making and being forced to make these decisions
Speaker 1: about subject choices and vasty applications or TVED applications, et cetera,
Speaker 1: which sometimes you know we're not ready to make at
Speaker 1: that age. What's the most important thing to sort of
Speaker 1: hold on to you? In your view?
Speaker 2: I think, person you just owned kind of control it.
Speaker 2: You can control it in front of you, which means
Speaker 2: often for students just to kind of do the very
Speaker 2: best they can. Find out where your strength lies. Think
Speaker 2: that know that your career that you kind of might
Speaker 2: be aspiring towards might very well change. Have flexibility in
Speaker 2: your thoughts, you know, focus on both your academics and
Speaker 2: as well, does your extracurricular activity, Enjoy school and optimately
Speaker 2: whatever you're going to do, make sure that you build
Speaker 2: your confidence in your journey towards getting to where you
Speaker 2: want to go. All we really want, I suppose, in life,
Speaker 2: is to develop a well rounded individual that's going to
Speaker 2: contribute positively to the greater good. And I think more
Speaker 2: and more prevalently that's going to become incredibly important for
Speaker 2: whatever we do is to have a little bit of
Speaker 2: moral consciousness. And I think if you can develop focusing
Speaker 2: on your strengths, focusing on one year of time, don't
Speaker 2: not dream, but know that those gems will come through small,
Speaker 2: little micro steps that you can take. And I think
Speaker 2: that Chinese probably said that the longest journey started a
Speaker 2: single step. The only thing you can really control is
Speaker 2: to control what's in front of you. Do the best
Speaker 2: that you can, and in doing so, hopefully you develop
Speaker 2: some confidence in that journey.
Speaker 1: Price thanks lots of food for haul for us this afternoon,
Speaker 1: and we so appreciate your time in joining us on
Speaker 1: the show. All the best to you and especially to
Speaker 1: the young that you are guiding on this pathway. We
Speaker 1: appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Papa for having me our great pleasure.
Speaker 1: Bryce Decker speaking to us from Durbin, organizational psychologist and
Speaker 1: educational planner,