illustration of the earth

Welcome to this topic on Global Employment: Trends and Opportunities 

In this topic, we are focusing on future trends in employment and what those trends might mean for your professional career in the future. As well helping you to develop a career plan at a time of rapid global change, studying the ideas and resources presented in this topic will help you persuade future employers that you are forward-looking and so a good hire to help them navigate the challenges of a dramatically changing economic and technological environment.  

“In its scale, scope and complexity, what I consider to be the fourth industrial revolution is unlike anything humankind has experienced before…We are witnessing profound shifts across all industries, marked by the emergence of new business models, the disruption of incumbents and the reshaping production, consumption, transportation and delivery systems.”  Klaus Schwab, The Fourth Industrial Revolution (2016) pp1-2


We live in a time sometimes described as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, a term most recently popularised in 2015 by Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, famous for its annual conventions at Davos. Schwab uses this term to describe the impact of the current wave of technological developments, ranging from the Internet of Things to Bitcoin and Blockchain. Schwab highlights the velocity, breadth and depth, and systems impact of such changes and explores the potential impact on the way we live and work, with examples ranging from robot doctors to wearable technology.

“In the long run, increasingly capable machines will transform the work of professionals, giving rise to new ways of sharing practical expertise in society.”
Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, The Future of Professions (2015) p. 303


All industries are being transformed by technology and that disruption will continue to change the way that people work in different professions. To consider these changes in a manageable way, we will encourage you to choose a particular industry or sector, as the basis for your thinking and research. For example, consider how Artificial Intelligence may change the nature of work in law or finance. How similar or different do you think the impact will be on those two sectors. When looking at such trends, we will also be drawing on the work of Richard and Daniel Susskind and their 2015 work on how technology will transform the work of human experts.  

Gratton’s Five Forces of Global Change

  • Technology
  • Globalisation
  • Demography and Longevity
  • Society
  • Energy Resources

Important though the technology is, it is not the only force of global change discussed by futurists and business thinkers. Linda Gratton’s (2011) Five Forces of Change include demographic and social changes likely to affect the behaviour of your future clients and customers, as well as your future colleagues and yourself. Thinking through the potential impact of these global trends on your preferred industry will prepare you well for the application and interview process as employers seek to recruit the solvers of tomorrow’s problems. Nobody has all the answers but we should all have opinions and be prepared to defend them.

What’s trending?

@lyndagratton @HarvardBiz @danielsusskind @_futureofwork @wef @LBS @IIoT_Report @HerminiaIbarra @Mintzberg141

Who would you add to the conversation?

And the thinking and the conversation keep moving on so we will be encouraging you to build some future trend spotting into your career planning and professional development. How is your media consumption supporting your development as a future thinking professional? What and who do you think are the trends and the thinkers to watch?

Let's get started!

  • Gratton, L (2011) The Shift. London, Harper Collins.
  • Schwab, K. (2016) The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Geneva, World Economic Forum
  • Susskind, R. and Susskind, D. (2015) The Future of the Professions: How technology will transform the work of human experts. Oxford, Oxford University Press