How to beat the job insecurity against artificial intelligence and automation. Don’t be afraid of the Technology, learn to live with it!
1- Keep yourself updated with Technology
Whatever you are doing as a job, there are always things that you can learn and improve. 10 years from now automation is going to take a lot more of the job market than it does now. This shouldn’t frighten anyone, especially youngsters. Artificial Intelligence will kill many job titles however it will create more than it will kill.
Young job seekers and workers have advantages when it comes to technology as they tend to learn new technology faster than older generations. The jobs that AI will create will be much more suitable for them as they can learn much quicker than the current workforce.
2- Learn Coding
If you are feeling insecure about your job then you are doing something wrong by not taking action. You will have to improve yourself everyday. No job is secure. You might have to fight with a robot (software) for your position but the winner is not as predictable as you think. Learning how to code is your insurance to survive in this fight against technology.
The good news is anyone at any age can learn coding. You don’t have to pay a penny to learn coding. YouTube is full of free lessons and there are many other free online learning courses you can follow you don’t have to pay anything for (you may have to watch advertising every couple of minutes though).
You no longer have to start learning from HTML. Go big and start with Python, C+ , C++ etc.
3- Keep looking
You have a job today but you can’t be sure about tomorrow. Having a job today doesn’t mean you are not allowed to visit job sites or job apps to see what’s going on or keep your social media accounts up to date with your current CV.
You may come across an opportunity that pays more, has better benefits such as financial benefits or more flexible working conditions or is more secure than the role you have.
Browsing jobs doesn’t mean you have to apply for them so go check them out!
4- Take a course
There are thousands of training courses online to choose from. Many of those courses are free and provided by reputable organisations including the Open University and government departments. They will also award you with certificates so you can use them for your job applications to demonstrate your commitment to self-improvement.
You can also use paid training courses as well. Make sure you check that the company is reputable before you pay any money, and that the qualification is accepted by the majority of employers. A good qualification provided by a reputable company is likely to be more attractive to employers and could ensure a better understanding of the concept and be more organised than free training.
Some of the useful courses:
- Microsoft Excel Training
- Payroll
- Teaching Assistant
- Personal Assistant
- Fitness
- Admin & PA
- Open University certificates, diplomas or degrees
5- Learn a language
Learning a language is not obsolete as some would say. Yes, AI speaks any language however it can’t speak and translate like humans do.
There are still many employers who are looking for bilingual people, including translating into British Sign Language (BSL) to join their workforce.
Technology is not powerful enough to upload languages directly into our brains yet but it can be really helpful when you try to learn a language. There are many free or low pay apps that are good at helping with pronunciation and regular knowledge retrieval to assist you to learn a new language quickly.
6- Update your CV
You may have been in employment for a while now however that shouldn’t stop you checking and updating your CV from time to time. There are many new skills that you may have had to learn and adapt to throughout your career. Take some time every year to reflect on what you have learned, responsibilities you have taken on or qualifications you have achieved in your current role and add them on to your CV.
You should also update your personal profile either on your CV or on social media to make it look fresher.
7- Add some more skills to your arsenal
The best way to beat job insecurity is to be prepared for the worse. Live like you are going to lose your job tomorrow and ask this question to yourself regularly: What if I lose my job today?
More skills in your CV that are relevant to today’s challenges are your strongest shields when it comes to feeling secure about your job and make you a more confident job searcher.
8- Be good at what you doing on social media
CV’s are not dead yet but if you haven’t looked for a job in a while the expectations have changed slightly. Employers and recruiters now can take a look on your social media profile to see if you are really how you described on your CV.
Keep your social media profiles tidy, especially if they are public. Start by deleting or keeping private anything you might be concerned about a prospective employer seeing. There shouldn’t be any kind of illegal content, swearing, rudeness etc. Many people are losing their jobs over their social media posts. You may claim that it’s your private area however you know it’s not. Once it’s public this information can be seen by everyone!