EP 562: How Will New Grads Get a Job with AI? What You Need to Know

Topics Covered in This Episode:

1. AI's Impact on Graduate Unemployment
2. University AI Skills Gap
3. Corporate AI Quiet Firing Trend
4. Future Workforce and AI Integration
5. Structural Collapse in Entry-Level Hiring
6. Greedy Fortune 500 CEO Practices
7. Transformation in Knowledge Work
8. Parental Actions for AI Education

Keywords:

AI unemployment, recent grads, Oxford Economics study, AI skills, universities banning AI, quiet firing, entry-level job crisis, structural shift, tech sector, workforce future, economic wheel, AI job displacement, societal shift, business leaders, recent college graduates, job placement rate, higher education, greedy CEOs, job prospects, new jobs creation, AI literacy, knowledge commoditization, generalist skills, private companies, public company playbook, baby boomer exit, silver tsunami, IP unlearning, micro credentialing, AI policy, employment prospects, Federal Reserve, slowing economy, accelerating inflation, job search shifting, higher education failure, educational leaders, business professionals, actionable information, thrive in job market, company growth, generative AI for growth, zig-zag opportunity, commoditized knowledge work, AI collaboration, recent grad card, parents' role in AI education, technological innovation, highest institutional knowledge, AI-enabled hardware, structural collapse, unemployment rate, job crisis survival.

Podcast Transcript

Jordan Wilson [00:00:17]:
A new study from Oxford Economics shows that recent grads are facing an all time high rate of unemployment due to AI. This is multifactorial. One, obviously students aren't learning the necessary AI school, the necessary AI skills from, universities that have kind of been blanket banning AI in many cases for years, and employers are kind of doing this quiet firing of employees when it comes to AI. Or in other words, they're just letting employees retire or laying them off and then not hiring new employees. It's a way for companies to kind of come out as the nice guy in this whole, AI versus jobs scenario. So on today's show, we're gonna go over how will new grads get a job with AI and what you need to know whether you're an employer, a business leader, a parent, or a student. I do think today's show may end up being one of the more important ones that you listen to. So I highly encourage you not just to listen to today's show because it's extremely important, But to share it with those, that are special in your life, your loved ones, this one's gonna be an important conversation to have.

Jordan Wilson [00:01:52]:
Alright. Let's get to it. What's going on y'all? My name is Jordan Wilson, and welcome to Everyday AI. This is your daily livestream podcast and free daily news that are helping everyday business leaders like you and me not just learn what's happening in the world of AI, but how we can leverage all this information to grow our companies and careers. If that's what you're doing, you're in the right place. It starts here with the unedited, unscripted, realist thing in artificial intelligence, this very podcast and livestream. But if you actually wanna take it to the next step and be the smartest person in AI at your company, our news or sorry. Our website and our newsletter is the cheat code for that.

Jordan Wilson [00:02:24]:
Go sign up at youreverydayai.com. And on our website, you will see more than 550 plus back episodes all sorted by categories. So no matter what you're trying to learn, I've already stolen the secrets of the world's smartest people in AI, So go find them there and listen to them. Alright. If you're looking for the AI news, we're gonna have that in the newsletter, but let's get straight to it. So how will new grads get a job with AI? This is something I've obviously been talking about for years on the Everyday AI Show, and one thing I try to do is I try to not sugarcoat anything. I try to bring receipts. This is one of those I'm going to do both of those things in today's show.

Jordan Wilson [00:03:06]:
But I'm also gonna give, I think, actionable and practical information, whether you're a parent, a student, a business leader, a business owner on how we need to deal with this. Not just the fact that, you know, students and recent grads can't get jobs because of AI, but the larger picture on what the future workforce needs to look like and what we all need to collectively do to make sure that this kind of economic wheel keeps turning. So on today's show, I'm gonna talk about why new grads are facing an unprecedented job crisis, how the coal and give you the cold hard data proving AI is displacing entry level work. We're gonna tell you the real culprits behind this massive societal shift. And you may not like it because you may be part of the problem and exactly what you need to do to survive and thrive. Whether you're a business leader, parents or student. Alright. Hot Take Tuesday, y'all.

Jordan Wilson [00:04:09]:
Feeling a little spicy. Live stream audience, it's good to see you. If you have questions, if you have comments, I'd love to hear from you. Sometimes I don't know if I'm just a weird guy on an island that pays too much attention to AI or if you share these feelings. But, hey, big bogey. Good to see you on the YouTube machine. Brian and Dennis Jordan from, LinkedIn. Great to see you.

