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Forbes
27-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How AI Affects The Socioeconomic Order Of The Workplace
It is becoming increasingly evident that AI could – and already has started to – upend entry level jobs and the young workers who fought so hard to get them to start their careers. In the long run, we could see AI propelling more well-situated employees, while impeding the progress of those not so well positioned. That was considered an interesting theory – until it turned out to be reality. Beginner programmers and coders, data analysts, junior paralegals, retail sales associates, content writers, copy editors, graphic artists, and grant writers are among the many who will deal with this reality – and who should be joined and supported by the senior people who structure the organizations they all work for. From my vantage point as an independent career coach and job market observer, organizations build bench strength and create succession plans by developing talent. This starts with the new employees who have been hired not for their experience (none) or network (scant), but for their skills and potential. The idea was to develop those entry-level skills through usage, equipping these employees to move upward. But how are we to develop these skills in our new employees if we increasingly give assignments that use them to AI, which is getting better at these skills faster than our employees can? Do you see the problem? A year ago, I wrote a prescient column on this: 'AI's First Unintended Consequence – And It's Huge.' At the time, it was limited to communication and team building, but now it's ubiquitous. The urgency of this threat cannot be overstated. It's the fire burning at the other end of the oil drilling rig, And who's creating this conflict? The very executives who have been pulling their hair out in quest of skilled and trainable employees are falling all over themselves, attempting to be ahead of the AI game. Go figure. The monster they're creating is the looming threat of an empty bench when they're addressing their succession plans. The tacit approval of AI doing what we should be developing our new employees to do, insidiously undermines the quest for skills development, and we continue to see it as progress. And the The problem and the solution So that's the problem. Who gets affected and in what way(s)? And what's the fix? One doesn't need much data to arrive at these answers. If the lower-level tasks are now in AI's purview, then the young employees with already developed skills will find themselves up the ladder. These workers correlate with degrees from elite schools or prior experience: privileged backgrounds, in other words. This is not a level playing field and the divide will only widen. The fix should be obvious. Employers, in an earnest effort to build not only strong organizations, but strong employees, must counterintuitively look at this issue not in AI terms, but through a staff and talent development lens, reverting to the tedious but rewarding job of building the skills which will, in turn, lay the foundation for others. Right now, though, we are building castles in the air.
Forbes
10-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The 5 Things You Must Do Before The Recession Hits
A young boy and a woman look at name plaques of baseball players who have been inducted into The ... More Baseball Hall of Fame. Officially, an economic downturn is not a recession until there are two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage. We're halfway there. That's how I started my previous column (5/2/25) and, given the history of U.S. economics, there's no reason to change that outlook. Indeed, there have been 50 recessions in American history, dating back to the Articles of Confederation, some mild to the point of being hardly perceptible, some devastating like the Great Recession of 2008-09 and the Covid Recession of 2020. Recessions are natural and actually necessary. Economies expand and contract just like your heart and lungs do. The realistic question is not whether we'll have one, but when we'll have it, how severe it ill be, and what we'll be doing about it. Some, I included, see it in the works already, as I indicate above. Others see the onset ahead, perhaps starting in Q3. But nobody doubts its impending arrival. As I've said hundreds of times over my 28 years as an independent career coach and job market observer (including 22 years as a columnist, one step taken in advance is longer than 10 steps taken to catch up. In other words, don't wait another minute. Don't think it won't happen to you. Don't underestimate a thing. Don't expect things to work themselves out. The time for your next move is right now, no matter what your current situation is. In baseball, the truly great players – the elites – can do all five things exceptionally well. They can hit, hit with power, run, field, and throw. They are Mays, Aaron, Mantle, Clemente, Robinson, Hodges, Henderson, Jeter, Judge, Ohtani. In the job market, here are your five tools and what you must do: This is the way the world sees you before they meet you, so these documents need to be absolutely top notch. When was the last time you updated them? If it's longer than six months ago, that's your bad. A lot has happened in the last year. Do you remember it all? As for seeing before meeting, Philipppa Long, a friend and retired HR executive, estimates that 95 or 96 percent of all candidates have been vetted on LinkedIn before they ever knew they were being considered. 'Your profiles may have replaced your résumé as your most important document,' says Long. Hard to argue. The reason most candidates don't move to the next round of interviews – or to the job offer – is not that they lack interview skills; it's that they don't have good strategies – or any strategies at all, for that matter. Armed with three or four tried-and-true strategies, you'll go places. Neglect this and you better get used to your current job. 'Getting a job' is not a strategy. It's a goal or, if you don't have timelines, only a dream. And 'Sending out as many résumés as possible' is not only not a strategy; it'd a colossal waste of time. Focus, target, aim. Use a rifle, not a shotgun. Let's unpack this. Too many people have no career plan – and never did. They're just going from one job to the next, whatever that will be. Others may have put together a plan upon graduating school or sometime since but are still working that plan. Well, if you haven't been watching the nature, pace, and scope of change over the last 20 years, now would be a good time to start. But build a flexible plan, because it's OK to have to change your plan; it's just not OK not to have one. Contrary to popular belief, career networking is not something you should do just when you need a job. That's knee-jerk, transactional, and useless. Marty Latman, a well-known northern New Jersey-based networking guru, has always stressed, as he calls it, his 'A.B.C. approach' to the networking function: 'Always Be Connecting.' In other words, be proactive about regularly staying in touch with key people in your network. As well, advises Latman, 'Don't limit yourself to your keyboard and online networking sites. Get out to conferences, meetings, industry and occupational events, alumni gatherings, and such.' Nothing is better than a handshake, eye-to-eye contact, and a cup of coffee. I recently visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and there they were: hundreds of examples of what a five-tool play can accomplish.
