"We don't want to buy our coffee from a robot." Facebook/Alchemy-Coffee
The future of jobs may seem precarious; as automation takes hold across a broad array of industries, robots increasingly replace human workers.
But rather than sound the alarm, the CEO of HiringSolved, Shon Burton, says students just need to become more strategic when picking future jobs.
"What things will not be automated in 20 years?" Burton said in an interview with Business Insider. "Things humans don't want to deal with computers on."
He used the example of a coffee shop to further explain:
"Everything a coffee shop does could've been automated 30 years ago. So why isn't it? Well, that's because we don't want to buy our coffee from a robot. We want to buy our coffee from a hipster in the flannel print shirt with piercings, because that's what makes us feel good."
Professions in which human interaction is crucial will fare well in an increasingly automated world, Burton, whose company leverages artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology to make job recruiting more efficient, said.
Industries like real estate, in which people desire human communication when purchasing a home, or medicine, in which patients prefer speaking with a doctor about their conditions, are examples Burton highlighted as safer from machines displacing humans.
"What you need to find as a student is where is your coffee shop?" Burton said. "Where is the place where if you foreshadow 20 years from now, the question is not, 'Can we automate it?' The question is, 'Will we want to?'"