Jordan Wilson [00:04:32]:
Gavin and Charles. Who else we got? Anna, Cecilia, good to see everyone. Jose joining from Santiago. What are your thoughts on this? And let me know. How hot should I make this? It's up to you. What should should I take it easy? Maybe just drop one flame emoji. Do I actually need to burn it down? Throw four flame emojis. I'm gonna take a sip on my hot coffee and give you all a second livestream audience to decide the fate of the rest of the show.

Jordan Wilson [00:05:04]:
I've obviously got some very hot takes, but maybe I shouldn't go off the rails. Maybe I shouldn't burn it down. Maybe I need to keep that bridge, intact so we can all, you know, drive over it. Alright. Kyle gave five flame emojis. Kyle, I'm not even sure how to deal with that. Gavin says as hot as it can be. Alright.

Jordan Wilson [00:05:28]:
Let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. So, it started with this. So this was a recent study, from Oxford Economics. We actually shared about it many weeks ago in our newsletter, but for whatever reason, this study just started getting picked up in the mainstream media, more than a month after it came out. Yet, I'm gonna read this is from directly from the Oxford Economics study. So I'm gonna read, kind of the top level bullet point summary directly from the study. So this is, kind of the subhead of this is called educated but unemployed, a rising reality for college grads.

Jordan Wilson [00:06:09]:
So it says, and I'm quoting directly from the, bullet point study here, higher unemployment among recent college graduates is a primary function of a structural shift in hiring in the tech sector amid strong labor supply growth. While some of it is related to a normalization after the post pandemic surge, there are signs that entry level positions are being displaced by artificial intelligence at higher rates. Since the mid twenty twenty three, 85% of the rise in unemployment rate is concentrated in new market entrants who can't find work. And despite uncertain, employment prospects, recent college graduates remain undeterred as labor force participation rates haven't noticeably declined. This will keep unemployment higher and demand and supply are better until demand and supply are better aligned. Under employment rates for college graduates and employment in positions that don't require a college grad college degree remain steady, signaling that graduates aren't shifting their job searches. Although permanent layoffs for this cohort have arisen, they remain relatively low and in line with the broader labor market, which remains healthy. Higher recent college, graduate unemployment will add to the Federal Reserve's concerns of a slowing economy, weakening labor market, and accelerating inflation.

Jordan Wilson [00:07:30]:
However, it doesn't warrant a change to our forecast for rates to remain on hold until December. Alright. So we'll have the whole study, in linked in today's newsletter. It's actually kinda hard to find. So, if you want that, we will make sure to link it for you. Hey. Big Bogey said keep it cool. Alright? You know what? I'm gonna do medium high.

Jordan Wilson [00:08:05]:
I'm gonna do medium high on this one. I think if I go full heat, this might turn into one of those like forty minute podcasts where I promise you all I'll do it in like twenty minutes and then it's double. So I'm gonna try to keep this succinct, but I'm gonna bring the heat. But here's my hot take takeaways. Alright? College grads are largely screwed. So, yes, unemployment has hit 6% and it's climbing. Tech hiring has all but collapsed. It's down 40, at the height of the pandemic.

Jordan Wilson [00:08:40]:
Yes. There was over hiring, but it's down 40%. And I think this is obviously going to seep into other industries. New jobs are going to be created, and we've already started to see some studies, and I have more stats on this. New jobs are being created and hired for at a much lower rate than year over year averages, and this is not temporary. This is the new norm. So, since 2023, like we just saw in that Oxford study, national unemployment rose by point six points, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually, hundreds of thousands of jobs. But 85% of that uptick in overall unemployment comes from fresh grads entering the job market for the first time and finding absolutely nothing.

Jordan Wilson [00:09:28]:
These aren't layoffs. This is just a structural collapse of entry level hiring. In many US degrees, sorry, are becoming overpriced participation trophies. I hate saying that I obviously have family and friends who are recent grads. That's the reality. I have hotter takes. I'll share them now, I guess. I don't wanna put my predictions out there, but I honestly think in, I don't know, fifteen to twenty years, if you have a, a newborn now, I don't think at least here in The US, I don't think colleges and universities are going to mean or even look like what they do today.

