The future of professions: a little glossary of terms for your everyday routine

Kyle Chandler, a famous American actor, said once: “Success doesn’t come overnight. You’ve got to get up, get the work done and go after it”. This quote, which appeals to our desire to exceed expectations in our performance, is also translatable to all kinds of professional environments. The working fashion, concepts and impact of our duties change and improve continuously. The future of professions is an evolution going hand in hand with a globalized, yet individualistic, world.

That’s why we wanted to compile in an article a glossary of terms currently being used in work environments. Being familiar with professional terms is key to visualize the roadmap being followed nowadays. Check below if you’re a master of professional philology and etymology, or become one.

The professional future surrounding employees

1. Commuting. Time and means of transportation used by employees from their homes to their workstations. It includes the diverse transportation models: own car, public transportation, sharing vehicles…
2. Employment branding. Professional brand. It’s both a system to attract talent and the external image employees project as brand ambassadors.
3. A professional offering his services autonomously to a firm. The difference between a freelance and a self-employed person is that these services don’t make 100% of their income.
4. Closely related to employment branding, it is a professional management system for business relations within the value of an organization. We can see that nowadays this concept goes beyond the creation of a contact network.
5. Subcontracting or externalization of some of the services required by a third party. Time, duties and certain resources are usually predetermined.
6. Soft Skills. Personal attributes and traits related to communication, learning and human interaction. These qualities are being increasingly valued in multinational companies and large work teams.
7. Welcome pack. A pack comprised of useful items to start off a new activity. It includes documentation, working materials, even some handy object displaying the company’s logo (a briefcase, a glass bottle, a backpack…)
8. Z (generation). Born between 1996 and 2010, they’re the next members of the working force. Generation Z are digital natives, so the company they’ll end up working for must exploit innovation and technology within reach. 

The learning model at work

1. B-A learning model combining e-learning with on-site learning. It allows for individual development under periodic supervision of a tutor.
2. Happiness at work. The quest for happiness through self-achievement and external recognition within a professional environment. According to this philosophy, happiness is closely related to professional success.
3. Multiple intelligences. Understanding that there are more than two kinds of intelligence, and the current importance of the social intelligence trio —intrapersonal, interpersonal and emotional intelligence.
4. Learning method according to which a new addition to the staff receives teachings, knowledge and procedures from someone more experienced in a certain position.
5. Process by which an employee’s path is re-oriented to new professional goals. It usually requires support from staffers specialized in career counselling to assess the personal evolution of every applicant.
6. Teamfeeling. Book on the topic of team management, paying particular attention to planning, emotions and communication as key factors in order to lead a team to success.

Working methods for your professional future

1. Jobs To Be Done. Business model focused on the needs of the demand. This goes beyond the final consumer; suppliers, employees and the rest of working environment groups become the demand.
2. Kanban. Working methodology based on task management and accomplishment, accompanied by a visual support in the form of post-it or paper cards, placed in different columns according to the various stages of the project.
3. SCRUM. A working framework involving a transformation in organizational management, pursuing what customers really demand and delivering it within the most efficient timeframe.

Novelties in work environments that are here to stay

1. Assessment centre. A simulation of the tasks to be performed on a certain job position which is usually monitored by external observers. Used extensively in group interviews.
2. Benchmarking. Informative study on collaborative, rival or interesting companies within the sector of an organization.
3. Coworking. Work space where professionals of different sectors coexist. It’s the most adequate place for self-employed workers, SMEs or entrepreneurs.
4. Employee Centricity. To place not only customers, but also the organization’s human capital at the epicentre of business.
5. Labour productivity. Nowadays, being productive is closely related to satisfaction and self-fulfilment at the workplace. The focus is being increasingly placed on workers’ emotions.
6. CSR.Some companies have gone one step beyond classic Corporate Responsibility. These firms commit themselves to the three pillars of sustainability: economy, environment and society.

Remember that Sustainable Talent’s blog is always up to date with these professional terms and concepts, so that we can elaborate articles around the topic of the future of jobs. Want to have a look? 

Sources: UM, Adesper, LibreMercado, Expansión