What jobs are emerging in 2023?

The job market has changed dramatically and unpredictably since the announcement of the first nationwide lockdown in March 2020. Now, three years on, the workplace as we know it has transformed, and the advancement of technology has seen new jobs arise. But what are the new emerging jobs for 2022 and how do they reflect changes in the workplace? Is there the demand and skills to fill these jobs? And how will this affect IT and Recruitment departments?

The emerging jobs in 2023

As more and more businesses rely on technology both to complete their work and keep up with the competition, it’s perhaps unsurprising the industry seeing the biggest growth in scale and the number of emerging jobs is technology.

Research from a study conducted back in 2018 and reported by EAB estimated that by 2022, more than half of an organisation’s data processing, information search-tasks, decision making, and even administrative tasks will be performed by machines. As a result, jobs such as AI and machine learning specialists, software and applications developers, and analysts were all expected to become highly sought-after roles by the beginning of this decade.

And despite a global pandemic, this looks to be true. If anything, the pandemic has accelerated our reliance on technology and its rate of growth. Since 2020, many organisations have made the switch or increased their operational reliance on cloud software, online organisation and video tools, and AI, and as a result LinkedIn’s top five emerging tech jobs for 2022 are DevOps Engineer, Cloud Architect, Product Manager, Programmer Analyst, and AI Architect.

Businesses are now trying to put into place the positions and workforce they need to secure the future success and development of their business. But even though these jobs are in demand, is there the drive to fill them?

The changing workplace

Despite the increased demand, and often reward, for technology experts and developers, there has frequently been, here in the UK at least, much talk of a “skills gap”, with questions raised asking if the positions can be filled, or the workforce retained, when the appeal, scale, and success of American giants such as Apple or Google can attract the best talent.

Furthermore, the demand for technology experts does not seem to align with public demand for new employment. As HR News discuss, despite indeed.com posting a record number of searches on their recruitment site in January, none of the top ten most searched-for jobs were in technology. In fact, public attitudes appear to have shifted so dramatically, that amongst the top ten searches there weren’t even any traditional office-based roles. It could be deduced, therefore, that changing public attitudes, as well as the emergence of the Great Resignation, where large volumes of workers are leaving their jobs (initially recorded in the US with a similar, albeit less dramatic pattern now being observed here in the UK), may result in an increasing skills shortage in the years to come – and a big headache for technology departments and recruiters.

The effect on IT and Recruitment

As employees become harder to attract and retain, and public demand indicates a shift towards out-of-office roles, it’s even more important that recruiters diversify from their traditional techniques. Recruitment departments, now and in the future, will need to find new, innovative ways to attract talent to their companies, and may have to increase the rewards, such as salary, benefits, and flexible working, just to get potential employees to apply.

IT departments will also need to diversify to ensure that they have the relevant skills to take their companies forward in the future. Not only will they need to build on their current skills, but they will be continually required to update their knowledge and expertise on cyber security and new and emerging technologies, such as AI and 5G. As many of the emerging jobs for 2022 are in the field of IT and technology, it will become increasingly important that recruitment and technology departments work together to secure the future development and profitability of the companies they work for.

What top jobs do you predict will emerge in 2022 and beyond? Do you think there are the necessary skills to fill them? Let us know your thoughts!