Jordan Wilson [00:10:25]:
I think many of them are going to go belly up, right? Yes. Many higher, higher education systems are that have been around for a hundred, hundred and fifty years, they're gonna go bye bye. That's not even a hot take if you think about it. Right? What do higher places of higher education, what's their number one thing they always promote? Job placement rate. Right? It's job placement rate and being a top x university, you know, in the country or, you know, a top 10 engineering school in the Midwest. Right? You talk about your top blank, ranking, and then you talk about your, placement rate. Right? Oh, ninety five percent of our grads get a job. Guess what? Guess what's gonna happen? Because universities have been largely inapt, for the last three to four years since the generative AI wave came.

Jordan Wilson [00:11:23]:
Right. They stood on shore as a freaking tsunami was coming, cover their eyes and said, this doesn't exist. Yeah. Grads aren't finding jobs. And the problem is twofold. Yes. But part of that plane is because of leadership at colleges and universities in The U S who I think are self serving, which puts their students at a disservice. College costs are rising.

Jordan Wilson [00:12:00]:
They are out of control. And I'm sorry. What most students are getting right now is an overpriced participation, participation trophy. They're getting a piece of paper that prospective employers are looking at and saying, this holds no value. You know, they're gonna say, hey, tell me about your AI experience. Oh, well, you know, I use ChatGPT to write all my papers, but for the most part, we didn't have many AI educational opportunities at my university. Useless. Colleges and universities at large are becoming useless.

Jordan Wilson [00:12:41]:
I'm not saying that educators aren't trying. I know they are. I've talked with many of them, both on the show and off the show. Many people in education understand that this is a huge problem, But at least in The US, higher education is, I don't know, whatever's older and slower than a dinosaur. Is anything older and slower than a dinosaur? If so, that is what, for the most part, the higher education system in The US is. It takes sometimes, years to get the smallest changes approved officially, throughout the university. That's why universities are going to die. Not all of them.

Jordan Wilson [00:13:25]:
Many of them bookmark this. Right? I don't know if we'll still have the everyday AI show in ten to fifteen years. You know, I might literally break down by then by doing this every single day. Right? We're on episode 10,000. But you're you're you're not gonna have the same number of colleges and universities, in fifteen years as you have today. It is quite literally not possible because what's gonna happen is these colleges and universities that from, you know, 2022 to 2024, most colleges and universities banned AI. Many of them still do. Studies say that still up to, you know, 15 to 20% of colleges and universities in The US still have a ban on AI because they don't know how to adapt.

Jordan Wilson [00:14:17]:
They are being self serving. They are saying, hey, if we open this up to AI, this makes our offering kind of useless. Yeah. Doctor Janet says food for thought in a new rally cry. Ruth says, I am one, a higher education professional, and we are in trouble. Yeah. If you do have any thoughts on this, please chime in. Ruth also saying it's a future that Luddites in higher ed will face.

Jordan Wilson [00:14:48]:
The smart institutions will bite the budget bullet, shift to micro credentialing and build the fluency. Yeah. I think you've already started to see that a little bit, but that's a great, that's a great point there, Ruth. So who's to blame? I already started placing some of the blame, but I think that educational leaders and when I say leaders, these aren't the, the individuals that are pushing for AI literacy. I'd say your average teacher professor department head knows this. It is those in charge that are still as innovation and education are changing by the hour. The decision makers at these large institutions are just putting up more red tape. You need to be cutting the red tape down and allowing for innovation in the education system, but it is still these self serving negligent intellectually bankrupt educational leaders that are to blame.

Jordan Wilson [00:15:55]:
I'm sorry. I don't care if you are the university president, a chancellor, and you were one of those ones in 2022, 2023, 2024, That was banning AI in the classroom. Now you have millions of recent grads, both this year and next that aren't going to be able to get a job because of your negligence. Because you thought that you knew better. You didn't want to educate yourself as the leader of an educational system. You don't deserve a job. You should be the one in the unemployment line, not the recent grad that wanted AI education. That's paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to get AI education.

Jordan Wilson [00:16:48]:
And you maybe give them one course, right? You toss them a little bone. Here you go. You know, so we can say we, we, we teach AI. No, you should be the one in the unemployment line. And then who else is to blame? Well, this one's easy. This is the greedy, socially irresponsible fortune 500 CEOs who care more about their shareholder interest than human interest. I'm calling a spade a spade today, y'all. That's who's to blame.

