Cosmopolitan - November 2016 UK

Even robots
look like
arseholes
on scooters
Randomly pick one of the on-screen
flashcards and it will reveal a phrase
or image designed to make you
rethink your problem.
still carry through. Most headhunting
is increasingly done online, using
social recruiting software, which trawls
the web looking for specific keywords
(and they hone in on coding skills).
Learn it: Try Python, the computer
language used by programmers at big
guns such as Google, NASA and
Spotify to build platforms and
products. Plus, it’s said to be the easiest
to master. Look up EdX’s free online
course ‘Introduction To Computer
Science And Programming Using
Python’. Take that, Wall-E.
Creative thinking
Get that thinking cap on. “There
is still one aspect that robots won’t
be able to replace: creative thinking,
imagination and intuition,” explains
Jacob Morgan, a workplace futurist
(yep, genuinely a job). John Lewis
and P&G already use Crowdicity –
‘idea management software’ where
bosses set a challenge and employees
submit ideas, with the best often
rewarded. Ray Kurzweil, Google’s
director of engineering (who, 20
years ago, predicted wearable tech
would be a thing), believes that in
the 2030s we’ll even link our brains
to the cloud – allowing us to back up
our thoughts and connect to the
internet to think faster.
88 · COSMOPOLITAN
Learn it: Not the most imaginative
of thinkers? Claire Bridges, founder
of Now Go Create – which trains
businesses ranging from Channel 4
to Microsoft on how to think more
creatively – swears by the power of
three. “Force yourself to think of at
least three ways to solve a challenge;
not the most obvious.” Stuck?
Download the free Brainsparker app.
SPEAK ROBOT
The words of the future
to learn now…
INCUBATOR SPACE
Sounds straight out of Alien, but is
actually a community place for
start-ups, where you can share
equipment, ideas and possibly crisps.
NEO-GENERALIST
Has a rough knowledge of many areas,
as opposed to ‘hyper-specialising’ in
one. Good for an uncertain job market.
And pub quizzes.
DRONE-TRAFFIC OPTIMISER
The new role of robotic airspace
traffic warden, mainly dealing in
ASOS deliveries.
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
HR that uses data to suss out exactly
how to retain and incentivise
employees. Currently uncertain whether
Colin The Caterpillar will feature.
Be adept at adaptation
With new entry-level employees
averaging five careers in their
lifetimes, it’s more vital than ever
to have a range of skills. “The top
challenge for a professional today is
to stay relevant,” says Dan Schawbel,
author of Promote Yourself: The New
Rules For Building An Outstanding
Career. But what to actually learn?
The internet is awash with MOOCs
(massive open online courses) that
offer free tuition from universities on
everything from machine learning to
positive psychology via providers such
as Coursera, EdX and FutureLearn.
Learn it: Find the skills needed for
your career at Degreed – a new
platform that asks what you specialise
in and then makes you a bespoke
daily learning ‘playlist’ (essays to
read, YouTube videos, MOOCs).
Each time you complete something
(say, an article) it validates and
charts your progress. Like a CV
– but one that gets updated daily,
not every six years.
Go with the motion
Still using PowerPoint or the
yawn-inducing flipchart? Bring your
presentations to life (and keep your
colleagues awake) with motion
graphics. Rich Pearson, of freelance
job site Upwork, says he has seen
a demand for PowerPoint skills go
down by 5%, but those looking for
skills in presentation software Prezi
have grown. It swaps slides for a series
of screens that move the viewer
laterally around, and you can zoom
in on figures, drawings and graphs.
A bit like creating your own cartoon.
Learn it: Beginner courses in Prezi
and Keynote (a similar tool) are
available on Lynda.com – LinkedIn’s
online learning platform – from
£18.95 a month. ◆
*ACCORDING TO STUDY BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY AND DELOITTE. WORDS GEMMA ASKHAM.
PHOTOGRAPHS SCOPE BEAUTY/NICK SCOTT/BAUER SYNDICATION