Automation is playing a big part, too, but this has been met with apprehension. A total 90% of respondents to a recent Quartz survey believe that over the next five years, up to half of jobs will be lost due to automation.

While it would quite extreme to predict an I, Robot scenario where humans are subservient to their automated counterparts, it’s almost a given that many jobs currently undertaken by humans will be made redundant in the not too distant future. And other jobs – namely, those that are mundane and time-consuming – will be passed on to robots, freeing up our time for other tasks.

As these technologies impact demand for future jobs and inform the skills required for the roles of tomorrow, employees across the globe have begun taking proactive steps to refine their skills and future-proof their careers. If you’re keen on joining them, here are four tips you might find useful:

1. Identify ‘threats’ – and prepare for them

Consider the most pressing threats to both your role and industry as a whole; for instance, these could be new systems, software or working practices, or trends that could result in skills or knowledge gaps. Once these threats have been identified, think of how you can prepare for them – this might involve training in new software or systems, or keeping ahead of the curve on current trends by reading journals and reports, listening to podcasts and online seminars, and attending events.

2. Dedicate time to upskilling

It may very well be that some of your core skills will become redundant in a few years from now. One way to get around this is to develop skills in an emerging field relevant to your role. Whether you fit self-teaching around your current job or undertake a formal course, becoming an expert in a trend or skill of tomorrow is a great way to ensure your job doesn’t fall obsolete.

3. Be willing to adapt

A reluctance to adapt will be one of the greatest hindrances to future-proofing your career. The more open and willing you are to gain new skills and adopt new ways of working, the better. So, say ‘yes’ to things that push you out of your comfort zone, be open to any new opportunity that comes your way, and make sure your own, professional development remains front of your mind at all times.

4. Fine-tune your soft skills

Unlike some work-based skills, soft skills will never become redundant, because ‘bots are unable to emulate them. Focusing on and fine-tuning skills linked to areas such as empathy, teamwork, communication, leadership and relationship building will give you a leg-up in your job, and help you to stand out from the rest when searching for your next opportunity.

Speaking of your next opportunity, if you’re looking for your next job in tech, why not turn to the expert team at Talent International? Give us a call today to find out more.

1) Create a dialogue

Digital transformation is a team game. You won’t win your employees over if you simply appear to be enforcing new technology on them from above. Instead, ask for their feedback on what they’d like to see – would they rather adopt cloud technologies, for example, or would an increase in the use of social media be high on their priorities?

2) Flexibility is key!

Digital transformation is about flexibility and adaptability – whether that means being able to work from home (something that would help with the considerable rural unemployment problem facing Australia), or allowing employees to use the technology they want to use.

Some employers might even consider giving team members a “technology budget,” which would allow them to purchase their own software, giving them the same degree of choice that they have over the technology they use in their personal lives.

Digital transformation is about collaboration – make sure you encourage this in your organisation!

3) Allow people to experiment

It’s important to remember that for many, digital transformation involves a complete departure from their comfort zones. So make sure you’re not encouraging a culture in which people get punished for mistakes surrounding innovation. Instead, let them try new things without fear of retribution in case it goes wrong. Digital transformation should create an atmosphere of experimentation, and you need to back this if you really want to see your employees embrace it.

4) Show how it will tangibly benefit them

It’s important to show how the new technologies you’re adopting will benefit your organisation (making sure you align this to your business’ goals). It also helps to make it clear how your employees’ day-to-day work will be made easier. For example, it’s all very well saying data analytics will improve the business’ efficiency, but how will this help an employee? Which of their activities will be streamlined or improved, freeing up time to spend on more important tasks?

5) Hire the right people

It’s important to have people in your organisation who will champion digital transformation, and show those more dubious employees how much easier it will make their lives. If you get influencers on board, your work in encouraging your team will be halved.

Do you need help hiring these innovative employees? Contact the team at Talent today to find out about our specialist technology recruitment services.

Mark Zuckerberg is one of the world’s most well known entrepreneurs, and for good reason. At just 19 he created Facebook with the help of some of his fellow Harvard students, and the social media platform would grow to become a phenomenon that redefined the meaning of online relationships. His journey is an inspiration for people in IT careers and entrepreneurs alike.

Here are some of the most important things we can can learn from Zuckerberg to become successful IT entrepreneurs.