Jordan Wilson [00:17:28]:
Both self serving putting their own interests or shareholder interest or board of director interests before the people that they're trying to serve. Yes. I understand. I understand capitalism. I understand economics. You need profit, but you can't put profit over people because without the people, there is no profit. Yes. I know that sounds rich coming from the, you know, random AI podcast dude who talks about multi agentic swarms, but I'm not one.

Jordan Wilson [00:18:06]:
I don't want humans to lose their jobs, but that is the reality. But I also think the concept of full time employment is changing. So, as I sip on my coffee, I don't want to say I told you so, but I think it's important for me to tell you that I told you so. So then when I give you advice toward the end of today's show, hopefully you'll listen. Maybe you heard me or other people talking about this and forecasting and projecting how this intersection, the intersection between corporate greed and higher education's negligence was going to hurt the next generation. Maybe you, maybe it fell on deaf ears. Maybe you decided to ignore it and willfully go on your way in your own self serving interests. Right.

Jordan Wilson [00:19:09]:
But I've been warning you for years. This is going to happen. This shouldn't come as a surprise. This is math. One plus one equals two, or I don't know what you do in the common core stuff now. I don't know. Does one plus one still equal two, but y'all I've been telling you episode 74 on this very podcast, which is like a million years ago. It was more than two years ago.

Jordan Wilson [00:19:32]:
Go listen to it. Right? I bring receipts y'all. I always bring receipts. Episode 74, more than two years ago. Here's what I said. I said, if universities ban or ignore AI in education, you're hurting students' jobs prospects. Employers will expect real world AI experience. AI literacy is now this is two years ago, more than two years ago, is now an in demand job skill.

Jordan Wilson [00:19:58]:
Not teaching this is a disservice to students. Right? During the time, everyone was talking about AI detection tools. I told you all they are worthless. They are. So if your institution is still using them, you need to be fired if you were the one that came to that conclusion. And many institutions hope that ignoring AI will either make it go away or they can treat it as a passing fad. Both of those are naive approaches. Another episode, couple weeks later, episode 88, tackling some of the myths on how universities were handling AI in the classroom.

Jordan Wilson [00:20:34]:
I said assigning handwriting, sorry, handwritten or in class work only. Right? They're like, oh, here's how we'll do it. I said that's just a temporary delay from using AI. That's not a real solution. Right? Trying to go back to like pre digital work, not a solution. Refusing to teach generative AI means students graduate with zero skills employers actually want. Oh, go, woah. Now look at that.

Jordan Wilson [00:20:58]:
Students can't find jobs because you refuse to teach them AI. I said at the time, more than two years ago, university, bureaucracy is too slow to keep up with how fast AI evolves. Curriculum is always outdated. And then I said, parents should worry if their kids school isn't teaching AI. Those students won't get decent jobs. Right? And even those AI enthusiasts, you know, people that read the newsletter. I remember when I said this people like people reach out and they're like, no, Jordan, you're wrong. Guess what? I'm not.

Jordan Wilson [00:21:32]:
I don't want to be that guy. If I come with a hot take, It's probably because I've been thinking about it for years. I've been researching it for years. My background is in investigative journalism. Right. I talk to the smartest people in the world. I am able to connect all these dots. When I come to you with something like this, it's not a hunch, but I'm also not predicting the future.

Jordan Wilson [00:21:57]:
Right? I am lining together facts, stats, and anecdotes over the course of sometimes hundreds of hours of research and conversation. And this is not going to get better because this is a lagging, a lagging effect here. Right? So a very easy way to think about this without getting too morbid is if you think of, COVID. Right? So when people first got COVID, there was, you know, a two or three week, delay until they kinda got sick and went to the hospital. Then unfortunately, many people passed away, and sometimes that was many weeks or months later. So you didn't really see the impact of something like COVID, and it came in waves months later. And the same parallel, I think, can be drawn with what's happening now in the higher education and specifically in the employment situation. It's taking years to play out, and we're just now over the past couple of months, starting to see the ugly sour fruits of our labor from 2022 to 2024.

Jordan Wilson [00:23:11]:
When we decided, oh, we're going to ignore AI in college. But yet on the employment side, we flipped a switch. I'd say we flipped a switch in 2024. Right? In 2022 and 2023, it was still kind of taboo, to to use generative AI, at least company wide. Now it's a fricking requirement right before it was like a sneaky cheat code. Now it's oxygen. If your entire organization isn't using AI, you are as screwed as the students right now who can't find a job. So what happens when those two very opposite forces collide? Right? It's been years of doing a disservice to students.

