Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Labor board rules ex-Google employees firing over gender stereotypes was legal

Labor board rules ex-Google employees firing over gender stereotypes was legalLabor board rules ex-Google employees firing over gender stereotypes was legalA federal government agency has concluded that Google did leid break labor laws for firing James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote a controversial memo about his companys diversity initiatives, according to a National Labor Relations Board memo written in January that was made public on Friday.Damore, a Google senior software engineer, was fired from Google in August after circulating an internal memo that questionedwomens biological suitability for technology jobs. Titled Googles Ideological Echo Chamber, the 10-page manifesto alleged that women are underrepresented in technology because women are more anxious and have lower stress tolerances than men.NLRB Statements about womens biological capabilities are not protected speechBefore he was fired, Damore filed a complaint with NLRB, arguing that Google was misrepresenting and shaming me in order to silence my complaints. TheNational Labor Relations Actgives employees the right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, including charged political speech.In an agency memo, Jayme Sophir, an attorney withNLRB, was not convinced by Damores argument and recommended dismissing his complaint, agreeing that Google was within its rights to fire him. Sophirs memo outlined that while Damores criticism of Google was protected speech, Damore had also made unprotected discriminatory statements regarding womens heightened neuroticism and mens prevalence at the top of the IQ distribution.Employers have a strong interest in promoting diversity and encouraging employees across diverse demographic groups to thrive in their workplaces, Sophirwrote. Employers must be permitted to nip in the bud the kinds of employee conduct that could lead to a hostile workplace. Damores words caused negative, disruptive co nsequences to Googles workplace. The NLRB memo said that at least two female engineering candidates for employment at Google said they were withdrawing from consideration explicitly because of Damores memo.The memo also gives us insight into what exactly Damore was told during his firing. Google has chosen not to comment specifically on Damores case, but in the NLRB memo, Sophir noted that Google emphasized Damore was being fired for what he said about women, not what believed about Googles hiring practices.I also want to be clear that this is not about you expressing yourself on political issues or having political views that are different than others at the company, Googles human resources department told Damore over the phone when he was fired, according to the NLRB. Having a different political view is absolutely fine. Advancing gender stereotypes is not.Although the memos words are not legally binding since Damore dropped his NLRB complaint before it could potentially get dismi ssed, it shows how a court could rule if Damore continues to pursue legal action. And Damore is not letting his grievance go. In January, Damore announced that he was filing a class-action suit against Google on behalf of discriminated male, politically conservative employees at the tech giant.

