Once upon a time, good employees updated their job skills and advanced to the next career level with the regularity that seems unmatched today.

But then technology proliferated, and the well-read encyclopedia salesman, savvy Video Player technicians and worldly travel agent either faded away or had to morphed into updated versions of their former selves.

Are you prepared for an evolving work environment or, worse, job extinction? Don’t be the Nigerian business man who still depends on business models of the day without thinking ahead of what the next 5 years hold.

Check out these jobs on the brink of extinction and remember, clever and creative are transferable skills — if you’re adaptable and ready for the next big thing, You can make it big.

Librarian

Apps like Google and her friends Bing, Yahoo and Cha Cha has dethroned the trusty silencer of the stacks, our public librarian.

Now, the local library is online, shoes and shirts are no longer required and we can use our “outdoor voice” indoors if we are so inspired. Will the decibel diva’s future be shelved?

With the exception of schools, in Nigeria public libraries have practically become extinct, the availability of the internet and access to a finite online resource makes information extremely available and the need for a librarian non-existience

Verdict: Evolved. Although virtual media and the Internet search deleted the Dewey decimal system, people still enjoy reading books the old-fashioned way and appreciate research help. The new librarian is a digital archivist, savvy with searches, keywords and helpful websites.

Professional typist

Words per minute used to mean something when errors required a tedious application of white-out. But word processing on virtual paper has removed the wow factor of typing perfection.

Professional typists lost out to the backspace key. And also to spell check, which can rack up artificial IQ points as easily as a good video game cheat code.

Some years back, we had typist at every corner asking that you come prepare your documents, letter and affidavit. These days, no one is hired again simply because you know how to type.

Verdict: Evolving. Since even “hunt and peck” keyboarders can tap out an email, top typists need additional software proficiencies to keep a spot at the keyboard.

CD/DVD Video Retailer

Some years ago, places like Moviemart, Movie ArcadeVideo wehere at almost every street corner in Lagos, store clerks usually knew the quirky film your friend recommended that had a foreign word in the title and starred the guy with the spiky hair, after a while, the use of VCR’s faded away and these led to the era of VCD’s and DVD’s. We had Alaba boys chunk out these pirated video a 100 per minute, but even now this business seems to be on the decline.
With live streaming movies on the web and mailbox deliveries, however, video stores — and clerks — are edging into relic status.

Verdict: Extinct. No more just-before-midnight returns to avoid late fees. And, alas, no job security for the guy who could name every species inhabiting the Star Wars galaxy.

Travel Agents

Travel used to be two steps: Call a travel agent, then pack. Travelers’ biggest concerns involved dodging the in-laws intent on a family vacation, and squeezing into last season’s bathing suits.

Even till today, we have thousands of travel agencies springing up monthly, without the hope of surviving in this terrain.

But with booking and travel details accessible online now, almost anyone can research destinations, make reservations and be their own agent. And just wish they had a travel agent when the hotel is overbooked and that tropical depression gets seriously angry.

Verdict: Evolving. Surviving agencies live in a niche. Secure your career by specializing in adventure/foreign travel or special event packages.

Newspaper deliverer

A newspaper route was once a pre-dawn suburban rite of passage, but then the digital age dawned.

No more homeowners climbing ladders to retrieve yesterday’s news from the gutter or drying out the sports section across the family room floor.

Verdict: Extinct. Newspapers are but a click away on our computers, making the accuracy of the neighbor boy or girl’s aim less impactful to our understanding of world events (and our choice of bathrobe or boxers of less interest to our neighbors).

Supermarket cashier

The truly enterprising paperboy has put his door-to-door skills to work building a lawn mowing empire.
E-commerce and self-checkout have eased our need for cashiers. Turns out we can crush our own bread and break the eggs at roughly the same rate and with less of a wait.

“Ten items or less” lives, but scanners never smirk at your choice of domestic beer or bargain toilet paper. And you’ll still get that human touch when the scanner misfires and you’re forced to signal for the single harried clerk who’s helping a coupon queen use self-checkout for the very first time.

Verdict: Evolving. Customers do more of the labor. Clerks monitor and facilitate. Good customer skills are your human edge over the machine.

On-air DJ

Podcasting, web and satellite radio, and syndicated programming have forever changed your local radio station.

Yeah, you can still be the 12th caller and talk to a live DJ, but these endangered creatures may be running out of air.

Verdict: Evolving. The airwaves are being replaced by “web waves” and satellite signals. Disc jockeys who can see past terrestrial radio and bring their communication skills into the future stand a good chance of keeping their voices heard, the songs playing — and our teenagers’ music choices driving us crazy.