Jordan Wilson [00:23:59]:
It's been years of organizations trying to figure out this AI thing. Now that organizations have either figured it out, they're like, oh, wow. We don't need as many humans. Or they're like, Hey, the humans that we do need, they need to know everything about AI. It's nowhere to be found. Some more facts you need to know. Receipts y'all. So, some of these studies that are in 2024, you know, a lot of these studies only get updated once or twice a year.

Jordan Wilson [00:24:32]:
So even though I'm saying 2024 studies in which I know can, be archaic, I'm trying to find the most up to date stats and facts. Okay? So only 9% of chief technology officers believe that higher education is prepared to handle AI's rise. And if I'm honest, I'm really curious about that 9% that thinks higher education is prepared to do it. I don't know. Maybe some of those CTOs, were also, I don't know, professors at night. I don't know. I would love to talk to those 9% that even a year ago thought that higher education was prepared, to handle, the workforce's AI's demands. It's not.

Jordan Wilson [00:25:18]:
Seventy seventy to 80% of institutions lack comprehensive AI policies of any kind. 70 to 80% don't have AI policies, which means that 81% of college presidents, in this higher ed 2024 survey reported their institutions had not published any policy governing AIU stuff. If I'm being honest, it takes ten minutes. Get your decision makers in a room, come up right in may your your first iteration on AI governance may stink, but there's so many great resources out there. This isn't something that you can, afford yourself, a couple of semesters or a couple of years to figure out how to govern AI. You need to do it yesterday. You need to actually do it a couple of years ago. Also, only 14% of faculty are confident in their ability to use AI in teaching.

Jordan Wilson [00:26:15]:
And, also, 78% of faculty believe their institution hasn't provided sufficient AI literacy resources. What's that mean? The writing's on the wall, y'all. Higher education has been trying to ignore or brush aside AI, specifically generative AI and large language models. And guess what? A lot of students, there was a viral clip. I don't know if anyone saw this. I think it was at UCLA, Live stream, buddy, let me know if anyone saw this. They were showing some recent grads at UCLA, you know, in in the jumbotron in a big arena. They zoomed in on one student that had their laptop up.

Jordan Wilson [00:27:02]:
I think maybe the cameraman, you know, saw, oh, it's their final project or something. You know? Cutesy moment. Let's put it on the big screen. Right? As soon as he gets on the big screen, he zooms over to a new window showing that he wrote the whole thing in chat g p t. Right? And then the student is, you know, kind of given props and given thumbs up to chat GPT for doing his homework. Right? Every single student is doing that. Right? Higher education hasn't changed. Students are just blindly using AI and not very good.

Jordan Wilson [00:27:36]:
If I'm being honest, a lot of the ways that I see students use AI, it's pretty slop. We have a huge problem and we've only begun to realize the repercussions of our actions. Cool, Jordan. Way to paint a bleak picture. So what do we do about it? Let's talk about it. I think about this a lot. Right? And so this doesn't turn into another thirty minutes. I would highly encourage you if you haven't already, go listen to our twenty twenty five AI predictions and roadmap series.

Jordan Wilson [00:28:23]:
It's on our website. It's free. Go listen to it. It's episodes four forty three to four forty seven. I talk about this different aspects of this a lot. Also, I was thinking about doing, like, a midterm update on these, because not shockingly, a lot of these predictions and road map items already came true, even though a lot of them were wild projections at the time. So I don't know. If if if if you wanna see, updates to those shows, just I don't know.

Jordan Wilson [00:28:59]:
Say say midterms in the comments or email me midterms or just, you know, email me and let me know. So check out your show notes. If you're listening on the podcast, always put my email, my social media, send me a DM. Just say midterms. I'm just curious if people if you want a midterm update on that. Spent dozens of hours putting those shows together, and, I still reference them a lot. Anyways, I talk a lot more about what business leaders can do, but I wanna boil it down here. Okay? If you're an employer, here's what you need to do.

