Future Job Security

It’s time to advance the AI debate beyond binary, zero sum analyses and take lessons - and encouragement - from the emergence of a flexible, capable, AI-savvy workforce segment in real time: freelancers. A recent The New York Times article explores a growing question in the age of AI: Are junior roles most at risk of automation, or are experienced, high-paid employees more vulnerable, especially if they’re slow to adopt new tools? The answer has big implications for how companies build teams. On Upwork, we’re seeing an alternative future emerge: companies hiring at an increased clip — specifically expanding their hiring of AI-capable freelance talent to supplement existing FTE teams and turbocharge their business evolution for the AI era. Freelancers represent a growing segment of the labor force (already more than a third of US knowledge workers) — and are disproportionately AI-savvy. There were a quarter of a million of these AI expert freelancers earning on our platform in the last year alone - and they represent an important talent pool that is supplementing traditional employment with more flexible talent models. In sum: companies’ AI strategies are not simply trading off employees for AI — they are creating net new hiring opportunities that cater to a different, more flexible, and AI-educated population. These freelancers are using their AI expertise to help companies move faster and adapt smarter. According to our research, 88% of freelancers say AI has positively impacted their careers. They’re combining human expertise with AI tools to deliver value where it’s needed most. And business demand reflects this shift. In the first quarter of 2025, AI-related work on our platform grew 25% year over year, with growth not only in technical roles like AI development but also in non-technical areas like design, project management, and corporate law. These freelancers are not only in demand—they’re earning a premium for their skills. Our discourse needs to move beyond choosing between junior or senior talent or debating who’s most at risk. We are seeing the emergence of a more adaptive and resilient workforce in real time. Freelancers are modeling that future—AI-enabled, flexible, and built for what’s next. Check out the links to the New York Times article and Upwork research in comments. #FutureOfWork #Freelancers #AI #WorkforceTransformation #UpworkResearch

How Work Becomes AI Training—and What It Means for HR We are entering the age of agentic AI systems—where employees don’t just use software, but increasingly build, supervise, and maintain AI agents that execute workflows, coordinate tasks, and learn from interactions. Work is becoming more than execution. It is becoming continuous system shaping. When employees correct an AI output, design a workflow, or refine an agent’s behavior, they are contributing to something new: a living layer of organizational intelligence. At the same time, a parallel shift is happening in the physical world. For example, across 50+ countries, gig workers are currently capturing real-world environments through wearable and mounted devices. These recordings generate “contact-rich” data—how people fold laundry, clean, navigate clutter, or respond to unpredictable conditions. This is the foundation for so-called AI world models in robotics and embodied systems, teaching machines how the physical world actually works. Together, these two shifts—digital agentic systems and physical world models—are converging into a single reality: Organizations are becoming training environments for AI. We are not just digitizing work—we are redesigning it around AI. In many cases, replication of human work is not the endpoint—it is the starting point. Systems begin by learning to mirror human work as it exists today, before evolving toward optimization, automation, and eventually redesigning the work itself. This redefines what it means when an employee completes a task, solves an edge case, or corrects a machine. They are no longer just performing work—they are generating the training signal for both digital agents and physical intelligence systems. For HR, this is a fundamental shift in operating model and mindset. It requires moving: 1. From job design to system design Roles are no longer static descriptions, but evolving interactions between humans, agents, and AI systems. 2. From performance management to capability amplification Value is not only in output, but in how employees improve the intelligence of systems around them. 3. From workforce planning to intelligence planning Organizations must now think about how human work feeds and shapes both digital and physical AI layers. The human change challenge will intensify. Many employees will see this and think: “The machine is learning how to replace me.” But the more accurate framing is: the machine is learning how work is done—through us. In the future of work, we won’t just do the work. We will help define how both digital agents and physical-world AI learn to do it. And how HR guides this transition—with trust, clarity, and agency—will matter as much as the technology itself. Source: https://lnkd.in/eX-Xj6TU

