What will it take to secure a job in the future? As the world advances and becomes more information-rich, environment and health conscious, and technology savvy, the job market quickly adapts– are you? Let’s assess. Please consider the following:

Is your digital ‘self’ strong enough to leverage an interview over other candidates who are job searching online? Are you ready to shape a strong career built on a series of short-term employments? As the world shrinks, who can you communicate with internationally? Will your carbon footprint exclude your eligibility for a job? Well, no, to this last question but let’s take a look at what may be ahead for the ‘hireable’ candidate of the future:

The Future Market Place

As the needs of our planet and market demands change, so is the way companies run operations and business development, produce and promote services/products, and staff their teams. This climacteric change amidst one of the worse economies in America’s history has spurred a new way of caring for the environment, thinking of consumerism, and planning our future ventures. It seems our focus will be on Technology, Science, and Eco-friendly initiatives and for that we will need industrious, innovative, and adaptable professionals who have a thirst for knowledge and who thrive on challenges.

Web 2.0 Image/Branding

Social networking is essential for the successful job seeker of the future. Beyond posting your resume to the top career sites, you must establish and cultivate an online presence. Why, you ask? Because the way we exchange information is mostly digital and via the web. As companies strategize to staff their teams with forward-thinking and information-driven members, you must prepare yourself to join this type of leading-edge team.

Where should you begin? Begin by establishing your presence on sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Invest In You

The professional of tomorrow must be a life-long learner. You must keep yourself “marketable” via ongoing education, because in the future you will most likely fill a succession of numerous short-term employments (we are already seeing this trend). Many of today’s job seekers are not used to thinking of their careers in this manner. You must begin to think of yourself as a contractor for your own company rendering services (your expertise/skill) to corporations.

In addition to staying abreast of the latest in the job market, perfecting your online brand, and learning new computer skills, you may want to invest in learning new languages. The consensus is that if you are taking up a second language, you may want to focus on learning Spanish, Mandarin, and/or Arabic. Invest in learning the language of the Web as well. A little HTML, XHTML, and XML won’t hurt you as publishing a simple web page will be as common as how administrative assistants were required to prepare memos in a word processor.