To help you discover the top career trends of the year, we asked recruiting professionals and business leaders this question for their best insights. From hybrid roles to 4-day work weeks, there are several career trends that have emerged in 2022 that you should prepare to adopt in the near future.
Here are 12 career trends experts are seeing in 2022:
- Hybrid Roles
- Job-seekers Have the Upper Hand
- Intellectual Property Matters
- The Turn Toward Freelance Careers
- Job Hopping & Prioritizing Quality of Life
- VR & AR Implementation
- Soft Skills Lead Organizational Agility
- Benefits Outweighing Paychecks
- The Spotlight is on Diversity & Inclusion
- Embracing Fractional Resources
- Employers Expected to Contribute to Emotional Health
- 4-day Work Week
Hybrid Roles
Because many of us within the workforce had to switch over to virtual work during the pandemic, we have become accustomed to the working lifestyle that it provides. Though some businesses have returned to the physical office, some employees still may prefer virtual work. What organizations are considering is an increase in hybrid style roles that offer benefits to workers that excel within the office and those that find virtual work more appealing. Organizations should consider offering these types of roles as they can attract high-quality, competitive talent.
Brandon Brown, GRIN
Job-seekers Have the Upper Hand
In 2022, finding quality talent is becoming more competitive. In the job climate we’re in, employees and job-seekers definitely have the upper-hand when it comes to negotiating higher salaries and better benefits. The companies that understand this will inevitably feel positions with the best of the best in the talent pool.
Jae Pak, Jae Pak MD Medical
Intellectual Property Matters
From my vantage point, as an attorney, I can see that demand for protection of copyrights and trademarks for writers, designers, musicians, etc. is growing. That is because new digital technologies keep emerging and keep getting more popular. Because content is so accessible, creators are more protective than ever of their intellectual property. As a result, I’m seeing a lot of jobs opening up for aspiring litigators in that spectrum. Intellectual property law is becoming a vast and lucrative field. Attorneys who specialize in it already are being highly sought after.
Alan Ahdoot, Adamson Ahdoot Law
The Turn Toward Freelance Careers
Individuals and organizations alike are capitalizing on the gig economy. Though it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, many people enjoy online job flexibility. Some have launched online businesses or turned to full-time freelance work to secure financial stability while traveling or focusing on other responsibilities. Organizations will increase their gig opportunities to offer professional fulfillment, security, and job flexibility as the workforce turns to freelance work.
Justin Soleimani, Tumble
Job Hopping & Prioritizing Quality of Life
Young members of the U.S. workforce are no longer gaining years of experience with one employer; instead, these professionals are interested in gaining different skills with various companies. Why? Since the onset of the pandemic, employees have been laser-focused on one thing: quality of life.
Suppose a company can’t provide flexible benefits such as remote work. In that case, many job seekers will find a different employer who will, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing – it keeps businesses, small and large, in check.
Cesar Cruz, Sebastian Cruz Couture
VR & AR Implementation
I’m seeing a lot of companies looking at virtual reality and augmented reality. In the past, we’ve seen this technology in video games, but now it’s being used to train employees, provide customer service, and even sell products. It’s an exciting trend that will only continue to grow as more people become comfortable with the idea of using VR and AR technology and I believe there will be a huge push for these technologies to be implemented in many fields, from medicine to education to entertainment, creating a lot more jobs for potential candidates in this area.
Shaun Connell, Connell Media
Soft Skills Lead Organizational Agility
Staffing, skills, adaptability – 2022 has seen plenty of macro-level shortages, and we’re seeing one commonality between how organizations are choosing to tackle issues on this front: soft skills. You may think soft skills are simply being able to banter a bit at the digital water cooler. As research has ramped up, it turns out soft skills drive a wide range of pressing business issues. Employees with managers with reportedly bad emotional intelligence (a measure of soft skills) leave 70% more often. When they leave, their skills do too.
Soft skills are also the most transferable of skills, allowing individuals to be placed in a range of projects and roles. With the madness that has been the last three years, HR has wised up to how soft skills can dramatically reduce churn and promote agility. This has resulted in weighing soft skills more highly in candidates as well as enacting programs to boost soft skills in their workers.
Merrill Cook, Arist
Benefits Outweighing Paychecks
Benefits are starting to matter just as much, or more than, a job’s salary. In the current job market, companies that offer the most comprehensive benefits are seeing much more interest than those that just offer the best pay. Job seekers are now willing and able to look far and wide for jobs with the best benefits and are willing to choose the jobs that promote their best work-life experience over just those with the highest pay.
This has made many companies rethink what sort of benefits they offer to attract potential hires. It’s a wonderful thing. The quality of the work experience of many professionals is increasing. When workers are satisfied with their lives they’re more productive, which benefits companies as much as it does employees. This is a trend I hope to see continue into the future.
Caleb Ulffers, Haven Athletic
The Spotlight is on Diversity & Inclusion
Over the last few years, social justice movements have seen a huge growth in awareness and we can see this being reflected in the job market as well. As a younger, more aware workforce penetrates the job market, companies are being called to rise to the occasion and take more social justice movements into account. They are now consciously incorporating inclusion initiatives, diversity in their workforce, equity, and a conscious yet authentic brand image.
Marc Roca, 4WD Life
Embracing Fractional Resources
To cover key roles the past couple of years, many of us have had to rely on part-time or fractional staff members and often these placements worked out exceptionally well. Companies like ours are becoming more comfortable with contracted partial-time staff becoming an ordinary part of our management and workforce. We have customers to serve and work to be done, but alternative arrangements to the traditional 40-hour salaried employee can regularly do the job.
Corey Donovan, Alta Technologies
Employers Expected to Contribute to Emotional Health
With remote work and drastic societal changes becoming the norm, employees want to work for companies that invest in the emotional health of their workforce. This goes beyond a daily check-in or a regular pat-on-the-back. They’re looking for policies and programs that ensure companies care, even when times get rough and you’re not in the best emotional state of mind. I think that it’s a significant development, as mental struggles have become less of a taboo. Because we’re all ‘not okay’. This will result in a healthier company culture and a more resilient business.
Bibi Lauri Raven, Bibibuzz
4-day Work Week
One trend we see in the work market is a 4-day workweek. Some companies are embracing this new — more flexible — way of working that allows employees to work 4 days a week. It is still unclear if it consists of condenses 40 hours in 4 days or reducing working hours to 32. However, people are experimenting with shorter workweek to understand what are the real benefits and what are the potential risks.
Maciek Kubiak, PhotoAiD
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