Peering into the Crystal Ball

The Future of Work and AI

In this interview, we explore the future of the job market, unveiling the trends, skills, and qualities that will shape success in the years ahead, alongside psychologist and recruitment expert, Alex Tidgård. With a strong background in organizational consulting and product development, Alex currently serves as the CEO at Grooo, a recruitment company specializing in the tech industry.

Looking ahead, how do you anticipate the job market evolving?

“The pace of skill development is accelerating. Previously, a new skill could remain relevant for several years, but now the job landscape is changing so rapidly that what was relevant a year ago may no longer be today,” explains Alex.

This poses a challenge for both employees and employers. Companies must consider what they need to learn and adapt to, rather than merely reacting to current needs. “Companies recruit for the needs they have now, but ideally, one should recruit for the needs they anticipate having in the future.”

This implies that companies will likely face growing challenges in determining their needs and selecting the right candidates for their teams, given the prevailing uncertainty and the concept of recruiting for future needs.

What skills and qualities do you believe workers should focus on to remain relevant and competitive in the job market?

According to Alex, curiosity is a key competency. “One must be curious to cope with the rapid developments happening right now. Being open to learning new things and trying out new tools is becoming increasingly important.”

Courage is also a sought-after attribute in a world where technology and artificial intelligence are playing an ever-growing role. “It’s about considering what you’re doing today that you might do differently with the help of AI.”

But what about traditional “hard skills” in this transition?

“There are certain skills that are more transferable, i.e., skills that are not context-bound will become more important along with soft values and skills, such as curiosity, courage, and teamwork.”

Alex refers to abilities, knowledge, or experiences that can be applied across different roles, industries, or situations, i.e., transferable skills. Examples include communication, problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, time management, and adaptability.

At the same time, he highlights the need for both specialized expertise and generalists in the job market. “We need both unique specialized expertise and generalists who can adapt constantly and switch between contexts; it becomes almost paradoxical.”

Which industries are predicted to be most affected by AI?

“I think it’s better to ask which tasks will be affected. Our tasks will be streamlined. For example, Klarna’s new bot replaced the roles of 700 customer service agents . The tasks where the need for human expertise has decreased are various types of text processing.”

Despite all the challenges, there are also opportunities with technological development. “AI can help us streamline work processes and free up time for more creative tasks,” Alex points out. “It’s important to view AI as a tool that can assist us in our work rather than as a replacement for human labour.”

At the same time, many new job opportunities are predicted to be created. There are some predictions which say that digitalization until 2030 would create approximately 100,000 new jobs in Sweden. ”But I can’t say what type of tasks will arise, it’s something no one knows yet. It will be exciting to see what new job opportunities arise. ”

What changes do you see in terms of leadership styles and skills demanded of future leaders?

“Wow, that’s a tough question! It’s so complex to be a good leader: you need to be able to handle different types of individuals, promote a good corporate culture and community, have clear goals and strategies for the company, which has become more difficult due to the pandemic and the digital age. Fewer and fewer young people I’ve talked to want to become leaders, which is a sad trend. It also becomes increasingly difficult to measure performance and to know what steps are required to advance in one’s career.”

What ethical considerations are there to be particularly mindful of?

“There are a lot of ethical issues that come into play when feeding AI with information, especially because we don’t always know where all that potentially sensitive information ends up.”

A report from UNESCO shows that generative AI systems often exhibit gender-stereotypical tendencies. For example, traditionally female names are associated with preconceived female gender roles, and AI systems also generate a higher proportion of negative content about women and LGBTQ+ individuals. 

“It’s important that we pay attention to how AI handles the information it receives. In some cases, it has been the opposite where AI tries to be as politically correct as possible and generates AI images that are completely unhistorical.”

“We also have to be attentive to how things are summarized by AI, for example, how an interview is summarized – is it presented in a certain way? Is it an objective compilation?

Alex emphasizes the importance of ethically made decisions when using AI to assist with recruitment (scanning resumes, conducting interviews, etc.). “It’s very important that you can explain how and why the decision was made. If you cannot lift the lid and trace the decision-making process, it becomes very problematic from a transparency perspective but also risks bias and discrimination. Especially since we have seen that AI is discriminatory if not explicitly instructed not to be.”

He concludes by stating, “I think we have rushed a bit in implementing and using AI tools without establishing clear policies on how to proceed and ensuring GDPR compliance.”