There’s no shortage of things to worry about when it comes to the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. When I talk to students about AI, by far the biggest concern is about whether the jobs that they’ve spent years of their lives preparing for will just be gone. For those of us who work n higher education, the fear cuts even deeper:
What if the labor market changes so drastically that even our most successful graduates can’t find fulfilling jobs—jobs that justify the cost of a degree?
The most optimistic students of AI assure us that the dire predictions of job disruption seldom came to pass. New technology disrupts some jobs jobs in the short-term, but long-term it creates more prosperity and more jobs that it eliminates. That may be reassuring to tech pundits and labor market economists, but it’s less so if it’s your job that’s being eliminated.
Evidence is building that the number of entry-level jobs is shrinking, and these are the jobs that we count on for our graduates to launch their careers. This recent synthesis (https://www.perplexity.ai/page/are-entry-level-jobs-disappear-7fcPoC.ySOCgRmOPJrp) outlines how automation and generative AI are reshaping work at the lowest rungs of the professional ladder. Jobs in content writing, research support, customer service, and project coordination—once reliable first steps for new graduates—are now being performed faster, cheaper, and often more reliably by AI systems.
And this shift isn’t happening in the distant future. It’s happening now.
We don’t know exactly how it will play out. But we do know this: it’s time to rethink how we help people find meaningful, sustainable work.
A Practical Framework for the Job Search in the Age of AI
Rather than chasing the latest AI buzzword or trying to master every new tool, I encourage students and early-career professionals to ground themselves in a simple, enduring framework—one that focuses not on technology itself, but on who you are, what you do well, and where your work can make a difference.
When I was working closely with new college graduates, I’d often hand them a pack of 125 blank index cards and a rubber band. Their first “job” in their career search was to complete those 125 cards with the name and address 25 organizations that paid people to do the kind of work that they wanted to do.
The “job target was a combination of a position and an industry. (In current terms, what I used to call a job or a position is now called a “role”.)
1. Role Title: What Kind of Work Energizes You?
Start with the kind of work you love doing—the stuff you’re good at and could see yourself growing into. Don’t start with “AI prompt engineer” or “machine learning scientist” unless you already know those fit your strengths.
Instead, think in functional terms:
– Teaching or training
– Solving problems
– Organizing logistics
– Communicating clearly
– Managing details
– Building relationships
These are role titles—sometimes called job functions. In 2025, a “communications specialist” might manage AI-driven workflows or write prompt templates. In olden times the role might have been copy writer or technical writer. But the core remains rooted in a human skill: clarity of message. You need to do enough research to be able to [ick five role titles that genuinely reflect your favorite skills.
2. Industry: Where Do You Want to Make an Impact?
Next, ask yourself: where do I want to make a difference?
Choose five industries or sectors that reflect your interests, values, or curiosity:
– Education
– Healthcare
– Environmental sustainability
– Public service
– Financial services
– Nonprofits and advocacy
– Media and entertainment
– Construction and infrastructure
Every one of these fields is wrestling with AI in different ways—from personalized learning and predictive diagnostics to automated planning tools and synthetic media. Pick five that you have enough interest in that you could see yourself working in that kind of organization for at least a few years.
3. Listing Your Job Targets: Where Role and Industry Meet
Here’s where things get concrete.
Take your five role titles and your five industries and begin combining them. That gives you 5 job “targets.” For each one, identify organizations where people might be doing that kind of work.
Use your research skills and creativity of identify specific organizations were people get paid to do the kinds of jobs you think you’d like to do. (The getting paid part is important. You may need to do some unpaid work to accomplish your goals, but that’s not the goal for most people.)
If you’re great at designing training materials and have an interest in the construction industry, look at safety consulting firms, union training centers, trade schools, or workforce development nonprofits that support the building trades. Each combination creates a new pathway to explore—not as an abstraction, but through real roles in real organizations.
Finding People Doing the Work You Want to Do
One of the hardest parts of the job search is finding people who are actually doing what you want to do.
Back in the 1980s, the go-to guide was What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles. His most powerful tool was something called the informational interview—a simple conversation with someone doing the kind of work you hope to do, not to ask for a job, but to learn from their experience.
In today’s language, the Design Your Life approach calls this a prototype conversation. The logic is the same: Don’t guess what a job is like. Go ask someone who knows. Once that you have the list of job targets and organizations, try to find some at least a few people that you can have a conversation with about what it’s like to actually do that kind of work.
Setting up prototype conversations is challenging, and deserves a post of its own. While you wait, try asking your favorite AI how to conduct an informational interview or prototype conversation. If it makes sense to you for your job search, give it a try.
Next Up: How to Use AI to Improve Your Career Planning and Job Search
I think this framework will work, even in a world that is being transformed by AI. AI can’t think critically about what skills you want to use or about where the best environments for using them. Before you bring in your AI assistant, use your research skills and creativity of identify specific organizations where people get paid to do the kinds of jobs you think you’d like to do. In the next session we’ll think about the ways that AI can help jump-start a job search.