Friday, December 27, 2019

Running Taught Me About Overcoming Work Challenges -The Muse

Running Taught Me About Overcoming Work Challenges -The MuseRunning Taught Me About Overcoming Work Challenges Outrageous. Thats how I wouldve characterized the suggestion of running a half-marathon several years ago. I wouldve laughed it off, made excuses for why it welches impossible, and maybe even thought unkind thoughts about the person encouraging me to pursue such a challenging and time-consuming hobby.Fast-forward to the future and on February 26, 2017, I crossed the finish line of my first half-marathon. In addition to figuring out I could tackle what once seemed out of reach, I learned (or in some cases re-learned) several other compelling lessons along the way that I found applicable in other areas of my life. In fact, I used those principles to overcome several challenges at work recentlyThese wont be entirely new to everyone reading this, but they are good reminders of important principles that can get schwefelyperit when were feeling overwhelmed or scared.1. Good Rela tionships Will Push You to New HeightsFor many years I was a solitary runner, but when I discovered that a new friend was also a runner, we began logging miles together. She was the first to suggest we sign up for a half-marathon. Id never run more than seven miles, but she knew I could do it, even if I doubted my own ability. Her encouragement and unwavering belief played a huge role in my success.We all struggle with internal doubts, and there are plenty of people who will readily reinforce your doubts lest you outshine them. Those arent your people. Surrounding yourself withstrong role models, mentors, and true friendswill help you blast through your own limits. How do you tease the two apart? Pick people who will challenge you and who are genuinely thrilled when you excel. When you identify your workplace champions, make the effort to build and maintain those important relationships while managing your less supportive colleagues in a way that doesnt sabotage your time or energy. 2. Quality Guidance Is Worth the InvestmentMy friend and I didnt just start running long distances. We selected and followed a tried-and-true training guide developed by experienced and deeply knowledgeable runners. We invested in quality shoes and researched tactics specific to distance races, resulting in weekly gains in our abilities.Similarly, in your career, if you dont make the right investments, youre going to struggle to get ahead. If you want to advance, you have to look at the ways you can invest in your career. Maybe that means taking a class or even going back to school. Maybe you need to focus on building an online presence. Regardless of where you are in your career, theres always something you can learn or improve, and there are plenty of qualified people and quality tools that can help. 3. Preparations ImportantI didnt decide to run the longest distance Ive ever run on race day. I started a year in advance by talking with several runners about the preparation proces s, looking into training options, and researching different races before I took the leap and signed up for one.Similarly, in your career, its foolhardy to apply for a new position or dive into a project with little to no preparation. You might leid have the luxury of preparing for a year, or even a couple of months, but any preparation is better than none. If its a job youre after, take the time to garner support from your network and put together top-notch application materials. If youre tackling a new project, at a minimum, startwith a list of what you need to acquire and a list of what you need to do.4. Perfection Should Never Be the GoalOn the other hand, I also didnt wait until I knew I would win the race to participate. During the training process, my running partner and I both dealt with illness, injury, work and family obligations, and other unexpected disruptions that are simply part of life. We forged ahead anyway, determined to see ourcommitmentthrough. On race day, my fr iend ran despite an ongoing battle with a wicked cough. I had to stop twice in the last two miles to stretch. It wasnt a perfect race, but we crossed the finish line.If you attempt to wait until your circumstances are just so before presenting an initiative to your boss, youll only sabotage your success. Ive been in many planning meetings where someone was willing to share a half-formed idea that, through the collaborative process, developed into a great program or product. Had they kept their lips zipped until they had a fully-developed presenation, it wouldve been too late. If youre going to make a mistake, you certainly want to err on the side of being a creative, contributing team member who sometimes pitches a bad idea instead of the person who never speaks up.Sometimes a great idea can seem too far-fetched initially. An amazing job may seem out of your reach. A project may seem riddled with insurmountable challenges. Heres the truth You can do the scary things, just like thous ands of people before you. It wont always be easy or go smoothly, but you can work your way through the most daunting obstacles.Whether in your career or in your personal life, if you want to function at your very best, connect with supportive people, invest in your own development, do what you do as well as you can, and reject the mythology of perfectionism. You just might surprise yourself and do something outrageous.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Infographic Resumes Around The World

Infographic Resumes Around The WorldInfographic Resumes Around The WorldExploring the history of the resumes around the world clearly shows that there are a lot of differences in the format candidates use to find the desired job.Since technology has transformed almost everything online and our communication has become mainly digital, people started aiming higher for their career by applying to work abroad.This is why we have summed up the most important information about resumes around the world in the form of aninfographic,to bring you the best insights on how to present yourself and your professional and educational experiences according to the national standards of 6 continents.We hope the infographic on resumes around the world welches helpful Stay tuned for our next project on the history of job search.In case you are looking for the most creative, automized template to use in North South America, Europe, Asia, Australia or Africa, will help you get the job that will change yo ur lifeLooking for more inspiration? Check out our resume examples section that got people hired at their dream jobs.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

