4 Keys to Protecting Your Career from AI and Downsizing: Be unique!

This week, we saw reports of even more potential Federal Government downsizing. The Administration apparently is not happy with merely furloughing non-essential employees—they want to fire many workers instead! As a result, your risk of being laid off if you are a federal worker, or working in a business that depends on business from federal workers is even higher than it was last week.

For workers’ that have already been let go, and those at high risk of being downsized, the question may be one of minimizing risk going forward. This could involve selecting a new career where it is more difficult to replace you.

An approach we recommend is to seek career security instead of traditional job security in the new world of work. Career security, in our view, is different from job security. Job security refers to staying with the same employer, in the same job or in progressively responsible jobs for years. That is the kind of career many of us were led to expect in large public agencies and corporations. Career security refers to staying in the same occupation, or a related occupation for a period of years, even if you have to change employers. Although we have worked with clients who have stayed with the same government agency or company and progressed up the corporate or civil service ladder for 10, 20, or even 30 years, this is becoming the exception, rather than the rule.

A new way to think about employment security is to consider what characteristics of a career make it more likely that you will be able to find work in that field or keep your job five years or more from now. Here are a few questions to think about:

1. Do you have to be physically present?
2. Does a customer want a person to help them?
3. Can automation or an overseas provider do the job?
4. What is your unique value?

A dream job, for some of us, might be a remote job we can learn without years of expensive schooling or special talent. But will we have a secure career even if we can find such a job?

Do you have to be physically present?

A well-known quote is “half of life is showing up.” And in some jobs, employers give high marks to almost any employee who shows up on-time every day and works for the full day. Those employees get “brownie points” formally or informally when promotion and pay raise time comes in some organizations.

In other words, one way to decide whether a career you are considering will be there for you in a few years is to think about whether physically being there is important. The job won’t be outsourced when someone physically has to do the work, and the work cannot be moved elsewhere.

A classic example of a job that cannot be outsourced is home care for aging and disabled patients. According to the US Department of Labor, this is one of America’s fastest-growing jobs as our population gets older. Physical patient care cannot, of course, be delivered remotely.

Overall, surveys indicate that fewer healthcare workers, including highly-skilled workers such as nurse practitioners, work remotely than workers in other fields. They must be physically present to examine and treat patients.

So, think about specialties in your chosen field that require a physical presence to do the job.

Does the customer want a person to help?

Sometimes customers would prefer to be served by a person that is physically present. For instance, returning to the home care aide example, it may be possible for an AI or AI-enabled robot to perform certain tasks, but most patients would probably prefer for a person to take care of them. And, while it is possible for robots to take our order and serve us at a fine-dining restaurant, customers expect personal service.

Those “high-touch” jobs where you have to be present to win, as sweepstakes ads once said, will have more staying power in coming decades.

Can automation or an overseas provider do the job?

Another question to ask about a potential career is whether automated systems, including AI, can do the job, or whether the work can be outsourced—sent overseas at less cost. You may need more skills for jobs that won’t be replaced with AI, conventional software, or overseas outsourcers.

The world of auditing and tax prep offers an interesting example. A recruiter told me last year that regional accounting firms she deals with are hiring accountants in India to prepare audit work-papers and tax forms for state-licensed CPAs to sign. And, of course, many of us have used tax software to prepare our paperwork, instead of going to a tax service or CPA. Legions of local junior accountants preparing for CPA exams once did this work. 

The implication of these changes is that you will need more skills, certifications, and licenses for career security. Become the licensed and certified local expert that approves the work—not the worker that can be replaced with an AI or offshore company.

What is your unique value?

Last, but not least, offer unique value in the marketplace. A business coach asked me some years ago to explain my “unique value proposition.” In other words, what did I offer that other businesspeople in my field did not offer? As a jobseeker, you want to offer employers some unique value, too.

Your unique value could be that you have an industry certification, government-issued license, or innate talent that others don’t have. For example, if you have a state-issued CPA license you could be hired to sign those audit letters and tax forms that overseas accountants and software systems prepare.

You may also have the aptitude for specific work that other candidates lack. For example, at one time many trade schools promoted training to be a “highly paid computer programmer.” But computer programmers (and today’s software engineers and cybersecurity experts) need the talent to solve logic puzzles, among other things, that not everyone has.

Concluding comments

The sky is not falling for American workers at any level. But you do have to offer unique value, whether it’s being present at a local worksite to do the job, having a special license or certification, or a talent that not everyone can master. Career security means offering value an AI or $7/hr. overseas worker cannot deliver.

Historically, new technology has consistently created jobs rather than destroying them. The world had one website designer in 1989. Now there are millions of designers building websites. Use the knowledge, skills, and abilities you gained at your public agency, university, or business to chart a new course..