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 – 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 – 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬. In a recent client workshop, we analysed China’s rise of 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 – fully autonomous plants running with almost 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. What struck everyone in the room was not the robotics itself, but the 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝. Some sites run 24/7 with 𝟕𝟎–𝟖𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬, guided by fleets of autonomous mobile robots and vision-driven quality systems. And then we looked west. ✔️ Amazon already operates more than 𝟕𝟓𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐬 across its fulfilment network. ✔️ Manufacturing costs for humanoid robots dropped 𝟒𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫. ✔️ The global robotics market is projected to hit 𝐔𝐒𝐃 𝟑𝟗𝟐 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 by 2033. The message is simple: 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 “𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤”. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. But the deeper shift is something else entirely. For the first time, intelligence isn’t staying behind screens. It is entering the physical world – perceiving, reasoning, deciding and acting 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. What #Deloitte calls 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. And with it, leadership must change at its core. In our latest work, Deloitte introduced the 𝟔𝐏𝐬 for leaders navigating this shift: 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 – a roadmap stretching from data foundations to workforce design and long-term societal impact. Every executive said the same thing afterwards: “𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞.” Because this isn’t just automation. It is 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬. And that forces new questions: ❓𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲? ❓𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨-𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬? ❓𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲? The next decade won’t reward the fastest adopters. It will reward the 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬. Curious where you stand: 𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐬 – 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞? #PhysicalIntelligence #FutureOfWork #LeadershipTransformation #RoboticsReimagined #HumanAndMachine

LinkedIn just released its Jobs on the Rise for 2026 list, and while the dominance of AI roles isn’t surprising, the overall pattern is worth slowing down and really looking at. Yes, AI engineers and AI consultants are at the top, which makes sense given how deeply artificial intelligence is now shaping how businesses operate. But what caught my attention most was the rise of roles that don’t sit neatly inside traditional corporate structures, founders, independent consultants, and strategic advisors. Those titles signal something bigger than job growth. They point to a shift in how value is being created. What this list quietly reflects is a growing demand for people who can think broadly, adapt quickly, and make thoughtful decisions even when the path isn’t fully clear. Skills like judgment, context, and the ability to connect ideas across disciplines are becoming just as important as technical expertise. In many cases, they’re what make the technical work actually useful. That’s why entrepreneurship, side projects, and advisory work are showing up as real career paths rather than side notes. Not because everyone should go start a company, but because building optionality matters more than it used to. Developing skills that travel with you, regardless of title or organization, is becoming a form of stability. The future of work isn’t only about keeping up with new tools. It’s about cultivating the ability to build, pivot, and create clarity in moments of uncertainty. I’m curious what stood out to you on the list, and whether it reflects what you’re seeing in your own work right now. 💜 https://lnkd.in/gA-6RVm3 #AI #JobEconomy #Founder #Entrepreneur #CareerJourney #FutureOfWork

The current wave of layoffs is often discussed as a short-term correction in the tech and corporate sectors. A closer look at the underlying shift suggests something more structural. We are entering a labor market where stability is no longer guaranteed inside organizations, but increasingly possible outside them. This is where a different model of work is quietly accelerating. The rise of the solo builder. A recurring pattern is emerging for many professionals. Job loss, extended job search, and declining response rates from employers, even for experienced candidates. One interpretation is simple, but consequential. Instead of waiting for re-entry into a shrinking corporate funnel, this moment may be better used to evaluate whether re-entry is even the optimal path. We are in the age of Artificial Intelligence-driven optimization, where companies continuously restructure workforces for efficiency. That trend is not episodic. It is compounding. The practical implication is not fear-based, but strategic. If employment is becoming less stable, then dependency on a single employer becomes a higher-risk position over time. Come talk to me at a free mentoring roundtable and ask questions of the 1Mby1M AI Mentor: https://lnkd.in/gB69hhqK

Entire professions are experiencing automation-driven displacement at unprecedented speed - and most professionals remain unaware until their role becomes obsolete. After 25 years in executive recruitment, I'm witnessing systematic workforce transformation that's eliminating traditional job categories across industries. Customer service, data analysis, content creation, and administrative functions are being automated faster than workers can adapt. However, the professionals successfully navigating this transition aren't resisting technological change - they're strategically positioning themselves as automation enablers. The survival strategy for automation-resistant careers: 1. Skill stacking: combining uniquely human capabilities with AI amplification 2. Technology partnership: becoming the strategic director of automated processes 3. Value migration: shifting focus to high-level strategy while delegating execution to AI 4. Relationship cultivation: building trust-based connections that require human judgment 5. Continuous capability development: maintaining learning velocity that exceeds automation adoption The fundamental shift: viewing AI as a productivity multiplier rather than a job threat. Organizations need professionals who can maximize their technology investments, not workers who compete with their systems. Career security in an automated world requires becoming indispensable through strategic technology collaboration. The professionals thriving in this environment position themselves as essential bridges between human decision-making and automated execution. Your career resilience depends on adaptation speed, not resistance intensity. Sign up to my newsletter for more corporate insights and truths here: https://vist.ly/32bji #automation #ai #futureofwork #careeradvice #careerstrategy #executiverecruiter #eliterecruiter #jobmarket2025 #profoliosai #digitaltransformation

