Top US Professor Says AI Skills Will Soon Be Non-Negotiable for Job Seekers

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job market today, is as brutal as ever with no signs of the competitiveness slowing down in the near future. One of America's leading career development experts unpacks what it takes to not only land a job, but also excel in it. Neil Burton, Associate Dean and Executive Director of the Center for Career and Professional Development at Clemson University, says today's job seekers must be equipped with two priceless skills - familiarity with AI and an endless reserve of resilience to navigate early career setbacks.

AI Skills Are Becoming Essential

One of the first things Burton highlights is how familiarity with generative AI is well on its way to becoming a valuable differentiating factor among job seekers. Don't be surprised then, if it soon becomes a basic expectation. "Something that's important, more and more companies are starting to look for students or new people with AI skills. Folks that can use generative AI to do some complex tasks and things like that, so that is a plus right now. It is going to be an expectation not too long from now, so that's something that they really ought to be thinking about for our new graduates," he shares.The smart approach then would be to stop viewing AI as a threat. Instead, Burton encourages job seekers - especially young graduates - to use it responsibly and effectively: "Most of the young people who are coming into college now have had some experience with AI. If you have an opportunity to use it and use it in an ethical manner, that's something that I would encourage you to do. Figure out how to write a prompt, how to use an iterative process to come up with an answer that's a little bit more sophisticated than just asking, 'Hey, can you write my English paper for me?' So making sure that you're using it well and that you're using it thoughtfully in an iterative manner, I think, is going to be really helpful."

Rejection Is Part of the Process

Burton genuinely believes that resilience is a skill set that will ensure one actually lasts in the tumultuousness of the job market: "So resilience is going to be a key, understanding that you're going to hear no a lot and that's okay. That's not a judgment on you or your worth as a person. You just going to need to be persistent, and not take it to heart, even though it's really hard not to."While fresh graduates may find themselves riddled with the pressure to secure the 'perfect' role right out of college, the expectation is nothing but a catalyst for creating unnecessary anxiety. Burton suggests zooming out to see the bigger picture: "So, differentiating between a job and a career is really challenging, understanding that your first job is not your forever job. That is going to be the first rung on the ladder. You're going to want to use that to set yourself up for success on the next rung. So, making sure that you're not equating the I have to find the perfect job right out of school."Also Read: Top US Expert Reveals The 3 Hidden Signs Of Real Burnout

Learning From Mistakes Matters

Still, it isn't like setbacks can be avoided. And in the current job market, these curveballs are likely to hit sooner than later. But Burton says early-career setbacks are not failures, but simply opportunities for growth: "Something else that our students are going to need to do is, as they're moving out, they're learning how to make educational mistakes. And what I mean by that is, we all make mistakes, making sure that you're learning from those mistakes. Understanding that you don't just take a bunch of ideas and throw them against the wall and see what sticks."

Top US Professor Shares PSA for Job Seekers

Adapting to the Professional World

Speaking specifically of fresh graduates, moving from a student-centered environment into a workplace where the focus shifts outwards towards organisational goals is a bigger shift than most realise. Burton outlines, "Something else that I think our graduates are really going to need to do is evolve from being a customer to being a provider. Students who are at a university setting, the campus culture is really set up for them to be the customer, to be the center of all the activity that's going on. From the programming, the housing and the facilities are all designed for the student experience...When you move into a role, a professional role, you're no longer the center of the universe. You're going to have to evolve into being somebody who is working for the greater good and having to focus on whatever the customer is for that particular industry or organization. That takes a bit of an adjustment to the mindset."

Make an Informed Choice

The best 'trick' here is to make a beeline for an industry that is not only definitively set to boom in the future, but is also best-aligned with one's strengths. Burton lists power generation, health care, advanced manufacturing and finance as potential options. At the end of the day, the advice is to focus on cross-disciplinary sectors - and Burton has a good explanation for it: "When you leave, you're not just going to be a nurse or an accountant or an engineer or whatever it is, you're going to have to work with people from a lot of different areas. People who are able to communicate between those different disciplines are really going to be those who are super successful."

Don't Let Relationships Be Your Blind Spot

Technical skills, as per Burton, is what helps you get your foot in the door. Interpersonal skills however, is what ultimately determines long-term career success. He says, "Your resume gets you the interview. Your people skills get you the job. So, you need to really make sure that you are creating those sound relationships, not just for your current role. If you're doing a good job of creating those relationships, they'll pay dividends down the road when you're looking for that next job."

Don't Ignore Company Culture

Finally, Burton advises graduates to evaluate prospective employers, and carefully where they have the option to. Regardless, ir it incredibly important to consider whether an organisation's values align with your own, especially if you plan on being there, long-term."I would encourage all of our students as they're looking at opportunities and weighing the benefits in the calls, to make sure that the company culture is going to be one that they're going to be, welcomed into, that it's going to be a job with whatever it is that that student values to make sure that the that the company's, core values match up with their personal values," he says, concluding, "If that's a bad fit, it doesn't matter how much the job pays or how rewarding the work is; there's going to be a high level of stress and maybe even dissatisfaction with the eventual outcome."