Kirsty McHenry | Navigating a new age of employment uncertainty
While columnist Kirsty McHenry is currently searching for work in her field after graduation, she observes that the job market has changed significantly. “We’ve spent most of our lives so far preparing for work that has yet to be imagined, by perfecting the skills from jobs that are blinking out of existence.”
As I attempt to navigate life post-graduation, there’s one specific fear that flashes over and over in the back of my mind. This is the suspicion that, as new (or soon-to-be new) graduates, we’ve spent most of our lives so far preparing for work that has yet to be imagined, by perfecting the skills from jobs that are blinking out of existence. As the rapid, unanticipated growth in the presence and abilities of AI technology ushers us into a new transitional phase for which there is no clear end in sight, it can sometimes feel like we are speeding down a road that’s still being built. And, unfortunately for those of us recent graduates in particular, we have arrived on the scene at what appears to be the very start of this indefinite period of precarity.
Crisis
While we are now entering a professional landscape that seems just as uncertain as we are, this does not necessarily mean we have no way of knowing what to expect. As I try to manage my employment anxieties, I am reminded of the hardships a former professor of mine had described as she relayed her own experience of entering the workforce back in 2008. How she had eagerly arrived on the job market with a freshly secured degree in hand only to be met with a global economic crash and the years of recession and austerity that followed.
With the career path she had envisioned suddenly barricaded off, she was forced to join the rest of the newly unemployed in search of any work that would pay. Although the challenges facing graduates today are undoubtedly different, it’s worth recognising that we are, for better or worse, treading a familiar trail.
Sudden, largescale societal transformations, like the one we are currently seeing with the rise of increasingly advanced AI technology, typically demand a change to traditional working practices and forms of employment. These transitionary phases are not without their victims, however. It’s by design that many of the plans for progress proposed by the champions of this technology do not include a clear picture of what will happen to the many workers they intend to replace. Consequently, those of us in search of employment have been left to figure out for ourselves how we ought to fit into this new arrangement, or whether we are even prepared to do so.
If we do hope to secure a place in this new phase of technological advancement, then it seems that we must be able to bend to the unpredictable whims of the job market. But, as much as we can try to equip ourselves with whichever tools we expect will be demanded, there’s no way we could ever possess all the possible abilities we are likely to need. Most of these can only be gained through time and experience, and for this, those higher up the hiring ladder must be willing to take a chance on us. However, while struggling to get a foot in the door has always been part of the recent graduate experience, with the number of entry-level positions and the demand for the skills that we were trained in now abruptly declining, it seems that many of us may be shut out entirely.
As a recent graduate, I often feel inclined to assume that the struggles I have experienced upon entering the job market are wholly the result of my own personal inadequacies. Yet, much of the uncertainty we are facing is also the consequence of a job market which has always been ready to leave behind those who are still finding their footing. And, while the advancements currently being made are undoubtedly momentous, it’s important to note that the keys have, as expected, remained in the same few hands.
