Job Titles You May See In the Future

According to a recent survey by PewResearch, 48% of science and technology experts believe we will someday live in a future full of robot workers, a concept with a lot of ups and downs. Now, that means 52% of these experts don’t think this will happen, but if you’re the kind of employer that prepares themselves for every possible outcome, you may have to prepare for this influx of  automated employees.

Still, robots can’t do every job. There are some things only people can do, whether it’s because they require a keen sense of how people think or because we simply don’t trust machines enough yet. As such, we have a few ideas of what the job titles of the future will look like. And it ain’t just robots.

Netflix Watcher-Watcher

Companies are getting better at automatically monitoring how their customers interact with their products. Google is well-known for collecting data on its users, as are Apple and Amazon. Companies can use your search and purchase histories to refine your results and sell you more alluring products in ads. Netflix does something similar, using your viewing history to recommend other kinds of shows or movies you might be interested in.

But that data isn’t always accurate. Viewers who may not like something probably may not bother rating it, so Netflix will at some point need a more accurate way to monitor viewers’ reactions to the things they watch. The next step might be hiring real people to watch users as they watch movies (after the users have opted into the program, of course). These employees would use their understanding of the human psyche to see if the people they’re watching watch “The Office” actually like the show or if they’re just watching it for the guest stars.

Transferable Skills: editing, comprehension, retention of information, psychology

Drone Safety Inspector

As robotic drones enter the public consciousness, a few questions are bound to come up, not the least of which is “Will robots be allowed to carry firearms?” Recently, someone decided to give a robot a gun and post the video online. We’re not sure if this is a good idea, but the fact that robots can, in fact, carry guns doesn’t answer the question of if they should.

Regardless of whether they’ll be allowed to, you know someone is going to hook up a gun to some sort of remote controlled helicopter. So it’s quite possible companies will start offering safety inspections for homes and buildings to make sure flying robots won’t be able to enter from some unforeseen angle. And it’s going to have to be a human being because are you really willing to entrust your safety against robots to a robot?

Transferable skills: A healthy sense of skepticism, attention to detail, some sort of armor wearing capabilities.

Virtual Tour Manager

At some point, two around-the-corner technologies are bound to converge: the emerging world of virtual reality, and the already-popular world of having virtual pop stars guest on talk shows. Laugh them both off now, sure. But ignore them in the future at your peril.

Both are currently in their infancy and probably won’t reach their tipping point for a while, but we can’t help but think there won’t be a time where companies and groups will come together to create virtual musical groups who tour from one group of virtual reality headsets to another. And though most of the process will be automatic and lack a human touch, someone’s going to have to manage this entire thing, and until we have the artificial intelligence to create virtual virtual tour managers, it’s going to be live human.

Transferable skills: I don’t know. This won’t be a job.

These kinds of strange jobs may not come to fruition for a while (or at all, let’s be honest), and with good reason: robots still aren’t at a place where they can replace humans and won’t be for a long time. But it always pays to be prepared, right?

What do YOU think the job titles of the future will be?

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.