How to Write a Request for Proposal or RFP

How to Write a Request for Proposal or RFPHow to Write a Request for Proposal or RFPA request for proposal, sometimes called an RFP or RFQ(request for quotation), is a document a company issueswhen it wants to buy a product andit wantsto make itsspecifications available to the public. This is usuallythe casewhen several companies will bid on the work andthe RFP invitesmora competitive prices.But, if you dont prepare the RFPcorrectly, your effortmightproduce bids that are a waste of time, or worse, no bids at all. Heres how to go about creating an RFP to ensure the best results. Difficulty Average Time Required Several days The 12 Steps Do your homeworkFigure out what youneed, what you want, and what is possible before you begin writing yourRFP.Dont issue an RFP for a machine that can produce 1,500 widgets an hour if youvenever sold more than 25 a month. Theresno point in issuing an RFP for a high-powered car when a messenger can get through traffic just as fast on a bicycle.Disti nguish between your needs and wants If you want to purchase an application that can transmit pictures between headquarters and yourvans at the job site, you might specify the number of images you need per second, the maximum size of the images you need, and the necessary resolution.While itmight be nice to have those images in color, decide if that is really necessary.If you really require a certain specific, use wordslike will, shall, and must. This indicates that ansicht are the requirements. Specifications that are merelywants should beidentified by words like may, can, and optional. Decide what the winner will look like The proposals you getin response to your RFP will differ. Each responding companywill have different strengths and weaknesses. Some will focus on lowest cost. Others will focus on best quality. And others will offera complete feature set.Decide up front what youre looking for- the lowest cost, the fastest delivery, or some combination of the two.Organize the docu ment Anything you write for business should be given a great deal of thought andshould beorganized. An outline is a good place to start. At a minimum, youllneed sectionsfor an introduction, requirements, selection criteria, timelines, and processes.Many of these sections will have subsections. Write the introduction This is where youllexplain to potential bidders why yourepublishing the RFP and what you hope to achieve by doing so. The introduction may also include a summary of the key points culled from the other sections, including the due date. The introduction of anRFP for an image transmission systemmight read something like this XYZ Company requests proposals for a highly reliable, easy-to-use system capable of transmitting images from the main office to vans anywhere in the metropolitan area. Responsive bids must be received by Monday, March 5, 2007, at 8 a.m. PST. Explain requirements This section is one of the most important and it usually takes the most time. Youll haveto specify the size and clarity of the images to be transmitted and the necessary speed. Be specific, but dont tell bidders how you want the work to be accomplished unless thats essential.You might want to break this part up into subsections. For example (a) image size and quality (b) transmission, which could include both desired speed and any requirements that make the transmissionsecure (c) desired options, where you might list the color as a desirable option. Selection criteriaHeres where you tellbiddershow youll select the winning bid.You can divulge as much or as little as you like. Itsa good idea to include a sentence like, The winning bidder, if any, will be selected solely by the judgment of XYZ Company. You might want to create a spreadsheet that awards each bid a certain range of points in each category. Then, have a teamchoosethe best bid from the ones with the top three scores.Timelines This section tells companies how quickly they must act and how long the process is expe cted totake. Be reasonable when you set your deadlines. Dont ask for proposals for complex systems then givethe bidders just a few days to respond. Allow more time to prepare a bid if yourRFP is large, if your desired purchase iscomplicated, or if you require a very detailed response. This is also where you cantellbidders how long the evaluation process will take when theyllbe notified ifthey were successful,and how soon they mustdeliver what theyve promised. Process Use this section toexplain how the process will work- from sending out the RFP to awarding the contract and when the work will begin. This section might say,Bids are due on the date specified in Step 8 above. All bids will be reviewed to make sure they meet allrequirements andare responsive. All responsive bids will be scored in X categories (you can name the categories if you wish) and the top three bids will be evaluated by the proposal team to select the winning bidder and an alternate. Negotiations with the winning bidder are expected to result in a contract award within two weeks. Decide how to send out the RFP Most RFPs are mailed out, but they dont have to be.You can send anRFP by email, or you can post it on your companys website. Just be sure to specify the name (or bid number) that bidders should use to identify theRFP theyreresponding to.Decide who will receive the RFP You may already have identifiedthe suppliers from whom youwant to purchase. Your company may even have a list of acceptable vendors. If not, you can find possible vendors through your professional network, by searching online, or by asking trusted vendors of other materials for their recommendations. Dont limit yourlist of who receives yourRFP to only large companies or established vendors. Youmight find better ideas and even better pricing from smaller vendors who are often more eager in winning your business. Notify the winner Once you completed all the steps above, its time to take the leap and notify the winning RFP that its time to move forward with the project.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Interview Questions to ask when Hiring Construction Workers

