I asked AI what careers would be most negatively impacted by AI, per Gemini below
The careers facing the most significant negative impact from AI are generally those that involve routine, repetitive, and data-intensive tasks that can be easily automated by algorithms and Large Language Models (LLMs).1
This impact usually manifests as job displacement (the elimination of entire roles) or downsizing (fewer people needed due to increased efficiency).2
Top Careers Facing Disruption
The most vulnerable careers are those with a high degree of predictability and low requirement for complex human judgment, empathy, or physical dexterity.
Sector
At-Risk Roles
Reason for Vulnerability
Administrative / Back-Office
Data Entry Clerks, Bookkeepers, Receptionists, Administrative Assistants
AI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are highly effective at handling structured data, scheduling, expense tracking, and basic communication.
Financial Services
Credit Analysts, Insurance Underwriters, Bank Tellers
AI excels at processing vast amounts of financial data, fraud detection, calculating risk, and automating basic transactions.
Generative AI models can rapidly produce well-written text, synthesize information, and create images/videos, automating execution-based creative work.
Customer Service
Customer Service Representatives, Telemarketers
AI-powered chatbots, voicebots, and automated support systems can handle a large volume of repetitive customer queries and scripted sales calls efficiently.
Generative AI is increasingly capable of writing, debugging, and testing basic code, reducing the demand for workers whose primary value is simply generating standard syntax.
Totally agree, as have said before, that one never knows the direction their career will take. So focusing on finding the “perfect job” right out of school can be an impractical expense of energy.
I’ve told the story before, but older son really likes small companies (where he feels he is making a difference) and startups, and he understood the risks when he pursued them. So he turned down some bigger job opportunities right out of college and instead took a job with a small company. (He was fortunate to have a few choices).
Unfortunately, it was a tough time for the economy and after about a year and a half the company didn’t survive. He ended up getting job #2 with a big company back in the metro area of our home town, doing something in his field but extremely boring. But it was a job. He stayed with it for about a year or so, met his now wife, and ended up following her when she relocated with her career. He took job #3 with a start up that had been a customer of his job #2 company. He was quickly promoted to new product development at job#3, but not long after, the company postured for a buyout and, surprise, they got rid of and laid off everybody in new product development. But it turns out the boring job he had at job #2 not only gave him the connection for job #3, but it gave him the exact skill that was needed for the position that he got for job #4. Job #4 at the time was a relatively new/small company, but one that he was extremely interested in and excited about from its inception, having no clue that he would ever have the opportunity to work there!
So the boring, yucky job #2 was exactly the skill base he needed for job #4. And it was fortuitous that job #2 not only led to job #4, but is how he met his now wife! And as an aside, remember, he liked small companies/startups. Well, job #4 was with a company that got bought by a FAANG. So, despite 2 job losses - he’s doing just fine. Sure, there were some bumps in the road and some interruptions and having to cobble together some self-employment opportunities between the jobs when the companies folded or sold, but overall the steppingstones worked well for him. You just never know how things will turn out.
This may have been mentioned and I just missed it but alumni socials are fantastic ways of connecting with folks socially that lead to leads for jobs. Go to as many of them at as many near by locations as you can. Even if you don’t like sports, also go to the local football support group for your college - you can fake it and scream your team gets a touchdown…but you’ll meet lots of folks who may be good leads.
Yes, yes, yes to this! Especially for those with liberal arts degrees. There are so many career paths that aren’t even known until you start working somewhere.
I found my way to my lifelong (so far, anyway!) career by way of a job I took because it was the only place I could get hired at the time, with (or perhaps, in spite of ) a BA in history. Doing job A (which I hated, by the way) gave me exposure the possibility of career B, in a field I didn’t even know existed. This spurred me on to return to grad school for a relevant degree in the field that I’ve now been gainfully employed in for the past 27 years.
