How to use your banking skills after automation

New technology in the workplace is changing the types of jobs in demand in New Zealand, particularly in banking. Online and mobile banking were the first signs of disruption in this sector, and led to branch closures and declining opportunities for bank workers.

Banking technology is continuing to become more sophisticated, and in the next few years machines will replace up to 25% of the work currently done by bank employees.

Talk to your manager about your career goals and ask for help to move into higher-skilled areas of banking. Your manager may be able to: 

• connect you to a mentor in an area that interests you
• put you in touch with someone you can work shadow to see if a role suits you
• help you identify areas where you may need more training or development. 

Management skills and experience managing staff are valuable in many roles. If you want to learn some of these skills, offer to help your manager coach and support new staff, or get involved in staff planning or analysing statistics.

Your job is at risk of automation if you’re doing repetitive, routine banking tasks. However, this automation could mean you can move into roles with a higher level of skill.

You should look for opportunities to develop additional skills so you can move out of the banking areas where jobs are declining. 

If you want to move out of banking altogether, there are a range of jobs in other sectors that share the skills you already have.

The skills you use daily in your banking job, such as well-developed customer service, sales and calculating skills, will be transferable to roles in other sectors.

Here are some examples of jobs where you could use your banking skills:

• Sales representative
• Payroll officer
• Insurance agent or insurance loss adjuster
• Real estate agent 
• Retail sales assistant
  

Whether you leave or stay in the banking sector, the key to future success is to keep your skills relevant in a changing world. Ask your friends and family/whānau, or someone working in another business sector, to look out for opportunities to help you achieve your career goals.

• I need to change my career or study
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Sources

• Alpha Beta, ‘Hidden Links, New Opportunities – How Big Data and Job Clusters can Improve the 1.2 Million Job Matches in NZ Each Year’, 20 August 2018, (www.tec.govt.nz)
• Berruti, F, Ross, E, and Weinberg, A, ‘The transformative power of automation in banking’, November 2017, (www.mckinsey.com). 
• Whiteman, D, ‘Beware these dying jobs that are disappearing the quickest’, 20 June 2019, (www.moneywise.com).