With the proliferation of the information technology, the world is apparently moving faster than its own pace. With the ease of doing things that technology has afforded virtually everyone, it is no wonder that some service providing jobs are beginning to become less appealing and with the current momentum of proliferation of the internet and technology, it would not be a surprise that these jobs will be the first to go in Nigeria.
- Travel Agents: This is a no brainer. With the way airlines have set up their websites, you can visit them and create your own account. This is way easier as it not only saves you costs in agency fees, you will be able to access several discounts. Also the more you travel, you will be rewarded with flight credits (miles) which when properly accumulated may be sufficient enough to pay for a trip. And it gets better, for frequent travelers also, you can now download airline applications on your devices and be hands on with planning your trip and keeping abreast. So also is the fact that airlines now include value added services like hotel bookings and the airlines really provide amazing deals for holiday packages.
- Social Media Managers: this is the tricky one. This job is going out the window because of the presence of the internet. The social media space used to be manned by experts before but with the fact that the internet is accessible to anyone, anyone with just about the right amount of followership, they can manage a social media portfolio.
- Journalism: Truth is journalism is dying fast. However, in view of this write up, a career in journalism may not really need formal education anymore. The internet has rendered traditional broadcasting and paper reporting virtually to the background. Nobody wants to buy a newspaper when they can read the news on their phones by the time the 9 o’clock news comes up at night, chances are that its already all over the internet.
- Marketers: Marketing used to be a lucrative career but not anymore. Back then, it entailed going from place to place organizing road shows, concerts and what have you but this is no longer the position. The internet has made advertisement easier, cheaper and more creative. So companies no longer have to spend a lot on employing marketers anymore.
- Accountants/Financial Planners: China announced that its banking system will soon be going automated. While this sounds like a long shot in Nigeria, the continuous presence of accounting software and applications cannot be ignored. These apps are efficient for book keeping as well as generating accounting records. In fact, banks are reducing their cashiers per number as a lot of people find it more convenient to do their transactions via apps and other platforms. Maybe this is the beginning of the end for accountants all over the world.
- Administrative Assistants: These are clerks, messengers, typists and pretty much all those who aid in the smooth running of the corporate work environment. Nowadays, there is little need for large chunks of papers laying around, a lot less things to type due to phone calls and mails. So people without academic qualifications who mostly fill these jobs are on the verge of losing their jobs to emails, global warming initiatives (less paper) and virtual office assistants.
- Administrative Officers: While this particular job may not totally go into extinction, the demand for them are getting lower by the day. Office administration is now made largely easy with the use of sophisticated software that can handle scheduling, determine the output of staff to gauge efficiency and the likes. So instead of having so many administrative officers, it would appear that one would suffice where the knowledge and application of office administration software is handy.
8. Retail Salespersons: E-commerce is a huge threat to retail workers, so is automation. As more people shop online, less human store attendants will be needed. Walmart may also soon be coming to Nigeria. What you may not know is that some Walmart stores abroad don’t have cashiers at their sales point anymore. Cashiers have been replaced by automated sales points. What simply happens is that you pick what you want to buy and proceed to the automated sales point and scan the barcode on the products and pay for them. Not also forgetting that most petrol stations don’t use attendants anymore. You should have been seeing them in the movies. When a wave of that technology hits Nigeria, it would be sad so see those many jobs get lost to machines.