Jordan Wilson [00:29:31]:
Again, there's a problem and it's much larger than this Oxford study, the, you know, the study that we started with from Oxford economic that shows recent grads are facing an all time high level of unemployment. This is about much more than that. That is the very tip of the tip of the iceberg of a much larger societal problem that we have going on here. Employers, here's what you need to do. Non public companies. If you are the leader or in leadership of a private company, do not follow the playbook of a public company because what public companies are doing, right, they have to answer to shareholders. They have to say the word, you know, multi agentic AI swarms on their earnings calls 50 times so their stock doesn't tank. Don't follow public companies' playbooks if you are a private company.

Jordan Wilson [00:30:29]:
Because for the most part, what public companies have been doing for the past, couple of quarters and will continue to do through 2026 is chop employee headcount. They're chopping employee headcount and they're not hiring new grads. Don't follow that playbook because there is room for Zig while everyone else zags. Public companies have different pressures. If you are in leadership at a private company, I want you to think about growth using generative AI for growth. When everyone else y'all what better time in the world is there? You have tens of thousands of people highly educated, highly experienced that worked in big tech companies that have an unimaginable amount of skill and expertise. And many of these people, yes, they're gonna start their own companies or they're gonna hold off for another job in big tech. Sure.

Jordan Wilson [00:31:32]:
But there is a wave of people who are highly employable, who want a job. Right? Whether it's for, you know, financial purposes, health insurance, or just people who just want a meaningful career still. You, leader at a private company, have an unprecedented talent pool to choose from. You can zig, well, everyone else zags. I don't know over the past year if there's ever been a time in recent history. I mean, you could probably go back and make an argument, you know, kind of the, the .com bubble bust, but definitely not since then has there ever been, this kind of influx in availability of just insanely talented people looking for work. And also the baby boomer exit is coming, the silver tsunami. Right.

Jordan Wilson [00:32:29]:
You have millions of baby boomers with decades of institutional knowledge, decades of irreplaceable domain specific expertise that are walking out the door. Companies, you need to hire more people and you need to start collecting. I say, you need to mine unstructured data. You need to start collecting all of that unique IP, but you need to unlearn. Actually, you need to unlearn. I hate the term upskill, reskill, skill, skill, share, blah, barf, gross, vomit, yuck. Stop doing that. You need to unlearn in the unlearning process, especially for billion dollar companies.

Jordan Wilson [00:33:17]:
I consult with them all the time. They hire me to help them unlearn, old processes and start from scratch using generative AI. That's what we do, and I'm not doing this whole podcast thing. Right? You need to unlearn your company's IP. You need to unlearn what your company's, unique sale, unique selling proposition is, and you need to unlearn your company's SOPs. You need to start over and you know what could really help? Fresh grads hungry for jobs, recently laid off, experienced people in big tech, in big companies who are hungry to put their expertise at work. You can grow now. Don't just follow the playbook of companies who are investing billions in billions of dollars in AI yet laying off hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of employees.

Jordan Wilson [00:34:12]:
That doesn't mean that's the only way for it to be done. They're listening to other outside sources. All right. So that's what you need to do if you're a employer. For everyday business professionals need to realize knowledge work is already commoditized and it's only going to become commoditized more and the market is going to continue to figure that out. So here's what you need to do. You need to never stop putting new AI solutions into practice. I think a lot of busy everyday professionals like you and me, you find some nice gains from using AI, from using chat, GPT, Gemini, Cloud, Copilot, whatever, and you stop there.

Jordan Wilson [00:34:51]:
Guess what? AI development doesn't stop every day. Those four big names that I just talked about, right? Chat GBT, Microsoft co pilot, Claude in Google Gemini, every single day, they are dropping new ways that change old work. You can't stop just because you're finding, some efficiencies in your day to day role. You can't stop. Also, you need to get rid of that specialist, you know, or, or SME. Right? The the the subject matter expert. You need to get rid of that mentality even if that's been you for decades. Right? Specialists, If I'm being honest, it's not a bright future and that's okay.

Jordan Wilson [00:35:45]:
You need to learn generalist skills, specifically generalist AI skills. The easiest way I can, right, illustrate this is through my own experience. Right? I was a reporter, then I was in, you know, marketing and comms. And I've kinda been in different, you know, MarTech, comms roles for twenty five years full time. Right? I would say my overall background is in writing and strategy. Right. And probably interviewing and talking to people, I guess. Right.