Interview Questions to ask when Hiring Construction WorkersInterview Questions to ask when Hiring Construction WorkersInterview Questions to ask when Hiring Construction Workers DeZubeSome industries, including construction and manufacturing, face the challenge of recruiting workers who lack a resume. A job application can collect basic information to help screen candidatesfor skills and experience. Yet it wont tell you how job seekers apply their skills and abilities, behave on the job, or what they accomplished in prior positions.Even when you combine word-of-mouth with a job tryout, you can end up with unexpected results. Jim Mckenzie, a Clarksville, Maryland, construction crew manager recalled how hiring an experienced roofing crewmember via a referral a few years ago went awry.The first day on the job the new guy goes up on the roof and is clearly terrified of heights, Mckenzie said. Turns out the worker hadnt lied about his experience during the vorstellungsgesprch he just negl ected to mention that hed only done shed roofs. Mckenzie helped him down off the roof, sent him home, and started looking for a replacement crewmember.Thats why when you interview without a resume, its critical to ask questions that delve into those areas. And the easiest way to dig deep is to ask behavioral interview questions.Behavioral interview questions probe how someone actually handled a task or situation in a prior job. They can help you focus on how a candidate gets a task done, how they will fit in with your company cultureor how they will tackle day to day challenges.For example, behavioral interview questions could help shed light on prior workplace conditions What is the dirtiest environment youve ever worked in? How did you cope with that challenge?To create behavioral interview questions, make a list of the ten most important job tasks, workplace challenges and personal characteristics needed to succeed in the job. The job description can be a good place to find some of those.For each item, write one behavioral or situational question and jot down a few follow-up questions you might ask to probe for mora details.Here are some behavioral interview questions to get you started with your interview preparation.Carpenter Which hand tools and power tools do you own? Which do you use best? What safety training have you done? Have you ever had a job where you traveled 100%? How did you cope with being away from home and around your co-workers so much?Project Manager Whats the biggest challenge you faced in getting workers to comply with safety rules? Whats the best deal youve ever negotiated with a vendor or subcontractor?Scheduler What caused the biggest slippage youve ever had to manage? How did you regain the slippage? Tell me about a time you changed how you worked with a team to make a project more efficient.Plumber Do you prefer to work alone or on a team? Tell me about a time when an unclear or incomplete plan led to a disagreement. How did you h andle it?Construction Laborer Have you worn safety equipment in any of your previous jobs? Do you own any safety equipment, like steel-toed boots or a hard hat? What kind of safety hazards did you encounter that wearing this equipment helped you avoid?When you dont have a resume to refer to in the interview process, tailor your interview questions to uncover a candidates real-world experience. Use the conversation to create a mental road map of responsibilities, capabilities, and the applicants fit.Asking the right questions will help give you and your new hires greater peace of mind.Learn moreHeres how Top Companies find Construction WorkersConstruction Hiring is Growing in these AreasConstruction Lets Get Hiring

Saturday, December 7, 2019

What Does How to Write a Resume Summary Mean?

What Does How to Write a Resume Summary Mean? You ought to have some simple info and a couple dates. Notice how the example resumes are extremely specific when it has to do with technical skills. Most resumes are created for example that. Your resume, after all, isnt an autobiography, but instead a summary of your previous experience and qualifications. Then you would like to write down all the abilities and distinctive qualities you have to offer you. In the majority of cases, a resume objective is merely a couple of sentences long. Ensure you highlight technical wisdom and certifications. Functional format should only be used when youre changing the fields, and youre quite certain about the skills-oriented format will showcase your skills to your benefit. The duration of your resume should not be more than one page and there has to be a complete name with signature at the close of the page. You may download a complimentary copy of Acrobat Reader at its site. If youre see king to customize professional, pre-formatted resumes, have a look at our totally free downloadable templates. Everything in your resume ought to be simple to read and simple to comprehend. However tempting it may be to stretch the truth, lying on your resume is always a poor idea. Theres no doubt that a resume which is both cohesive and professional will have a much better probability of standing from the crowd even supposing its made utilizing a template. A distinctive life situation needs a unique resume. Understanding how to abflug can be the largest challenge and looking at examples can be quite useful. The Argument About How to Write a Resume Summary Employers like to realize that you have work experience of some sort, at least. Studying resumes of individuals who hold, or have held the sort of job that youre pursuing, is also helpful. When you locate a job youre interested in you need to make certain to take the opportunity to read the work ad thoroughly. Lots of peop le dont like their existing job or career. The majority of the applicants neglect to do so, but most of recruiters doing their search, searching for some skills, and just then contact you, clarifying some info. Sales is much like customer service as salespeople can be effective in a variety of industries. Locating a job in the current market is very challenging. As soon as you have prepared and submitted your resume to an employer the hope is you will be requested to attend work interview to talk about further whether youre going to be suitable. However much or what type of work experience youve got, theres a resume format that is likely to make your qualifications shine. Everyone knows that when hunting for work, the very first task youll have to complete for an expected employer is, Send a copy of your resume. When you make an application for work in person, you could possibly be requested to complete a paper application. The True Meaning of How to Write a Resume Summary To the contrary, its going produce the manager slow down and read the remainder of your resume with care. Provided that you use the correct info, youre wind up with a professional document that will impress any hiring manager. If youre attempting to obtain work in accounting or finance you require averystrong resume. Accounting and finance managers are going to want to see your technical understanding. You should briefly introduce yourself and enable the reader know why you want to know more about the position. Possessing a very clear and professional resume is vital in the medical field. If for no other reason, acquiring the resume will permit you to easily schliff all the on-line profiles teams require prospects to finish.