As is usually the case when talking about jobs and careers, I agree with @blossom’s post that people should understand that the first job should be understood in large part as a stepping stone to the next job. In the talk I used to give on career choices and career trajectories, I try to get people to think about two notions (well quite a few, but two relevant to this discussion). The first is to think of each job option as having two key attributes: 1) the day to day job (and how much you will enjoy it); and 2) the lottery of opportunities that this job will make likely at the end of the period. I tend to think in terms of two or one year time horizons for younger folks and five year horizons for older folks. When you are younger, you should place heaviest weight on the opportunities each job choice will make most likely whereas when you are older, one should probably place greater weight on how much you are going to enjoy the job. The second, related, notion is to think about things in terms of conditional probabilities. The lottery of opportunities each job will provide is conditional upon the job. Thus, working for JP Morgan for two years will provide a certain lottery of opportunities (you have to decide whether you like the set of opportunities that are likely to be available at the end of a couple of years). This will differ from the set of opportunities that is likely to be available to you after working for a year in marketing for P&G or Boston Brewing Company or from two years working at Meta or Rockwell International or a startup or from two years working as a public school teacher. The best choice in terms of opportunity set may not be especially enjoyable on a day to day basis – which is consistent with @blossom’s experience. The job does not need to be perfect but in an ideal world you leave it with a skills, knowledge, and connections that help you get the next job which advances you toward the vision of the professional life you hope to have.
Not trying to put words into @blossom mouth, but I think she was actually saying there are people not applying for jobs because those jobs aren’t “the perfect job”. You can’t get an offer for a job you don’t apply to and if you are only applying to jobs you really are excited by in this economy - you are missing opportunities.
Instead of trying to find “the perfect job”, find a job and use that as a springboard to the next job. It is always easier to get hired when you already are working.
On the other hand, when job applicants apply to any job that is even a possibility, they get criticized for shotgunning to jobs where they do not meet the requirements (even though the job listing has “requirements” that are obviously a wish list that is very unlikely to be fully met by any applicant and where only a few of the “requirements” are actually hard requirements) because then the person reviewing the applicants has to go through hundreds or thousands of applicants who are obviously (to them, not the applicants) not hire-able.
This I agree with and is what my kid’s did. If it got them the experience in description that was suitable, they grabbed it. It’s not what I read but if that’s the case, yes!!!
My daughter wants to work with refugees. Not the right time with the current admin and the Intl Rescue Committee is the most likely place but doesn’t hire out of college.
So she’s teaching in a class with refugees and kids that speak 13 or 15 languages at home. Never wanted to teach - but she’s getting this experience. It’s stressful but so is any role with refugees.
My son wanted to be in automotive and had the chance but knew the long term opportunity in the leadership program he’s in was better for the long run - and he can always pivot back. He’s in aero.
No, I’m stating a fact based on kids that I know IRL that they aren’t even TRYING to get a job with a reputable organization if it doesn’t meet their “must have” screens. Job is in Milwaukee not Austin- Nope. Job is doing treasury analysis and not strategy– Nope. Job requires four days a week in the office and travel one week a month- Nope. Job is working for a company developing green energy solutions for server farms (which use huge amounts of power and water) but kid only wants to work for a non-profit preserving wetlands. So that’s a hard no. And of course- the legions of kids who won’t apply for entry level jobs in hospitality, retail, etc. because “I didn’t bust my %^&* getting a degree in civil engineering to be working at a hotel”.
The issue is not turning down job offers. The issue is not going where the jobs are. The federal layoffs have now trickled through the entire economy. The tariffs are touch and go, up and down, completely unpredictable. Gold prices are up- is a recession coming? Consumer confidence is down- what does that mean?
The smart move is to figure out who is hiring and get one of those jobs. Nobody gets tagged for their entire career based on a two year stint at age 22. Plenty of time to pivot.
I am not advocating randomly applying to jobs someone isn’t qualified for. I don’t believe “shotgunning” is a helpful strategy. But there are still organizations which state “College degree required” and some pretty minimal qualifications after that (one of which is being proficient in Excel and Powerpoint which any college student can likely claim). I read a few today actually…. they are not the sexiest jobs around (property and casualty insurance, industrial manufacturing, aviation aftermarket) but these are solid and profitable companies with good benefits. Do you have to live in Cedar Rapids or Toledo or Oklahoma City? Yes. These places don’t want their employees working out of a cool co-working space. They want you sitting near your boss with your colleagues. But that’s how you learn. And the stuff you learn is what’s going to get you your next job.
One negative in this stimulus era of not filing a tax return is they don’t get any money back if there is a Government stimulus. The state of Georgia gave $600 to single taxpayers under a certain financial threshold. My youngest made 400 bucks that year as a college tour guide and didn’t file a return. He didn’t get the 600 bucks - his brothers did (and one filed under the threshold because he thought he might get a refund - he was glad he did!).
Well, my current senior is doing a lot of these things today. He had a light class and project load today, so his agenda for today is:
(1) He got an email asking for an initial screening interview, with available time slots today, so he jumped on it. It’s for a company that he applied to after finding them randomly on indeed (not exactly shotgunning, because it is the industry he’s interested in and was a purposeful match of a company, but no other connection or interest). Hopefully that goes well.
