Twitter boss: we must be prepared for roles we can’t yet imagine
A CORK woman who went from studying in UCC to walking the corridors of power in government, policing and technology said young people need to be prepared for roles that we currently cannot even imagine.
Sinead McSweeney is Managing Director of Twitter in Ireland, in addition to being vice president of public policy and communications for the company in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The Midleton native previously worked as a director of communications for the Garda Siochana and before that the PSNI.
Her career in policing followed roles as a special advisor to the Minister for Justice and at the Attorney General's Office.
Speaking at a Cork Chamber breakfast at the Cork International Hotel, Ms McSweeney said she has ended up working in a role that did not exist when she was doing her Leaving Cert.
She said that would also be the case for young people currently still in school.
“Mine was a path I could not have predicted. There was probably no internet when I did my Leaving Cert, never mind Twitter!
“For all young people, we have to find ways of empowering them to be something they can’t even imagine, or that doesn’t exist. Because that is what employment of the future looks like and we need to give people the skills and courage to embrace those opportunities.” She believes the curriculum in schools needs to change to reflect this new reality.
“I really think we need to address how our children are learning, how we are educating them. They don’t need to learn information anymore because information is everywhere. What they need to learn is skills around critical thinking and analysis, how to verify sources of information. They need to know how to communicate with people on many different levels, particularly verbal communication, and also how to collaborate.
“I think there has to be a way to incorporate these into how our young people are learning.” She also spoke about the dangers of new work habits, including the tendency of people to work longer hours and always be on call at the end of a smartphone.
“I have a concern around a younger generation who are normalising a work day that is too long. I say to people, it is 6pm, go home. You are single now but when you have a family, elderly parents who need to be cared for or children, you can’t work like this.
“You can’t have life and have this be your working day.”
Ms McSweeney’s also spoke of the importance of a sense of self when navigating constantly changing roles, and credited her Cork background with giving her a strong sense of identity.
“Someone asked me what the most important line of my conference biography is and I said: “Cork-born!”