Monday, December 2, 2019

What You Can Do to Prepare Your Kids for Future Robot-Induced #8216;Jobliteration#8217;

What You Can Do to Prepare Your Kids for Future Robot-Induced 8216Jobliteration8217 When I grow up, I want to be a robot Is this todays and a future kids best or only decent job bet? Or are all bets off, when it comes to the robot-dominated future that may force us, as an increasingly unemployable species, to fold our hand(s) and our tents? Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently reassured us that we have nothing to fear from robots. But then he previously reassured us that if we have nothing to hide (in the criminal or moral sense), surveillance shouldnt worry us (as though your pin number, email comments of yours taken out of context, details of your childs unaccompanied whereabouts, or your unpublished invention blueprints shouldnt be hidden).Clearly, even if we dont have to fear for our lives, our future employment is another matter entirely.So, exactly what sorts of jobs will be available 15 years f rom now, when, news headlines already suggest, your 5-year-old will probably not only be unable to become a fireman, an astronaut or even a cowboy (because all those jobs will have been handed over to robots or other forms of automation and artificial intelligence), but also wont have a hope of becoming much of anything elseunless (s)hes a towering creative genius?What do you do if your kid is, as most by definition are and probably will be, average?The Coming JobliterationThanks mostly to robots, AI, other automation and technological innovation, Nearly 50 per cent of occupations today will no longer exist in 2025. New jobs will require creative intelligence, social and emotional intelligence and ability to leverage artificial intelligence. Those jobs will be immensely mora fulfilling than todays jobsYeah, right if your kid is smart or well-educated enough to get oneallowing that unterstellung are not equivalent, if only because of the increasing unaffordability elite degrees. But one hope is that the average will be shifted upward to meet the daunting robot challenges, competition, andof courseopportunities. This means not just an extension of the Flynn effect, viz., the observed global trend toward higher IQs, but also engineered interventions, such as staggering super-human memory enhancements or amplified cognitive parallel processing capabilities and speeds.For the average kid, it may not matter much whether its 50% of the total number of job vacancies or 50% of the job categories that will disappear, unless, by some miracle, a handful of job categories spring up requiring hundreds of millions of workersassuming that unlike jobs,the global population will continue to increase and by a lot. (The report stating that estimate, Fast Forward 2030 The Future of Work and the Workplace, prepared by global realty consulting giant CBRE and China-based Genesis, a property developer, forecasts occupational category declines, not numerical vacancy decreases.)Then the re are reports claiming that data in the US suggests that technology already destroys more jobs than it creates (based in parte on statistical trends indicating that since 2000, GDP has been able to grow faster than employment).Or are such frightening predictions just so much and too much dystopian ranting and fear-mongering? (But some futurologists seem more optimistic.) In any case, parents want to know now, even if their kids will find out only much laterperhaps only when its too late. All parents need to know, including those parents who should provide guidance for their kids, but dont and those who do provide guidance, but shouldnt, e.g., by pressuring their children to follow the path of family tradition and become a dentist.What Parents Can Do to Prepare Their Kids for JobliterationIm neither a credentialed futurologist nor a parent, but my track record with forecasts (including estimating the costs of being a dad) has been pretty good and I can still think,unassisted by a ro bot or brain implants. So, heres how I would prepare my kid, if I had one. I would steer the kids career toward or away from the following or to a career that otherwise takes one or more of these considerations and options into account (with YES and NO designating a thumbs-up and thumbs-down, respectively, for each strategy)COBOT PROFESSIONS (YES) All of your distress about your sons time wasted on video games may be needless, if, a few short years from now, semi-autonomous drones remain far more numerous than fully autonomous versions. Military and civilian employment opportunities for him may be plentiful, because of the great skills-challenge match between those thousands of hours logged on Mortal Kombat and the demands of aerial delivery of Air Force or Amazon packages. Those pattern-recognition, eye-hand coordination and multi-focus skills will be just what the jobs will require (unless the human ground-operator is, like the pilot, also