A recent message by FIVERR CEO Micha Kaufman to his staff, widely shared on social media, delivered the punch line: “AI is coming for your jobs.” The online dialogue it generated had me pondering what advice I’d give to my employees on how to “AI-proof” their jobs, and more importantly, their careers.
Having started my own career in the 1980s, I experienced the disruptions created by the Digital Revolutions in automation, computing, telecommunications, and the Internet. Recognizing the signs of imminent change, it is obvious to me that the next fundamental technological disruption is well underway, and that the need to “AI-proof” your career is a real thing. True, the idea that AI will truly replace people is getting pushback, as early AI implementations show their limitations, and commercially relevant “killer” applications are still in their infancy. But a revolution is clearly in progress, and AI capabilities and their applications will only improve. It’s just a question of how fast AI capabilities increase, and how soon they’re adopted.
In the fully realized AI work environment of the future, I believe smart, hardworking people will still be needed, but probably a lot fewer of them than at present. As new needs and opportunities arise, companies will be taking an AI-first approach before hiring new employees. The people who will survive and thrive in that environment are the people who have learned to employ AI tools to increase efficiency, improve productivity and enhance their value to their employer. Whatever profession you are in, the challenge is to learn how to ride the wave, instead of letting it crash into you.
With those thoughts in mind, here are the 10 pieces of advice I would give my colleagues and employees on how to AI-proof their careers:
1. Reflect on Your Current Role
Start by considering what aspects of your current job are highly repetitive or could be automated. Make an honest assessment of how much of your work would be left if they were. That will help you understand whether AI is an imminent threat to your job, or perhaps presents an opportunity to enhance it.
2. Adopt an Open Mindset and Embrace Change
To survive the AI disruption, you will need to be flexible and adaptable. For my generation, career success was usually the result of working longer and harder than others around you. In the future, it will be about how to work smarter and more creatively. You can’t work harder than AI, and if you try, you’ll only burn yourself out.
3. Learn the AI Fundamentals
Understanding how AI works, what it can do, and its limitations will help you understand where AI could help make your work more efficient and impactful.
4. Master Prompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the process of crafting precise instructions (called prompts) that guide generative AI models towards producing the desired output. Knowing how to frame or refine a prompt is critical to getting the most useful (and accurate) response from your AI tools.
5. Be an Early Adopter
Investigate, experiment and learn to use the latest AI applications being employed in your field. Your focus should be on understanding if and how AI can be integrated into your workflow to augment your output, as well as which of your work tasks AI can assume, so that you can focus on the higher-level aspects of the job that benefit from your experience, expertise and human-touch.
6. Make Yourself a Part of the AI Community in Your Company
Find the people in your organization who are knowledgeable about AI, add them to your professional network, and engage their advice and help. Not only will you benefit from their assistance and the exchange of information, but you will also communicate that you are flexible and open to change. Getting “On the Bus” with other early adopters will also make it less likely you’ll get left behind.
7. Proactively Invest in Yourself
If you think your job could be targeted for AI-automation, don’t wait for your employer to provide training or support to learn and enhance your professional and human skills. Investing in building and supporting your professional network is also critical to ensure that it is there when you need it.
8. Build Your Non-Technical Skillsets
Focus on developing Human Skills in value-added areas, such as communications and emotional intelligence, leadership and management, critical thinking and problem solving, and creativity and innovation. Also focus on refining the practical skills that AI has difficulty replicating, such as brainstorming, data-interpretation, prediction, and decision-making.
9. Internalize Your Company’s Mission, Strategy and Goals and How They Relate to Your Work
That understanding is necessary to ensure alignment — and that alignment, coupled with your performance, is what determines whether or not you are considered an asset by upper management.
10. Make Your Job and Career Transitions Strategically
If you find yourself having to plan a transition, steer away from industries and professions being targeted for AI-automation, and look for opportunities in people-centric industries and professions, such as healthcare, education and creative fields, which will be harder to automate.
AI may change your job title and description, but it won’t derail your career if you understand how to use it as a tool to free yourself from the mundane and repetitive aspects of your job so you can focus the higher-order work that will add value to your employer.
