About 15 years ago, I created an organization to help people find meaningful work. Coming out of school in the wake of the Great Recession, I wanted to provide career resources and advice that my friends and I wish we had when we were young.
Since then, we’ve helped over 3,000 people find fulfilling careers. Back in 2011, when we started, the economy and job market felt uncertain. Now, with the advent of AI, things are shifting again.
Over the years, we’ve identified some key skill areas that are more AI-proof, can transfer across a variety of industries, and are likely to increase in value over the next five years.
1. Communication skills
Every organization needs skilled communicators to explain their mission and offerings, both internally and externally.
As it becomes easier to create large volumes of content with AI, it’s possible the value of content creation will decrease. But the skill of figuring out what to produce in the first place will grow in importance, as will the value of having good judgement about quality.
Developing trust and an authentic relationship with your audience will also become more important. More practically, this could look like mastering social media, building a following via a newsletter, gaining PR expertise or running in-person events.
2. Social skills
Every job involves working with others, at least to some degree. A study from Harvard economist David J. Deming found that those jobs that require social skills have seen rising wages over time.
Looking ahead, while AI is getting better at certain types of social interaction, people will still want human connection and care about human-produced work.
Amid rapid change, social skills like building rapport, understanding what others want, acknowledging emotions and resolving conflict will be more important than ever.
A great way to do this is to get involved with organizations like Toastmasters, or check out books like “The Social Skills Guidebook” or “The Charisma Myth.”
3. Leadership, judgment and decision-making skills
In 2017, we analyzed which skills were most commonly required in the most in-demand jobs, and found that judgement and decision-making came out on top.
As AI automates more routine tasks, like scheduling and data collection, the question of what’s worth doing in the first place becomes more valuable.
Look at the most competent and decisive people in your life. Who do you always trust to steer you right? Talk with them about their approach and what helped them get to this point.
4. Operations management skills
Every organization needs people to actually run things. I’m talking about the day-to-day realities that all companies must handle, like recruitment, setting up financial systems and office administration.
Some routine administrative work is now being automated by AI, but humans are still crucial for more complex tasks that require sound judgement, like handling interpersonal concerns.
As organizations start to grow faster, they will need good operations staff to keep everything on track. Many of the organizations we speak to say they’re always looking for people with these skills.
At your company, who is the person who knows all when it comes to admin? Work with them, do substantive projects and get feedback. You could also practice running something on the side, like an events or online business.
5. AI-implementation skills
If I could highlight just one piece of advice, it would be to learn to use AI tools to do real work.
Right now, AI is good at well-defined duties, like generating code for two hours. It struggles with messier tasks like coordinating a large group of people, or projects that take several weeks or months. There’s a benefit to being a human-in-the-loop who can fill in those gaps and review key decisions.
Boosting this skill could look like understanding the strengths and weaknesses of current AI models, writing specs, building systems to check for errors, and knowing what problems to tackle in the first place.
While coding skills can help, you don’t necessarily need them. A great way to get started with these skills is to practice using AI to do work in an area you know and care about.
Benjamin Todd is the president and founder of 80,000 Hours and the author of “80,000 Hours: How to Have a Fulfilling Career That Does Good.” He holds a Master’s degree in Physics and Philosophy from Oxford.
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