Jordan Wilson [00:36:26]:
I can't just use AI to deepen those skills. I need to use AI in morph my subject matter expertise into generalist applications, right? Because what's happening. Those people who are making themselves more employable are leveraging AI to turn their domain expertise, to turn their specialist skills and to give it general adaptability. Right? People like myself, right? Let's just say, if you were a, a, a writer, a marketer, you're doing a lot more things now. Right? Whereas maybe ten years, maybe you were just literally just writing all day. You know, I don't know, creating content outlines. Now you're turning that and creating videos with it. You're creating presentations.

Jordan Wilson [00:37:20]:
You're creating, multimedia experiences. You're infusing AI into all of these things. AI allows specialists to do so much more. So you have to start thinking outside of your role, which can be hard. Right? Because you might be like, alright, Jordan. Well, my role hasn't changed yet. Okay. Well, then you need to change it.

Jordan Wilson [00:37:43]:
You need to be pushing into new areas because if you aren't, your competitors are. For parents, alright, I'm trying to hit everyone here. What do we do? Like I said, I think this is one of the more important episodes that that we can all, listen to. Parents, You need to demand that your child's school AI policy, you need to get it in writing. And if they don't have it, or if that school isn't actively teaching AI or still bans it in any way, don't walk run. That might sound harsh. Right? I'm saying even at the high school level, but especially at the university level, you need to have a serious conversation with your kid. Are you getting a valuable education that's infused with AI or are we spending tens of thousands of dollars? And it's not about the money it's about the experience or are we wasting it away on an overpriced participation trophy? Because if your day to if your child's day to day learning experience, right, especially high school, college, post grad is not infused with AI.

Jordan Wilson [00:38:57]:
I think it's time wasted and you need to have a serious conversation if that's the right place for your child. And also know that AI education just isn't in the classroom. So, a lot of successful executives I'm talking about, I've talked to C suite people at fortune 500 companies on this show and outside of the show. What's wild is they say, yeah, we've been building AI. We've been investing millions of dollars in AI for years, but a lot of people, a switch flips for them. And I think this can help students and young people as well. When they start to see the value of it outside of the classroom or outside of work, You need to make AI hit home. Right? If you have it already, you need to start to learn to use the best way of the the the best that AI has to offer in the home.

Jordan Wilson [00:39:52]:
If you have younger kids, sorry, you need to rethink what higher education looks like, what it even means. Yeah. I came with an extra spicy take. I said in fifteen years, I think there's gonna be, way fewer universities. I think, institutional, names that have been around for a hundred, hundred and fifty years, they're gonna be gone. Period. There's literally no other way around it. If you continue to push away AI and they're gonna see those job placement rates go down, which makes the marketability of the university go down, which makes enrollment go down, state funding is going down, federal funding is going down.

Jordan Wilson [00:40:32]:
They're going to eventually, many of them go out of business. So you need to rethink what that looks like. You need to start identifying now universities that are doing this right. Also at home parents build companies with your kids, build apps with your kids, build AI enabled hardware together. Right? I do think it might seem a little weird now. I think that's going to be as commonplace as reading a book to your child, right? As Lincoln logs, as an Etch A Sketch, building things together with AI is going to be the cultural norm here in a couple of years. Don't wait. You're listening to this podcast.

Jordan Wilson [00:41:18]:
So you should innovate. Last but not least students in recent grads. I'm sorry. Your university has failed you. It's not too late. Alright? If you are a recent grad, use that recent grad card. It's gonna expire. What does that mean? So I was, you know, shout out actually to DePaul University.

Jordan Wilson [00:41:46]:
I think I saw Jackie here in the comments. They invited me to a panel, a a a a couple of months ago. I was also lucky enough to be able to teach, an AI course there at DePaul, one of the nation's, largest private universities. Fantastic, fantastic experience. But, at this panel, I was talking to a group of students afterwards. Right? And many of them were in their last semester. And, you know, a little group of them, you you know, I could tell that they were all buddies. You you know, they kind of gathered around me.

Jordan Wilson [00:42:17]:
And they said, you know, hey, what should we be doing right now? You you know, and they were asking about tools. Right? They're like, hey, what you know, how should we be using ChatGPT? What do you think, you know, cursor versus Bolt? You know, you know, all these technical things. And what I said, and not only that is is they were also asking about the best AI platforms to help them apply to more jobs because they're like, hey. It's hard for internships. It's hard for jobs even though they were learning, you know, AI in the classroom and, you know, going out of their way outside of school hours to listen to, a panel. Right? I think this was, pretty cool. I was able to do a little keynote, with Logan Kilpatrick from Google. I think it was a really cool conversation.