(2) Last week a few companies came to campus to talk about working in their industry. He wasn’t able to attend the talk (it was during a time where he had a mandatory event) but today he’s reaching out to two of the people who came to tell them how interested he is in their company and to ask to connect to discuss their work.
(3) A month or so ago he connected with someone on LinkedIn after hearing him present about his company. They exchanged a few emails and eventually had a short call a few (3 weeks maybe?) weeks ago to talk about the company during which time my son asked “what can I do to be a more successful candidate. The interviewer/recruiter person said that he thought my son was an excellent candidate, that he’d forwarded his resume, and that he should expect to hear about an interview “in the next week or so”. Since he hasn’t heard anything, he’s going to reach back out to that guy just to check in to see if there’s more he can or should be doing.
(4) He had a second round interview at a different company also about three weeks ago. He was told they’d be reaching out “in the near future” to schedule third round interviews. He hasn’t heard back. He was pretty excited about them and is now wondering if this silence is bad.
(5) He’s applying to a few more jobs today that are just random - not the industry he wants but hopefully at least doing some engineering. He wants to keep up the momentum of getting some things out the door every week.
Selfishly, I’m hoping that the thing he’s having the initial screening interview for goes well. It’s only about 2 hours from where I live, and that’s the closest of anything he’s looked at. I’d love to have him close enough to see occasionally.
Thanks so much for the update! I was wondering how things were going for him. Good luck to him on his job search…it’s not the easiest of markets, but it sounds like he’s a great candidate!
It sounds like he’s actively searching and applying. As many posted, the job market is tough and the job search is almost a full time job. Encourage him to keep it up and surely something will bite.
Our youngest (graduating in the spring) has actively searched and applied to over 100s since August. His major is CS at our flagship. He did not use his U’s career office or contacts from professors. He definitely did not listen to mom and dad’s advice, especially since we are not in his interested industries. After doing many many virtual assessments, series of virtual interviews, 2 in person final interviews, and 1 “work trial for 2 days,” he finally received 2 offers this week. One is from a financial institution on the east coast and the other is a tech company on the west coast. Both are not his “ideal” jobs but he’s relieved that he received these offers. We told him that first job are not perfect but he’ll learn and grow to set him up for his next job whatever that may be. He will definitely take one of these offers next week. Though he said he wants to continue look. I wish he didn’t and just be satisfied for now. One thing I am concerned about is if an offer can be rescinded if the economy tanks next year. His older siblings’ job searches had less drama.
It’s a legitimate concern. One way to hedge is to also get a summer internship for next year.
S22 and I debated this quite a bit. He got a quant full time offer pretty early in late July. Since then he has done no recruiting but this topic has been top of mind. Mind you, the firm in question has a top notch record and his team specifically has been driving a lions share of the firms returns so there is likely little risk. However the nature of these firms are extreme leverage multiples and that can quickly turn tragic.
Our backup plan is to convert his other full time offer from his internship that he just concluded into a summer internship offer for next year. This is a deep tech firm that hires interns throughout the year so he’s hoping they will let him intern one more term next summer.
If end of summer comes around next year and his FT offer is intact then he will complete his summer internship and then immediately start full time. If it falls through he will have his summer conversion as a backup.
Not sure how many people are doing this, but I’ve heard S22s friends do this for another purpose too. FT offer from 2nd choice since first choice offer didn’t happen in time, and then summer at 1st choice and if they get return they plan to renege the 2nd choice.
In this economy, it’s not a bad idea to be paranoid.
Congratulations to your S22! I like your strategy on how to pivot if things turn sour. Our S’s interested field is quant, but to date rejections from both firms after final interviews. Since he’ll finish with a MCS, I don’t know if another internship opportunity will be available to him. I’ll share your S’s strategy with ours.
Thanks for the positive words! I just heard from him that he got a call back from the initial interview he had yesterday, so yay! Let’s all keep crossing those fingers please!
Top Careers Facing Disruption
) a BA in history. Doing job A (which I hated, by the way) gave me exposure the possibility of career B, in a field I didn’t even know existed. This spurred me on to return to grad school for a relevant degree in the field that I’ve now been gainfully employed in for the past 27 years.
More bad news from the WSJ (gift article): Companies Predict 2026 Will Be the Worst College Grad Job Market in Five Years