1. Do it for you

With any career move or new business idea, there is no guarantee that it’s going to work out. Chances are, you will see very few results at the beginning, and you may working on and believing in your vision alone for a long time. Because of this, Mark Zuckerberg advises that you should find and idea you’re passionate about and launch the project for yourself.

“The most important thing that entrepreneurs should do is pick something they care about, work on it, but don’t actually commit to turning it into a company until it actually works,” he said in an interview with Sam Altman, president of startup acceleration company Y Combinator.

2. Make innovation your focus

Your motivation is a big part of the success of your idea. If you are creating an IT startup with the intention of just making money or being important, you are not going to be fully committed to the project and are probably doing it for the wrong reasons. Instead, Zuckerberg says you should focus on coming up with a new solution to a particular problem, and it will evolve from there.

“I always think that you should start with the problem that you’re trying to solve in the world and not start with deciding that you want to build a company,” he said to Altman.

“And the best companies that get built are things that are trying to drive some kind of social change even if it’s just local in one place more than starting out because you want to make a bunch of money or have a lot of people working for you or build some company in some way.”

3. Work to make new connections

Digital connectivity has changed not only the social landscape, but the business one as well. The world has been made smaller by technology and it’s easier for companies to reach international markets, leading to a rise in digital recruitment as businesses seek the personnel they need to cross online borders.

“You’re going to be what helps this process of global integration work in a way that works for everyone and not just some,” he said. “I believe we are better off in a world where we are trading and networking and communicating and sharing ideas. That also means that cultures are colliding and sometimes that’s disruptive and people get worried. You’re the bridge. You’re the glue.”

4. Think long term

When you’re developing your startup, it’s easy to get caught up with short term goals. But jumping prematurely on an opportunity could cause you to miss out on something better later down the track. This was the challenge for Zuckerberg when Yahoo offered him $1 billion for Facebook. He turned it down, and was able to become the multi-billion dollar company we know today.

“One of the hardest parts for me was actually when Yahoo offered to buy the company for a lot of money. That was a turning point in the company,” he told Altman. “It was the first time we had to look at the future and say, ‘Wow, is what we’re going to build be actually more meaningful than this?'”

5. Surround yourself with the right people

Finally, Mark Zuckerberg is well known for his leadership ability, and a big part of this is hiring the right team to help the business reach its goals. No one can do everything on their own, and once your tech startup has become established, you need to know when it’s time to bring on more staff to enable it to expand further. Whether you are looking to fill app developer roles or someone to code your new software, you should surround yourself with the highest quality talent that is going to be committed to achieving your vision for the future.

When you’re ready to grow your startup, working with an IT recruiter is a great way to ensure you find the right candidates. Contact Talent International to find out how we can give you the support you need to achieve your entrepreneurial goals.

There is no doubt that a job interview is a hotbed of stress. The candidate is concerned about highlighting themselves as the best person for the role, while the business wants to ask questions that test the individual and learn about how they can add value to their operations.

However, in some situations, the question line can go from predictable to obscure. Most of the time, IT Recruiters will come out of left-field with these questions and it is up to the individual to respond to them in the best manner.

For candidates, obscure questions can prove a challenge, but most provide key insight to your personality and decision making abilities. As such, it is important to do your best to answer them professionally and honestly.

Here are six obscure questions you might encounter:

1) Who is your favourite movie character?

This is a popular oddball question and was listed in a comprehensive article published by The Guardian. As the question suggests, this example is all about your character and how you perceive yourself.

Are you the reluctant hero who defeats the bad guy in the final scene, the champion who has to win at all costs or a side-kick who follows someone around? As long as you don’t select a villain or a movie that nobody has seen before, you should be able to highlight some of your core values and how you respond to trouble.

2) How would you cure world hunger?

Unless you are planning to work for the United Nations, you are unlikely to ever solve this global problem. However, the way you structure your answer will go a long way to identifying how you problem solve and deal with major issues.

Sure, there are simple answers to this question such as giving money to third-world countries, but if the interviewer asked how this would be done, you need to be able to back up your response with reasons.

In a team situation, leaders are always looking for professionals who can explain their point-of-view and then back it up with tangible evidence.

3) Have you ever stolen a pen from work?

It’s an honesty question, right? Everyone has a moral compass and this question aims to pinpoint it and see whether a candidate is brave enough to admit their mistakes.

