How to Worry about AI – Advice for Early Career Professionals
People early in their careers are going to be most affected by the continued development and expansion of artificial intelligence (AI). By “early career,” I mean people entering the job market and anyone who doesn’t feel established or clear about their career goals. You’re probably under thirty, maybe a little older. You may have chosen your major or your school based on what seemed to be good advice or on what interested you at the time, and now you’re not sure how to apply that learning in a changing work environment. Or you’re a job or two into your work life, and you don’t see any clear path ahead or don’t like the obvious path you see. You can also see that bots (which are related to AI) are proliferating on hiring platforms, and you’re not sure how to find your way through the keywords and automated replies.
The first step is to get your bearings:
Ask yourself what you most need and want now.
That might be
stability,
income,
relocation, or
a chance to learn.
Identify your personal priorities for the next year or three, and let them guide you.
For example, if what you most want is to build your skills
look for roles and managers where you’ll get the chance to take responsibility for increasingly significant tasks or projects,
look for organizations with a track record of promoting from within, or
look for locations where you’ll be able to continue studying part-time.
If stability matters to you, look for established organizations with high employee retention rates.
If there’s a specific location you want to move to, recognize that, for now, a position that will let you move may matter more than the exact job or role.
Whatever your priorities, when you’re clear about them, you’ll be better able to decide which accommodations and compromises you are willing to make in order to meet your goals, and you’ll be able to explain to hiring managers why you want to work with them.
As you consider specific roles and job titles, ask yourself:
What am I good at that I enjoy?
What do I already know how to do?
What am I curious about?
Be willing to explore and experiment, but it’s usually best to stay focused on the general subject areas and functions which you know bring out your best work and sense of satisfaction. It’s also wise not to specialize too early in your career, especially as new developments, techniques, and methodologies are certain to arise during your working life. Prepare yourself to take advantage of those changes by staying up to date in your existing field and by tuning in to what is happening in adjacent fields and roles. If you are employed, take advantage of on the job learning opportunities, including both formal classes and opportunities to attend presentations or conferences. Even when you attend a conference in a support role, ask whether you can attend a session or two that interests you.
Know what AI can do – and what it can’t:
Be skeptical of broad pronouncements about “what AI means” for the world of work or for your field or role, but do learn to use AI tools which are available or whose use is encouraged in your job. Provide feedback when you can about how they make your work easier or more effective and how they currently complicate simple tasks or require so much human oversight that they are counterproductive. You want to be able to describe accurately why and how you use AI tools and the advantages and drawbacks you find. There’s a chance that older professionals will be looking to you to help them get up to speed on new tools. Take advantage of opportunities to talk with them about the plusses and minuses they perceive, to become a trusted and valued coworker, and to learn more about the methodologies which have shaped your field.
Be savvy about your job search:
It’s true that bots are now almost ubiquitous on hiring platforms, which can leave you feeling that you must magically intuit the keywords that will get you through the automated gatekeepers. Yet many of the human beings on the other side of the hiring process distrust those digital gatekeepers, because they know from experience that such factors as work ethic, enthusiasm, readiness to learn, and ability to collaborate are hard to reduce to key words or metrics. So aim your resume and LinkedIn profile at the bots, and also include mini-stories that showcase for your prospective coworkers how you approach tasks and challenges and the qualities you bring to your work. Be prepared to elaborate in interviews on those stories, even when you know or suspect that the “interviewer” is a bot, because when your comments reach a human being they will want a sense of who you are as well as of what you can do. While it can appear that the hiring side controls everything about the process of being selected for a position, remember that you are in charge of the information you provide and of how you convey your experience, skills, and character traits.
As you prepare resumes, job applications, your LinkedIn profile, and samples of your work, remember that you can include any relevant accomplishments, whether or not you were paid and whether or not you were engaged full-time.
A term paper or thesis,
A personal website or portfolio,
A description of a volunteer project or team you led or
An award you received
is just as much a qualification as paid experience. Your potential employer cares more about what you can do than whether you have been paid (or paid properly) to do it. Include examples of technological and social or economic changes you have already experienced and how you have managed and learned from them. These examples provide insight into how you will respond to the challenges that come with any job or profession. The thought you put into preparing these materials will improve your replies to interview questions and help you describe your background and goals to anyone you talk to.
Spread the word:
Many early career people don’t believe they have meaningful networks, but in fact, it’s not necessary to know a lot of senior people in your field in order to connect successfully. The key is to be able to state clearly and succinctly what you are looking for, so that people quickly know how they can help you. When you say, for example, “I’m hoping to connect with someone at Company X who can help me understand how things work there,” you may be surprised by the people who can introduce you to someone. Don’t leave people with a vague impression that you need a job; that’s not specific enough, and they don’t know whether they can help. But most people will help when there is something specific they can do.
Make a point of talking to people in your field:
Your professors,
fellow alums,
former employers and coworkers from any kind of work, and
members of professional or trade associations (look for student or recent grad membership discounts).
Take advantage of being new to an employer, a field, or a location by asking good questions; most people will be generous with their answers, so you’ll get the lay of the land from multiple perspectives. Asking smart questions helps build people’s confidence in you, and the habit makes it relatively easy to keep learning. Anyone can and should develop the skills of meeting new people and contributing to conversations. If you’re shy or an introvert, use that to your advantage by asking people about themselves and their interests. Once you have a sense of connection, it’s relatively easy to say a few things about yourself and what you need or to ask who else they know who would be a good person for you to talk with.
Remember also that almost anyone may be able to direct you to information you need or people you should meet. Most of us know someone with a gift for getting to know people and learning about them. These “connectors” or “hub people” probably know someone in your field or area of interest because they have friendly relationships with their neighbors, merchants, and other community members. They also typically get pleasure from sharing those relationships and helping others find the information they need. Barbers, massage therapists, yoga teachers, and others who serve a wide variety of people are also good connections. Your parents’ friends and your friends’ parents are also part of your network, so keep these folks in the loop about what you are looking for as well.
Be realistic – and optimistic:
The current job market is probably the most volatile and confusing job market I have seen in decades of working in career development, yet the basics of job search continue to be clear:
Know your values and priorities, and use them to guide your choices.
Be persistent. A lot of job search involves repeating the same steps until you connect with the right opening and the right employer. This doesn’t mean sending the same resume to everyone or playing the numbers game of applying to everything you hear about. It means being focused on your own objectives, being selective yet open-minded about which leads you pursue, and responding to every “No” by taking note of what you have learned and how you can apply it to your next effort.
Take advantage of serendipity, unexpected opportunities, and chance encounters. Be willing to improvise and to take a zigzag path to your objectives. In fact, as you spread the word about what you are looking for, ask some questions about how people got to their current roles. Their stories will encourage you to persevere and be open to surprises, because they will have shown you how much their progress and success were influenced by good fortune and by readiness to adapt and learn.