Executives now favor AI skills over industry experience, raising job security concerns.
If you’re not brushing up on your AI skills, you might want to start—fast.
The 2024 Annual Work Trend Index from Microsoft and LinkedIn reveals that AI know-how is becoming the top priority for employers.
Out of a survey involving 31,000 people across 31 countries, a striking 71% of executives now favor candidates with AI expertise over those with industry experience. This trend opens doors for entry-level and early-career professionals eager to break into the job market but could spell trouble for seasoned pros.
The Growing Employer-Employee Divide
Despite this preference for AI skills, only 25% of employers plan to offer generative AI training this year.
So, many workers are taking matters into their own hands. According to the survey, just 39% of knowledge workers received AI training from their companies, yet 75% are already using AI at work to save time, spark creativity, and focus on what truly matters. Interestingly, 78% of these AI-savvy employees are bringing their own AI tools into the workplace.
But leadership needs to play catch-up. Although 79% of leaders recognize that AI is crucial for staying competitive, 59% struggle with measuring its productivity gains, and 60% admit their company lacks a clear AI strategy.
As Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella put it, “AI is democratizing expertise across the workforce. Our latest research highlights the opportunity for every organization to apply this technology to drive better decision-making, collaboration, and ultimately, business outcomes.”
Thinking About Quitting? You’re Not Alone
If you’ve been pondering a job change, you’re in good company.
The survey found that 46% of professionals are considering quitting within the next year, with this figure spiking to 85% among U.S. workers according to a separate LinkedIn study.
Concerns about AI replacing jobs are very real—45% of those surveyed fear AI could take over their role and a recent letter to Klarna’s shareholders from CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski does little to counter such concerns.
He wrote, “Our AI assistant now performs the work of 700 employees, reducing the average resolution time from 11 minutes to just 2, while maintaining the same customer satisfaction scores as human agents.”
Over the past year, Klarna has reduced its workforce from 5,000 to 3,800 through natural attrition, and more cuts could be on the horizon. This situation has led some tech CEOs to advise software engineers to upskill, as AI might soon take over coding tasks.
A Shift in Skills for Developers
In the tech world, the pressure to upskill is mounting.
Leaked recordings from a recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) company chat revealed, “If you go forward 24 months from now, or some amount of time — I can’t exactly predict where it is — it’s possible that most developers are not coding.”
According to the explanation that follows in the audio, developers would not lose their jobs as a result of the shift. Rather, it would entail a change in skill set towards what he claims would be more useful to the company.
Amazon’s spokesperson later clarified that his remarks don’t indicate layoffs or job cuts: “Matt articulated a vision for how AWS will continue to remove undifferentiated heavy lifting from the developer experience so that builders can focus more of their skill and energy on the most innovative work.”
While this doesn’t signal immediate job cuts, Amazon has already laid off 150 workers this year, according to Layoffs. fyi.
Summarize!
So, what’s the takeaway?
Now might be the time if you haven’t started learning AI yet. The job market is changing, and those who adapt will be the ones who thrive.
Co-founder and Chief growth officer