Arguably, there is no right answer to this question. If you answer ‘yes’ and suggest it was a mistake or was remorseful, it might work in your favour. Conversely, if you say ‘no’, the recruiters may see you as an honest person perfect for their firm.

4) What song best describes your work ethic?

CNBC report that this question was asked in a consumer sales job interview. This is a great oddball question to receive because as a candidate it can highlight your intentions as a hard worker and also your musical taste.

It is probably best to avoid songs that pertain to partying, drug use or being under pressure. However, this is a creative question so try answer cleverly and show off your wit and humour.

As CNBC mentions, “She Works Hard for the Money” or “I’m a Rolling Stone” might be good responses. Other answers could include “Eye of the Tiger” or “Nine to Five”.

5) How would you rate your memory?

While we would all love a perfect memory, many of us don’t and it is best to honest if you are faced with this question in a job interview. As Marquee Staffing stated, this is a great opportunity to explain the ways that you get around your memory failings and remember vital details.

“Connect your use of this “memory support” to your work by showing how it helped you complete important work,” Marquee Staffing explained.

6) If you were a Microsoft Office program, which one would you be?

Everyone is familiar with Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Excel. Again, there is no wrong answer and you can show off your creativity at the same time. Perhaps you like to interact and communicate with clients and colleagues, then you might be Outlook.

Conversely, if you a visual learner that loves to make maps, diagrams and presentations, PowerPoint might be the right answer.

Regardless of whether you are a Word or an Excel, your explanation can highlight a positive work ethic and what your personality is like.

Preparing for a job interview

In response to its Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions, Glassdoor senior vice president of people Allyson Willoughby explained it is important for candidates to practice questions both obscure and mainstream.

“While job candidates should be prepared to take on challenging and oddball interview questions during the hiring process, they should also be ready for anything, which includes answering common interview questions,” she said.

“For example, many candidates should be ready to answer questions like:  ‘What are your strengths and weaknesses?’, ‘Why do you want to work here?’ and ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?'”

With many obscure questions, there is no right answer, but by taking your time and answering with confidence and clarity, it can say a lot about why you are the best person for the job.

Here at Talent International, we’re dedicated to ensuring our IT and tech candidates are well prepared and looked after during the interview process and beyond.

If you’re currently on the hunt for a new role, be the first to know about potential new job opportunities right for you by setting up job alerts or check out our job board.

Most employees are now well aware of security risks associated with revealing too much personal information on social media sites such as Facebook, but have you ever stopped to consider that in an environment of increasing levels of cyber crime that what you innocently disclose on your LinkedIn profile, may actually open up your previous employers to an increased risk of a cyber attack?

LinkedIn is a goldmine for cyber criminals and hackers, who can easily trawl through profiles to identify known vulnerabilities and details of organisational security infrastructure.

As cyber security professionals list their expertise with specific hardware and software deployment in great detail, recount their achievements in engineering infrastructure and succeeding to minimise vulnerabilities, this immediately opens up previous employer’s sensitive information to potential hackers.

It’s not just IT and security employees, all employees on LinkedIn need to be reminded that even easily accessible information like email addresses pose a potential threat.  Once a hacker begins to research a target, all too often an easy way in is to use LinkedIn to determine the email address structure of an organisation and then target the business with a phishing or social engineering plan.

Simon Mansfield, Talent’s Cyber security Practice lead gives this advice on prevention:

Cyber security Employees

For employees, try to safeguard the details you share on LinkedIn about systems of previous employers by keeping the specific details in the public domain to a minimum. Speak about your experience in general terms, rather than go in to detail about what systems were used at each employer.

What can employers to protect themselves?

Make your employees aware through regular training to safeguard company information and data. Empower them to monitor what they make available and to whom on social networking platforms such as LinkedIn.

Ask employees to be mindful and consider the potential risks of any disclosures of sensitive information, education is key.

Organisations can also put in place policies on what is acceptable and pro-actively review the social media profile of their employers to ensure they are not exposing the business to increased risk of cyber attack.

Need more advice? Feel free to contact us today!

Vision, Values, Belief – getting the fundamentals right!

Start-up founders and entrepreneurs are often portrayed as enjoying lavish and excessive lifestyles and recent fallen angels are testament to this.