replaced by a robotic system).This meansc obotjobsjobs that essentially require permanent collaboration between a robot and a human, and collaboration or cooperation that is not optional for the robot (although possibly for the human). Your familys challenge will be to anticipate, identify and track such professions including job opportunities in the drone sector, if the semi-autonomous drone geschftlicher umgang spawns more cobot drones to spy on the cobot drones that are spying on the cobot drones that are spying on you, thereby creating more jobs for human operators. To see how that would work, check out South Parks recent (season 18) episode,The Magic Bush. (Warning infantile adult content.)INFORMATION RECORDING, INPUT AND RETRIEVAL (NO) Any job or career that is primarily, if not exclusively, a matter of recording, inputting and retrieving information will almost certainly be a bad choice. The range of such jobs spans simple data entry clerk to librarian and NASA asteroid monitor.It is one thing to design or operate re cording, input and retrieval systems, but quite another to be one. It is these latter categories that are unlikely to exist as occupational slots in the near future.MECHANICAL SKILLS (NO) Because any mechanical skill, e.g., machine operator, carpenter, assembly line worker, deutsche bundespost office sorter are deterministici.e., follow clearly specificable algorithms and flow charts, they are mechanical in the sense of being programmable. The key thing to understand here is that a job doesnt have to involve machines to be mechanical in this broader sense and therefore vulnerable to elimination through automation, whether robotic or not.All that is required is that the tasks and job description can be designed and executed in conformity with a flowchart or algorithm that contains no indeterminate or vague elements lacking an algorithm themselves, such as if yes, create an idea at this step or secure funding at this step If the job can be carried out in precise linear or parallel seq uences, with no mysterious or intuitive intervening steps, the odds are that at some point it will no longer exist.For example, I asked a carpenter friend of mine whether he can think of even one carpentry task that could not, in principle, be automated. Hes still thinkingand, for now, still employed. Kids thinking of following in his tradesmans footsteps will probably be better off thinking about a different career. (Note, however, that there may still be work for woodworking sculptors or carpenter-designers, to the extent that their flashes of creative genius cannot be replicated by AI software. )HUMAN SPECIALIST CAREERS (YES) Like replica medieval barmaids and friars working the doors and the floors in modern tourist-trap Ye Olde Banquet-type taverns and inns, some of your kids may find employment as comparable kinds of performance artists or exhibitsserving as (im)perfect embodiments or performers of distinctive and historical human attributes and/or capacities.This doesnt neces sary mean being on display as an exhibit in a human tiergarten or a jar it could involve professorships in Human Studies that are awarded on the basis of authenticity, first-hand knowledge and the unique capacity to be the observer and subject of an academic discipline. Human zoo curator or ethologist also comes to mind in this connection.If that doesnt work out, income supplementation by working as a paid human blood donorfor robot researchers, if not transfusionsmay help.UNEMPLOYED-HUMAN SUPPORT GROUP COUNSELOR (YES) Self-explanatory, this is an extension or application of the current unemployment-counselor strategy If you cant find a job, try to get one helping others with the same problem. Having a human supervising the group is desirable, because of the commonalities of background, expectations, understanding, credibility, etc.EXPANDED JOB DESCRIPTIONS (YES) One aspect of securing future employment is to make it more secure, once it is gained. The robotic and AI revolutions may actually make some human jobs more secure while eliminating others. For example, it has been reported that, in Canada, journalism schools are now even giving specialist courses in reporting with drones. That broadens the reporting zones and circumstances, e.g., live from the erupting craters depths In other sectorsmining, for example, drones may provide safer access to remote potential sites through up-close aerial reconnaissance.So, parents may want to consider the future job-description expansion potential of identifiable prospective jobs for their kids.ROBO-AGE TEMPING (YES) Until robots and AI systems become fully self-manufacturing, self-monitoring, self-repairing and self-marketing, they will create jobs for humans, partially replacing those they destroy. In the bigger picture, those created jobs, however professional and skilled, will probably turn out to be temporarylasting only as long as it takes the robots to make those workers, if not the jobs