Page 11 | What careers are future proof?

9hdtvey54r · 2025-05-09T11:36:11+00:00

I am thinking of retraining and wondering what careers do you think are future proof? I think the trades are e.g. plumber, electrician etc - any other thoughts? Thank you.

Emanresuunknown · 09/05/2025 17:24

Englishsummerblues · 09/05/2025 13:16

@Richtea67we already have AI in social work, it can do a care act assessment or some sort of risk assessment in the future. Social workers will probably be unqualified as the AI will in theory do everything for us. But it is very biased. Think about who does the programming, white middle class men. Do we trust them?

Why do you think the programming is all done by white men? I work with a team of developers and they are plenty diverse from an ethnicity perspective. Women admittedly are probably a bit under represented but not as underrepresented as you'd imagine! Women in tech is a definite thing :-)

BinBadger · 09/05/2025 17:26

MoserRothOrangeandAlmond · 09/05/2025 13:19

@Pippa12i am just coming along to say this.
NHS trusts are under financial pressure they are closing wards etc and ‘redeploying’ people….if they can’t find a place in 12 weeks you don’t have a job!
student nurses are struggling to get jobs also as there is a recruitment freeze!
i qualified 15 years ago! It’s a worry!

Our trust has had a recruitment freeze for months, got rid of their in house bank to agency then cut all agency shifts.....

Outsourced bank, outsourced training (usually delivered by nurses), outsourced Occ Health & vaccinations, outsourced community care etc etc

P00hsticks · 09/05/2025 17:26

Mapletreelane · 09/05/2025 12:54

Undertaker

although with all the ads you see on daytime television these days for direct cremations, I think even funeral directors may be starting to feel the pinch ...

TheWombatleague · 09/05/2025 17:29

War reporter. There's never a shotgage of wars and vacancies are fairly regular, especially in the middle-east.

TortolaParadise · 09/05/2025 17:30

housekeeper
minder/carer/sitter for a dependent of any age (human, animal) or property
airport baggage handlers
rescue workers
trawlermen/women
army/navy
eco/ conservation
nun/priest/vicar/clergy

DottyDandy · 09/05/2025 17:30

There's lots of helpful replies on here but here's my experience. I'm 40s, most of my career has been in charity sector in a variety of operations / front-end or managerial roles. SMT in small charity, middle management in a bigger.
After witnessing a whole bunch of redundancies and covid etc I decided I wanted something more 'robust' - ie transferable. And with more money. Sick of terrible pay and terrible pension.

I chose accountancy, and I'm just qualified now. I worked in a charity finance team to qualify, and I'm just moving jobs to a bigger NFP with better pay and conditions.

I think AI could really dramatically take over a lot of finance functions - essentially all the 'processing' parts. And quite a lot of the analysis parts too. I work as a Finance business partner, and this is all about using the data to make strategic decisions, getting buy-in from business units, it's about 'how' to make the numbers work. So I feel quite safe for now, but despite being fully trained I feel I need to carry on training with data skills, automation and integration of systems... It's this where I think some young hot thing could come in and say 'you could do that in 5% of the time if you did this....' And my answer will be 'GREAT - that frees me up to do all the strategic thinking about just how we want our business to work'. But, definitely all the 'admin' element roles are at risk. It's made for AI.

So - basically, I chose transferable over future-proofing. If the charities go tits up because of funding, I can work in industry. I can go into practice. I can get a job that pays okay. Tbh, it's not as lucrative as I was hoping (where I am, I don't want to commute to London etc) - but it's solid, better than I was on before and I do feel 'safe'.

Hwi · 09/05/2025 17:32

Any sort of coaching - AI is simply not able to put out such bullshit.

RugbyMom123 · 09/05/2025 17:32

Any design or consultancy. A lot of the work will become automated. But the key issue in this area is people don’t know what they want or need. They don’t have the knowledge, experience or the language to ask the question to an AI. So we will still be needed.

Anon9898 · 09/05/2025 17:36

Care homes.

Goinggreymammy · 09/05/2025 17:38

Dentist
Dental hygienist

Inyournewdress · 09/05/2025 17:40

Reonie · 09/05/2025 16:17

There is absolutely no way this will happen, we have seen time and time again how wealth concentrates in the hands of those who own the technology and the population is fucked over repeatedly.

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You’re right of course. Bleak.

smallglassbottle · 09/05/2025 17:41

ExpressCheckout · 09/05/2025 15:38

This is a great question @9hdtvey54r but as others have said it's hard to give specific advice as even some of the most traditionally stable jobs are going to change out of all recognition.

Teaching is going to change, certainly in 11+ years and college/university. Under 11s, the reality is that (whisper it) this is basically state funded childcare with educational and social content that could be delivered in a different way and over different times. So primary teaching might change, but not radically unless how childcare is funded and delivered changes.

Nursing is going to change in some ways, but not others. For instance, some of the 'back office' duties of nurses will go, e.g. a lot of the admin should go or be diminished by AI. For HCA duties, there are companies working on care robots (washing a patient, etc.), yes, unbelievable but this will be coming! However, nursing which requires high-level adaptive knowledge/skills, there will be a need for this.