However, as someone who has started a company from nothing I can tell you that you need to keep your head down. It will take extreme hard work, plenty of self-belief and the backing of genuine supporters. Apply all of this in the right amounts and the rewards could be beyond your wildest dreams. And I’m not talking about financial rewards but the pride in seeing something that you started and invested your time, heart and soul into grow and develop into something that is making a real difference.

So if you are thinking of launching your own venture, or you have already taken that leap, I have some advice that might help you on your journey.

Clarify your vision

You have to have a clear vision and purpose to be successful in business otherwise you will risk falling by the wayside in the early stages. You also need a strong sense of conviction or people won’t join you on your journey, including both employees and customers. Belief in yourself and your venture is vital and it’s apparent to others when you walk into a room and begin talking.

When I started Talent our funding was limited but we had belief and purpose. It has always been a focus for me in terms of mapping out our journey whether short term or long term. Talent’s first logo was a spinning globe with an orbit track coming out of Australia. Even back then – from a home office in Perth, whilst survival was the key, we also knew where we wanted to go. But it’s more than that, vision is about finding and understanding, as Simon Sinek says, your ‘why’ and then building everything around it. Your purpose, your values and your vision should be clearly defined and something you keep front of mind every day.

Failure is part of success

No business has ever existed that got everything right. You will have failures and that’s a not a bad thing as long you take lessons away with you. How will you learn if you haven’t fallen and figured out what you did wrong so that you can fix it? Treat each failure as a way to learn and get better and don’t let it get to you – keep getting up and keep going. However it is important to know when to reassess your model and change focus.

Persistence is a great trait but make sure it doesn’t become mindless. For us at Talent this may have been reflected in our Asian excursions. We kept throwing funds into our expansion into places like Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong where there was never likely to be a great return for the nature of our business. As an Australian company it seemed to be the thing to do and we subscribed to the hype. Wrong! Those funds were always going to be better invested in innovation or places like the US and Germany where the potential returns for us are enormous. This is exactly what we have done.

Grow at the right speed but prepare for more

Businesses are not created overnight. Things will sometimes take longer than you expect, whether that’s finding the right team, building a strong customer base, raising funds, or making a profit. A lot of start-ups these days are focused on short-term quick growth, unrealistic valuations or immediate exits. If you are starting a business, my advice would be to spend time and resources getting your foundations right. Those who have patience, strong foundations and resilience are more likely to find success.

When we expanded to Sydney from Perth we made a decision to move HQ there and set up a back-office infrastructure that could handle a contracting business 20 times larger than we had at the time. It seemed a little crazy but I wanted to make sure we could handle the growth I was confident we would achieve. Sure enough, it happened and for many years we added 50 contractors a month which we absorbed without missing a beat. Many of that infrastructure team are still with us today.

Build a great team

The key to building a successful business is finding great people. This is everything! No one can do it alone and being able to build a strong team with the right dynamics, diversity and synergies is perhaps the greatest ability a leader can have. From my observations, many entrepreneurs and start-up founders focus too much on hiring people who are and similar to them in their thinking or will do what they’re told. You must be challenged whether you like it or not! There is often too much focus on breakneck growth, valuations and endless pivoting and not enough on building a true and lasting culture based on trust, respect, and long term value systems. Look at the person and personality first, and specific work skills second. Then hire people who will complement the existing team and yourself. Find complementary people who work well together. Make sure that the team feels ownership and is involved in the hiring process so there is buy-in. Also if you have a geographically dispersed business bring your people together regularly and get them on the same page. This was a challenge at Talent but also something we invested plenty of time and energy into. It’s been well worth it!

Take advice but be selective

Tune in and get connected to the business community that’s relevant to you. There are a lot of people who have done it before and can give you great advice. But at the same time be selective about who you ask advice of and who you listen to. Too much of the wrong advice and ideas can choke your creativity and your beliefs. Feedback and advice are important when you are starting up or in the early stages of your business, but you need to be able to put the feedback in context. If you can identify a good mentor then do so. Remember advice can come from the unlikeliest of sources – even from within your business and often from young or junior staff. It is very tempting to gravitate to highly successful wealthy people in business or your field, but they can sometimes be disappointing and prone to dine out on their own stories rather than listening to yours. Your customers can also be a great source of advice – never be shy about asking them how you can do a better job

And finally don’t forget friends, family and loved ones. They know you better than anyone and are likely to have the best handle on your emotional capacity – a vital component for a successful entrepreneur.

Be brave and good luck!