themselves, redundant.For example, the US industry group Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) estimated in 2013 that It could create more than 70,000 new jobs, including 34,000 manufacturing positions, in three years, the group forecast. In 10 years, it projects 100,000 jobs will be added.Nicebut better, if permanent.EXPANDED HUMAN CAPABILITIES (YES, even if reluctant) A very smart career goal for your kids to set relates to targeting his or her supply-side skills and capabilities, rather than future jobs to be targeted. Just as getting a degree has been a core objective in career planning for decades, getting pharmaceutical, surgical, cyborg and other enhancements to stay competitive not only with other humans, but also with humanoid and other robots or AI software, is likely to become a trendand then a requirement.Sure, at first you will balk at having a smart(er) chip implanted in your childs brain or have your fetus genetically engineered to dwarf Einsteins intelligence even while still dwarfed by Einstein in size. But once the smirking neighbor drops by with her chipped-off-the-old-block 6-year-old who speaks and reads 35 languages, including ancient Sumerian, thanks to that implant, youll drag you kid to surgery the next time he yelps, I want some chipsEXPLOITATION OF ROBOT VULNERABILITIES (YES) Imagine time-travel technologies that require chrononauts to travel back into times when the designed energy recharge sources or repair capabilities for the extant robots didnt exist, e.g., the medieval era. That could be one job strictly for humans. Of course, this example is fancifulbut it makes the point that there may remain or emerge some jobs that humans can do better than robots because of robot inherent vulnerabilities. A more down-to-Earth example would be space-station human physiological experiments and observation, which, by definition, robots would be unsuitable for.INTERPRETER SKILLS (YES) Interpretation skills are among the non-algorithmic, non-mechanical skills t hat pose the stiffest challenges to robotics. Whether it is a matter of interpreting an X-ray, a poem, a geopolitical initiative, a painting or customer resistance to an advertising campaign, human interpretation is more likely to be among the last, not the first skills replicated and surpassed by robots or artificial intelligence.This fact suggests that if your child develops any interest in linguistics, a nudge toward becoming an interpreter or linguistic analyst rather than a translator may be advisablea suggestion supported by the fact that interpreters currently make more than translators. Also, they are harder to find (because interpreting is more difficult than translatingand not just because its very challenging real-time performance synchronized with the speakers speech). The same goes for some other future analytical and interpreter skills and jobs.PSEUDO-CREATIVITY (NO) The already familiar mantra extolling how robots, AI and other automation will free us for more creativ e work can be over-stated and misstated. A lot of what is praised as creative really isnt. So, targeting skills and jobs that involve such pseudo-creativity may be a huge mistake, if they turn out to be readily within a robots steely grasp or an AI programs ambit.Take brain-storming, often cited as a paradigm case of creative thinking Consider the task of connecting seemingly unrelated, even mutually exclusive concepts, in order to find some new ideas or inventions, say, telephone and camera. Oh, wait, thats been done. But you get the idea. The problem with the longevity of this kind of creativity is that it can be automated for and displayed by a high-speed computer. Simply have the program create all 2-term combinations of every stimmt genau or concept in the database, e.g., a technical or standard dictionary. Thats the easy part, the pseudo-creative part.The genuinely creative part is also the hardest to derive an interpretation, application or justification for specific generate d pairings. See how this relates to the previous point about interpreter skills? Another genuinely creative task is to generate a precious, few non-random pairings with a high probability of being exactly what is desired. So before grooming your child to be a big-payday chess champion, ask yourself, Does chess require unique human creativity and/or distinctively human analytical skills?Better yet, go to www.sparkchess.com for the answer and get your butt kicked by advanced-level Boris (free) or the ultimate master Guru chess software (fee).If you are a concerned parent, worried about whether public or private education and, in particular, school curricula will prepare your child for what I have called the coming jobliteration, you could try raising the question at your next PTA meeting or at least while it is still chaired by humans.Alternatively, you may want to consider home schooling.Especially after the first home-schooling super-smart android tutors hit the market.