7 Key Values for Futurists

In a competitive job market with limited openings, futurists need to add value to what they do, beyond certificates.

Today many futurists are looking for new careers or concerned with or keeping safe their current positions. Even novice futurists graduated from well-known universities and colleges, seek for professional experience that may add vital skills to their formal education in foresight and futures studies fields. Wherever their journey leads, the reality is that adding value is keys to success in finding and maintaining a satisfactory position in our world. Any job search, whether in academia, industry, government, or the nonprofit world, always begins with the basics. These basics should be regarded seriously, if we are going to realize our goals and dreams.

1. Unique Perspective. The first and the most important step toward your professional future is adopting a unique perspective. In fact, your personal perspective on futures related topics makes your identity as a futurist. Today employers don’t read your CV to hire you, but look for something new in your profession and skills. You should maintain something new that other futurists might not have. Think about what others have not thought about or accomplished yet. Consider people’s problems and needs. For instance, climate change is already well covered. Find new problems and concentrate on their probable answers. You may find new relationships between similar questions and their related answers. Highlight these relationships in new ways and establish new paradigms. As soon as you get tangible results, they may be worthy of mention in your CV or articles as remarkable findings. In addition to adopting a unique perspective or establishing a personal school of futurist thought, a futurist does need to learn to offer proposals for his/her new ideas and find co-thinkers around the world.

2. Art of Interviewing. The second qualification is the art of interviewing and mastering necessary techniques and skills that result in (sometimes unbelievable) offers. An employer does not pay you for what you have studied at college, but for what he/she finds in your professional activities. Social contacts with different groups of people teach you how to behave effectively with different people at different companies and institutions. Many books are written on conducting successful formal interviews, but sometimes an informal interview may be more profitable than a formal one. When you are talking with people who have enough interest and capital to invest in future plans, remember you can shape these cases to what you desire through the art of (formal and informal) interviewing.

3. Connecting through Networking. Futurist social networks are useful venues for you to represent your skills and learn about opportunities. Besides, these networks function as multidisciplinary societies for future-related professionals. Some networks, like the World Future Society, are dedicated to helping qualified futurists to prestigious and meaningful careers at all stages. You may find ads and reports on futures careers detailing new opportunities in various countries and regions. Do not limit your options to physical positions or jobs. Think about online collaboration, too. Online collaboration with other futurists, futurist think tanks, and organizations offers a wide range of career development options, including fellowships and internships, as well as links to unique programs and partners. Next wave of jobs will be conducted through online collaboration (in a virtual world) in coming years. You can be an expert “tele-futurist” if you develop your networking skills intelligently and timely.

4. Self-publishing. One of the most important qualifications that may be regarded as an added value for a futurist is his/her self-publishing capability. A self-sufficient futurist can show how he/she manage his/her written (published) works. If you are going to be recognized futurist you should not wait for someone else to publish your articles and books. You should become a self-publisher. Every futurist has a number of published (or unpublished) books and articles. You may prefer to see your books as paper printed copies, but you can also regenerate your writings in different formats such as e-books or e-newsletters and distribute them among targeted groups. Your publications can be valuable information if you find the right user at the right place and time. The articles or books should be carefully selected from your past works when you are using them as attractive prey for hunting new clients or employers. A freely accessible website (full of articles and e-books) or weblog that offers information about your desired career can be a useful tool in changing you to a self-publisher futurist. The only thing you need is a little IT knowledge.

5. Hybrid Research. A futurist should remember that he/she is not just a futurist. As a futurist you may have other scientific skills to call upon. Bring them into the circle of future and futures studies and form a hybrid research approach. You’ll find new colleagues and futurist friends who have similar and shared concerns as yours. My personal interest in cognitive science made me study theoretical aspects of futures thinking while keeping an eye on neural aspects of this matter. I’m neither a psychologist nor a neuroscientist, but I love to understand the natural mechanism of thinking about the future and be entitled to its most useful outcome that is applying futures knowledge consciously. I call it: “Futures Metacognition”. In recent years a number of neurobiologists have begun to study the neural processes of futures thinking. My ambition is that someday in the near future “Futures Metacognition” be defined as an academic field of study. I don’t know exactly how this field of study can be taught at universities, but I’m sure there would be many futurists who love to know what happens in their neural-cognitive systems when they think about the future and apply the knowledge in their studies and activities. Futures neuropsychology can be a fruitful job in the coming future. Think about other hybrid researches that may transform the future of humankind and intelligent civilization.

6. Project Management. Logically, employers prefer to hire one person instead of two. A futurist who is capable of managing his/her projects is offering a great service to the employer. This becomes a real added value when the number of people you are working with is remarkable and you have a considerable volume of futuring work. In fact, a competent futurist needs to manage his/her projects personally. Project management provides the tools you need to systematize the management of your activities, to make sure the risks you take are calculated. Best of all, you’re likely to find that taking a structured approach to managing the futures projects nurtures, rather than inhibits, creativity. Today’s project management is less an arcane technical discipline than a set of principles intended to provide a structured approach to making the everyday decisions that keep a business running, even a small business. Project management begins, as it should, by defining its subject: A project, according to project management theory, is an activity with three characteristics: a) Specific outcomes or results; b) Definite start and end dates; and c) Established resource budgets. Working with well-known and approved soft wares such as MS Project gives you necessary knowledge and experience.

7. Principal Investigation. The futurists are coming to terms with the fact that running a futuring project really is running a business. Yet, in looking for inspiration, most futurists find management and business leadership books -- with their bottom line of sell, sell, and sell -- less than palatable. Futures research is a service, but for most of us it isn’t all about the money. It’s about the science and the challenge. When it comes to management and leadership tomes, we want to read about leadership motivated by needs other than getting rich and pleasing stockholders. A futurist chooses to become a principal investigator (PI) or an expedition head because of technical skills, but success depends on emotional resilience and communication skills. Futures research is not done in a vacuum; if the expedition leader or PI doesn’t know how to choose and get the most out of team members, a futuring project has little chance of success.

In my view, these seven items provide considerable added value for a futurist especially in competitive environments. Each of them can be regarded as a cornerstone within our self-actualization architecture.