The rise of the do-it-all ‘hybrid’ job
It used to be graphic designers designed graphics, copy writers wrote copy, and that was that. But the times, they are a’changing. An analysis from Bentley University calls 2016 the year of the “hybrid job” — when skills get cross-pollinated between industries and workers are expected to do more.
“Work is changing, and the culprit is software,” said Paul D’Arcy, senior vice president at jobs website Indeed.com. Jobs, he said, are becoming increasingly specialized, like a posting looking for a maître’d at the Royalton Hotel in New York last year.
“The job description actually says that the person who they’re going to hire has to be able to take ownership of the room, be fabulous, be present, be friendly and know how to use Oracle,” D’Arcy said, referring to the software for managing guests and hotels.
“When new technologies require new work to be done, someone’s got to do that work,” D’Arcy said. But it’s not always easy to find that someone.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to find workers who bring these collection of skill sets to the table,” said John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology, a staffing and recruiting firm specializing in IT.
“Organizations want individuals who can take projects from beginning to end,” he said. “It certainly makes a recruiter’s job more difficult.”
More and more organizations are looking for hybrid jobs across the board. And if they can find candidates like Dustin Larsen, they may be in luck. At Larsen’s old job, he worked as a graphic designer, specializing in print. Now, he’s a marketing manager for a 3D printing company in New York.
“Now my job is, not only do I have to come up with the images, I come up with the copy, but I also have to lay out the design that makes everything look cohesive,” he said.
If that sounds like three separate jobs, you’re right.
“But,” Larsen said, “they were looking for a person who could just do it all.”
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
