AI-Proofing Careers: How Young Professionals Are Adapting to Automation
I am curious how younger generations are ‘REALLY’ thinking about AI and future-proofing their careers.
I was going to say Gen Z, but for this one, I won’t put any labels cause it’s a broader spectrum of audiences and scenarios. It’s been a question I have been asking younger professionals in my industry, current graduates and parents of young adults who will be graduating soon. On one extreme is pessimism often shown by parents, saying, ‘I don’t know what advice to give my kids anymore on careers.
On the other hand, there is some quiet resilience among younger professionals in shaping opinions on how to deal with this seismic shift in disruption. The majority are clearly not waiting for anyone to fix it or figure it out for them.
There is one obvious narrative being propagated by the industry, which is heavily invested and betting big on AI, and some younger professionals are embracing this from the outset. The theme being that AI serves as an enabler, something that helps augment my role in the workforce. And that critical thinking, emotional intelligence and complex solutions are still in the human domain. This is the group that is jumping head-on into the innovation teams that are leading or experimenting with AI internally. There are also a ton of young entrepreneurs who are jumping heavily into the AI dev and deployment industry.
Another narrative that is brewing, and I have been part of conversations where current industry roles are being analysed and dissected by the younger workforce, with some being labelled as high risk and others as moderate to low risk. I recently had a mentoring conversation with a young professional who said that his 4 years in Digital marketing are over, as per his judgment, and he is trying to pivot to cybersecurity. According to a recent Fast Company piece on this topic, about 70% of them are rethinking their career paths with AI in mind. They’re pivoting into fields like healthcare and skilled trades that they see as more resilient to automation. On platforms like Reddit, you’ll find younger audiences debating which jobs are truly “AI-proof.” Some think that roles like surgeons or physicists might be safer, while others worry that if everyone pivots to the same fields, those could get crowded too. However, what’s certain is that the younger generation is not just reacting to change but actively strategising among themselves on how to stay ahead of it.
I think this has enormous implications for workforce policy and the area in which the pipeline of future workers is built. Currently, I see a predominantly ground-up effort by younger professionals in determining where their future is most secure. I’m fairly confident that progressive Governments, along with industry leaders, are collaborating to develop a workforce policy that averts a crisis and puts a plan in place where most people are gainfully employed and productive. What can I say, I am an eternal optimist, but keen to hear other perspectives
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