How AI Can Help Graduates Develop Their Own Job Opportunities
Advances in technology have caused many traditional job roles to become obsolete and replaced by machines. Job seekers today must compete against machines for the same jobs as other job seekers and with other job seekers themselves. The effects of this are most pronounced on new graduates who lack the professional experience necessary to demonstrate their worth to employers as effectively as their more experienced counterparts do. Reports suggest that unemployment among graduates is becoming a global crisis. There is a feeling of pressure among graduates to succeed, but there is AI related potential to relieve that pressure. Graduates unable to find employment can turn to the digital market, where graduates can find new opportunities as innovators and entrepreneurs.
The Potential Of AI For Employment
The use of technological tools capable of carrying out human actions, such as being able to learn, reason, solve issues, make choices, etc. refers to Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Technologies connected to A.I. are – Machine Learning, Processing of Natural Language and Human Speech, Computer Vision and Robotics. The perception of AI is that it can replace human workers. However, there is potential to do the exact opposite with the right mindset. AI can be employed to build new opportunities particularly for graduates who have the vision to do so.
AI presents unemployed graduates with numerous avenues to pursue. These include boosting entrepreneurial activities, streamlining freelance assignments, and service automation, as well as forming entirely novel professions. The focal point of these pathways is the knowledge of what AI can do and how this understanding is applied to shape future pursuits.
AI and Entrepreneurship
Facilitating entrepreneurship is one of the most significant ways unemployed graduates can AI in. Conventional business ventures demand significant investment, expertise, and workforce. With AI, however, these costs are greatly reduced. AI-powered tools for market research, for example, are inexpensive and assess consumer behavior, predict demand, and detect profitable gaps in the market. Graduates can then make use of platforms such as ChatGPT, Jasper AI, and Copy.ai for starting businesses at low costs, as they assist to create content, market, and engage in customer service.
Consider a graduate with an interest in eCommerce mainly. There are many functions that can be automated using AI including the inventory, sales forecasting, price optimization and customer service via chatbots. The same goes for graduates who have a background in creativity such as graphic design or writing. Through AI tools, graduates are able to increase their productivity and provide an AI powered service on a large scale without having to hire dozens of employees. Incorporating AI into entrepreneurship helps graduates bring their creative visions to life and establish a functioning business, leading to self-employment and even employer opportunities for others.
Freelancing and the Gig Economy
Thanks to AI, graduates are now able to capitalize on their skills with greater independence than ever before. The freelance and gig economy has had its fair share of AI innovations. For example, platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr, and Toptal have integrated AI for optimal freelancer-project matching, skill level assessments, and project suggestions. Graduates are better positioned to compete for freelance projects by using AI-powered tools that help with website and portfolio creation, resume writing, and skill enhancement.
Freelancers use a lot of different kinds of tools and programs that provide them with AI assistance (e.g. AI powered tools), which helps them be more efficient than they would be otherwise. One example is the growing number of AI writing software, which generates all text, including blog posts and marketing copy very quickly in a professional way. Another example is automated coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot) that help software developers write code much faster than they could write it alone. There is also an increasing amount of graphic design tools that allow graphic designers to enhance their image quality and design quality using AI technology. Overall, the adoption of AI technology allows these workers to contribute more to the economy while working from non-employment-based opportunities.
Skills Training and AI Learning
One of the most significant challenges graduates face when seeking employment after graduation is the gap between their education and the skills needed for available jobs. AI has the potential to solve this problem by providing efficient frameworks for graduates to acquire the skills needed for jobs. Graduates seeking to enhance their skills are able to effectively do so thanks to AI powered systems found on platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning that tailor the content of their courses to the background of the user, their career ambitions, and the overall market demand. Adaptive Learning methods also help ensure graduates dedicate their time and effort to skills that are in demand, meaning they will be able to acquire these skills faster.
Moreover, AI-based simulators and virtual labs provide graduates with the opportunity to gain hands-on learning experience in the various fields of data science, robotics, healthcare, and engineering. The reliance on virtual environments has reduced the need for expensive equipment and formal internships. Graduates transitioning to new environments gain a higher level of employability and the ability to start and deliver specialized service products independently as independent contractors focused in a market area within a niche (e.g., AI Consulting, Digital Marketing, or Data Analysis).
Disruption from AI has extended into industries previously assumed immune to the disruptive effect of automation, including the creative fields. For graduate learners interested in music, art, writing, or media, AI provides unique tools that help in facilitating the automation of content. With AI music composition, digital art generation, video editing, and other creative tools, one can automate the tedious processes of producing quality art without high levels of technical ability. A graduate can establish a content creation studio that leverages AI tools to provide customized graphics, music, and videos to clients.
Also, AI allows experimentation with new products and services. Graduates can create AI-powered applications or tools for digital applications like language translators, health monitoring tools, and personalized learning programs. Graduates have the opportunity to design and develop Artificial Intelligence powered software applications or tools that can be utilised for various digital applications, including but not limited to: digital translation services, health monitoring applications, and personalised learning solutions. Graduates have the ability to turn their ideas and creativity into successful and sustainable businesses to fill existing voids in the targeted market.
Using AI for consulting and advisory services.
Moreover, graduates can use AI to provide consultancy services in certain areas. For example, with AI analytical tools, one can provide the business world with data-driven insights in Marketing, Finance, or Operations. Also, with AI-assisted project management tools, graduates can provide services in Streamlining workflows, Automation of processes, or Strategic Planning. Combining expertise in the field with AI tools enables unemployed graduates to become consultants in the growing SME business sector that doesn’t have the resources for large scale AI.
Community and Collaborative Platforms
Artificial intelligence does not operate on its own but works within a community of multiple source systems. Such a community can consist of graduates looking for partners, mentors, and clients, and investors and innovators looking for new projects. With the help of AI community-building tools and marketing strategies, unemployed graduates can test advanced entrepreneurial projects within the network, for example. Obtaining funding from outside partners can make it easier for them to grow.
Conclusion
Freeman’s challenge is the complexity of graduate unemployment. AI has the phenomenal potential to catalyze entrepreneurial activity and help graduates to actively shape their working environment. AI promotes the creation of self-employment, the ability for freelance work, skills augmentation, the development of innovations, and the provision of consultancy services. The optimum solution is to abandon the perception of AI as a technological threat and embrace the phenomenon as a business partner, increasing creativity, effectiveness, and the ability to innovate.
A recent graduate willing to learn, pivot, and try new things will find that the AI revolution provides an opportunity to be self-employed and economically self-reliant. AI transforms the self-employment landscape: rather than looking for jobs, one can simply create jobs. Unemployment (if it exists) becomes a temporary condition rather than a defining feature. As new AI technologies are released, the self-employed graduates who are able to leverage these technologies will be the ones expanding, creating and redefining the competitive landscape. They will be the ones defining the future.