Healthcare generally, some of this is going to be automated with a need (if any) for lower skilled people as operators. For instance, I'm no expert, but I do have regular optician visits because of my health condition, and I can see pretty much most if not all of this process being fully automated in the very near future. NHS counselling will definitely go, too, I'm sure of this - unless you pay for 1-1.

I agree with other posters though about early years etc., although this too will change, I can't see robots chasing toddlers around and wiping sticky faces ... or, indeed, doing the complex safeguarding work, either. On the other hand, routine legal jobs are going to go - and quite quickly I suspect - so the same might be true for much of the paperwork/bureaucracy associated with social work/social care.

If I had my time again ... erm, a plumber or electrician I think! I'd certainly be richer had I gone down this path.

I'd like to see a care robot wash a patient with dementia or tubing and wires everywhere post surgery/ITU. I'd like to see a care robot reassure an anxious patient or feed someone who's at risk of aspirating. How are they going to respond to bodily pain, wounds or fragile, easily torn skin? What about delirious or just plain awkward, aggressive patients who'd literally punch its lights out?

Enthusiasticcarrotgrower · 09/05/2025 17:43

Midwife
Funeral Director

Whatever else happens, people are always going to be born and always going to die!

DodgersJammyAndOtherwise · 09/05/2025 17:44

Allseeingallknowing · 09/05/2025 13:51

Best answer!

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Being an undertaker isn't the money raking thing it has been in the past now people are opting for direct cremation.

Crinkle77 · 09/05/2025 17:44

minder/carer/sitter for a dependent of any age (human, animal) or property

Don't know about carers/sitters. If you ever watched the CH4 series Humans they had AI care/nurses.

Greenfields20 · 09/05/2025 17:47

P00hsticks · 09/05/2025 17:26

although with all the ads you see on daytime television these days for direct cremations, I think even funeral directors may be starting to feel the pinch ...

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Yeah but who will be doing the cremations 😆

WellINeverrr · 09/05/2025 17:49

How long are we thinking before AI is doing most of the work in society? And what will happen to everyone? We just lie around unemployed? How do we get money? Some sort of universal basic income?

LT1233 · 09/05/2025 17:51

Well this has been a depressing read for someone whose kid has just started their GCSE'S and has a sf college place for a route into accountancy!

SeriaMau · 09/05/2025 17:55

Overtheatlantic · 09/05/2025 12:53

Finance, accounting, HR

Are you kidding? Accountancy is going as we speak…

Hwi · 09/05/2025 17:55

RugbyMom123 · 09/05/2025 17:32

Any design or consultancy. A lot of the work will become automated. But the key issue in this area is people don’t know what they want or need. They don’t have the knowledge, experience or the language to ask the question to an AI. So we will still be needed.

Yeah, as I said, coaching. How would people know what they want or need without coaches? Aye, right.

alloutofcareunits · 09/05/2025 17:57

Residential social work in children’s homes. It’s a hugely expanding line of work with more homes opening regularly, children unable to live with their families will always need to be cared for by other humans. The trend is for smaller therapeutic homes therefore greater staffing numbers are needed.

TortolaParadise · 09/05/2025 18:00

Careers advisor - this role should be booming.

goingtotown · 09/05/2025 18:04

Cleaners.

ExpressCheckout · 09/05/2025 18:07

smallglassbottle · 09/05/2025 17:41

I'd like to see a care robot wash a patient with dementia or tubing and wires everywhere post surgery/ITU. I'd like to see a care robot reassure an anxious patient or feed someone who's at risk of aspirating. How are they going to respond to bodily pain, wounds or fragile, easily torn skin? What about delirious or just plain awkward, aggressive patients who'd literally punch its lights out?

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I'm sure they will consider all of these points as they develop these robots. For the bodily pain, wounds or fragile, easily torn skin part you mention, yes, I believe these areas are already being evaluated, i.e. how the robotic eyes/sensors can detect and handle them.

Some of the robots currently in development are truly astonishing in their human abilities and I don't think we can understand or underestimate what they'll be able to do, to be honest. Also, to your last point, some of these robots are much stronger than a human...

Nursing/HCA care is going to change. Unless the public are willing to pay more (which they're not) and encourage much-needed immigrant workforce to the NHS (Brexiteers, Reformers and racists don't want this either), then alternatives will be needed and developed.

LeviOceanStar · 09/05/2025 18:09

Getting to the top / being one of the best in any profession will help to future proof your job.

I think AI will turn us into even more of a winner takes all society. Go to Cambridge to do math or computer science you will probably find a role. There are still going to be plenty of technical experts, CTOs and systems architects.

Looking for a job as a junior web developer, with a bit of knowledge of React but without any deep technical understanding or skills? Well AI will be automating a lot of boiler plate stuff.

Same goes for law, finance and many other job roles.

I think trades and people facing roles like doctors and dentists could also be good bets.