As AI reshapes how people work, particularly along the lowest rungs of the career ladder, many college students and entry-level workers are left wondering what skills will carry them furthest.
Two skills in particular are important to develop right now, if you ask Aparna Nair, IBM’s chief talent, leadership & culture officer.
Entry-level workers “have to be focused on ensuring that they are actually building critical thinking [and] judgment,” Nair tells CNBC Make It. “There are some things that are going to rapidly change, and some things that humans, only, can do today, which is where they need to double down.”
In an IBM survey of 1,500 chief human resources officers and 8,800 employees worldwide published in September, roughly 57% of CHROs considered critical thinking an important skill in the AI era, compared to 49% of employees. Approximately 48% of CHROs consider judgment under uncertainty and ambiguity an important skill, compared to just 29% of employees.
“Traditionally people were building judgment through actually doing the work,” Nair says. “Today, that piece of work is no longer there because AI is doing it.”
Instead, “actually validating the inputs of AI,” Nair says, “helps them build their judgment.”
Employers are placing a premium on discernment at work at the same time many employees report regressing in these skills. In IBM’s survey, 3 in 4 concerned employees said AI had already started eroding some of their skills, most often naming critical thinking, yet 57% of executives consider the skill vital for success.
People can build critical thinking and judgment skills through everything from thinking in another language and asking more questions to thinking a few steps ahead and learning from the decision-makers in your sphere.
To show these skills to prospective employers, you might write LinkedIn posts sharing your thoughts on an industry topic to show you’re thinking critically about the work, says Bonnie Dilber, senior manager of talent acquisition at Zapier. Or in an interview or take-home assessment, you might demonstrate critical thinking and judgment by explaining your thought process when deciding what to complete yourself and what to use AI for, and why, she adds.
AI can be useful to entry-level workers for some tasks, but “nobody should use AI for decision-making,” says Dilber, noting it could keep workers from developing foundational skills or building their expertise.
“People really just need to spend time building that knowledge and expertise and forming their own opinions and then turn to AI,” Dilber says. “Expertise is built by lots and lots of at-bats.”
Thinking critically and discerning quality are skills that will endure even as some technical skills become more or less in-demand, Nair adds, and that will help workers build their expertise.
“You just have to be in the mindset that you are continuously shaping and building new skills,” she says.