Jordan Wilson [00:43:07]:
But, you you know, they were like, hey. What AI tools can we use to apply to more jobs? So students in recent grads don't think like that. Right? That's also a huge problem. You need to go meet humans. You need to solve business leaders' problems preferably with AI. All right. You need to go out in the real world, punch grass, shake hands, right? But use the recent grad card before it expires. What that means.

Jordan Wilson [00:43:35]:
I get people still reach out to me and say, Hey, I'm a recent grad. Could I ask you questions about a, b, and c? And I'll always say, absolutely. I'm sorry if I get the same from a mid career professional. I can't. Right? Maybe that's something about me. I really care about the next generation. But if if someone's a student, a recent grad, y'all you could reach out to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, say, hey. I'm a recent student.

Jordan Wilson [00:44:03]:
You you know, do your research. I saw, you know, early in your career, you did a, b, and c. I'd love to ask ask you x, y, z if you had fifteen minutes. I'd really appreciate it. Most mid career business professionals can't do that. You have this powerful, the the the this powerful, you know, Trump card that is going to expire. Use that thing, recent grads. Obviously, you need to build.

Jordan Wilson [00:44:32]:
You need to build. Instead of spending hours using AI to apply to, you know, 85,000 jobs a day, build something with AI every day. Solve one of your problems. Go talk to, busy professionals. Use AI tools to see what people are talking about on Quora, Reddit, social media, etcetera. Build a solution for someone. Okay? If you are still in school for students, here's what you need to do. Demand more from your educational institution.

Jordan Wilson [00:45:05]:
Let me say this. If your school still bans AI, you should probably think about transfer. Talk to your parents about it, but you should. Do, do your due diligence though, and make sure that you find a better landing spot, even if you're going into your senior year. And if you haven't learned a single thing about AI, I don't know. I might even think about still transferring or, you know, maybe taking fewer classes, this upcoming year, in in finishing your degree off somewhere else where it's not just a overpriced participation trophy. I think that employers are going to quickly learn the universities that are properly teaching AI. We don't have it figured out yet, but, if if I'm being honest, students, it's a very tough time right now.

Jordan Wilson [00:45:56]:
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. But you need to demand more from your educational institution and what you can do. If if transferring isn't in the cards, I get that, but start an AI club. Right? Should be pretty easy. Integrate in integrate AI into your current, RSOs and your current registered student organizations. Employers wanna see that. Right? If if if your university doesn't offer a an an all encompassing AI curriculum, build something, start an AI club, do your, a a cursor club, you know, a chat GPT club, like whatever. Go start something.

Jordan Wilson [00:46:36]:
Because I also think that's the future of full time employment is just people starting. You know, it's you're you're probably gonna have multiple, businesses that most people own because I think overall, in the long run, the price of professional services go down. But you need to be building, You need to be using, you need to be creating and you need to be solving problems. All right. I hope this is helpful. Y'all. It's it's tough. Right? And I understand it's easy for me to sit here and to point fingers, but someone needs to do this, right? If we don't start calling out, right.

Jordan Wilson [00:47:23]:
People in positions of power at educational, systems, if we don't start calling out, you know, corporate greed, you know, and people just cutting thousands of jobs. If we don't do that, this problem's gonna get worse. I don't wanna be having this same podcast episode in five years when we see, you know, oh, the, you know, unemployment go from, you know, 6% to 9% or, you know, college placement rates go from the nineties to the fifties. I don't wanna do that, but we all have to collectively do our part to change the current conversation because where it's going right now, it's not a good place, but it's on you to do something about it. So if this was helpful, I know it's a longer one, please, repost this, share this with, your team. Share this. Go listen to this again with your family. I know sometimes we go a little bit off the rails, a little bit crazy, a little bit off track, but, y'all, I'm bringing the receipts, the facts, and the stats and trends.

Jordan Wilson [00:48:28]:
Do your own research, but talk about it. I think this is so important for all of us. So if this was helpful, please, repost this. If you're listening on the podcast, please make sure to follow and subscribe to the show. Thanks for tuning in. Go to your everydayai.com. Sign Sign up for the free daily newsletter, and I'll see you back tomorrow and everyday for more everyday AI. Thanks, y'all.