Dying industries and the future
By Ayanda Gatsha, Columnist
You’ve got a job, or will have one in the future. You’ll like it, or you may not. What you need to understand about being an employee or even an employer is that businesses at the moment can be synthesized into three types: buying low, selling high; building a product and selling it; and selling a service. But what we must remember is the human aspects.
If you are an employer, your capital is made of either cash or credit. If you are an employee, your wages will be provided from the company’s capital. So far, technological advancements are making the need for building products at a mass level an unnecessary skill. In these times, it is more vital to learn how to maintain the equipment that builds cars and computers. Unless you have inside connections and crafts skills that take advantage of an opening in a market, the manufacturing trade may not be the spot to optimize profits, whether you are a business owner or worker.
Communities are bound to build machines that manage, maintain, fix, and operate other machines; this brings to light the value of people skills. Civilians will be hired to teach, tutor, or serve as waiters, simply because some would rather have the warmth of human connection rather than an efficient but mechanical interface.
People are naturally inclined toward being social. Theoretical studies have made great strides in understanding ourselves and reducing stress levels. In this vein, Simon Fraser University psychologists performed experiments on rats, whose brains are similar to humans. The experiment compared isolated rats to rats surrounded by other ones. The results showed lonelier rats as being more susceptible to drinking morphine-laced solution, turning to drugged water to fill the social void. This may explain the correlation between substance abuse and isolation, but it also verifies that, while technology makes people need to work less, people skills are still important.
The best thing about improving interpersonal interactions is the effortless practice available to you through present friends and families. Additionally, strangers are your biggest asset and they’re available everywhere.
The future will not be without technology, so employees will need more genuine customer service than has ever been available.