There's an Unconventional Truth About Stability in the Modern Job Market Not long ago, one of my clients shared he’d secured a consulting engagement. I was thrilled. His reaction? Less enthusiastic. I get it. After months of battling the online application "blackhole" and dealing with age discrimination, he'd found success but not with the full-time job he wanted. Instead, he got a consulting opportunity. His desire for full-time work is clear: stability. Here’s the though hard truth... stability and full-time employment are not synonymous. In fact, the idea that full-time employment is the only path to long-term stability is outdated. I'd even say it never existed in the first place. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂 Stability comes from your ability to recognize where you bring the most value to an organization, whether you're already employed there or not. It’s about building a reputation for delivering results. This "body of work" becomes your true résumé. Reputation Management + Strong Professional Relationships = Career Stability According to LinkedIn's 2021 Workforce Confidence Index... nearly 60% of professionals believe that skills development and personal branding offer more stability than tenure at a single employer. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 The job market has evolved. Increasingly, companies are hiring consultants for two main reasons: 1) to address specific problems with highly skilled experts 2) to control costs. According to a 2022 survey by Harvard Business Review, 48% of organizations expect to increase their use of temporary or project-based workers in the coming years. FACT: If you have 20+ years of experience, you're in high demand in this growing market. Consulting can be a gateway, not a roadblock, to your next full-time opportunity (or multiple engagements -> $$$$) The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that freelance and consulting jobs are growing at triple the rate of traditional employment, with an estimated 59 million people freelancing as of 2023. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 Consulting roles aren’t “just temporary.” They offer insider access to a company’s internal workings, allowing you to uncover additional ways to add value. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 I’ve seen how much confidence consulting engagements can give our clients. When you're paid for your skills, and actively solving problems, it transforms your mindset. It's easier to find a full-time job when you’re already working—whether that’s as a full-time employee or a consultant. Instead of fixating on the "temporary" nature of consulting... focus on what it brings to your career: flexibility revenue validation growth Consulting is not the enemy of full-time employment... it's a powerful tool in your job search arsenal. It may even turn out to be the best next chapter in your career.

Long-term unemployment is affecting 1 in 4 US job seekers, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the 1.8 million folks who've been searching for 6+ months, the usual playbook isn't working. Another option is taking self-employment seriously. I've been freelancing for over 12 years, and writing about it and coaching others on how to navigate it, and one thing I keep coming back to is this: the "stable" salaried roles were always fragile. When your income depends entirely on one employer, one budget cycle, or one hiring decision, that's pretty shaky. Freelancing doesn't eliminate uncertainty. But it does let you spread your risk. Think of it like a mutual fund versus a single stock: if one client relationship or project ends, it's an inconvenience, but you still have others in motion. The infrastructure to get started has never been more accessible, over 800 freelance marketplaces, low-cost tools for running a solo practice, and AI helps level the playing field for solopreneurs without big teams or capital. I invite you to consider freelancing as an equally viable option. I just wrote this piece for Inc. Magazine on why self-employment is taking off now and why it's easier to get started today given all the shifts happening. It's not easy though, but over time you'll be able to command more control over your career trajectory as a solopreneur if you navigate this option with intention. https://lnkd.in/eMDViekP 🔗

Meet the robot laying your floor. It places indoor tiles with sub-millimeter precision up to six times faster than traditional methods. No uneven spacing. No material guesswork. No productivity dips at the end of a long day. Robotics isn’t confined to one sector. It’s industry-agnostic. Once autonomous systems prove value in one environment, they migrate adapting, scaling, redefining workflows wherever precision and repetition exist. Inside building sites, robots don’t just move faster. They standardize quality. They reduce waste. They generate performance data in real time. And most importantly, they allow human teams to step into higher-leverage roles design optimization, project orchestration, systems thinking, innovation. Every automation wave creates a parallel workforce: robotics engineers, field integrators, software specialists, predictive maintenance teams, data analysts. The ecosystem expands even as tasks transform. Work doesn’t vanish. It migrates. Value concentrates. Technology is not eliminating human contribution. It is reallocating it toward judgment, creativity, and strategic control. For leadership, the question is no longer whether robotics will enter your industry. It’s whether your talent strategy, operating model, and capital allocation are evolving fast enough to meet it. The future of construction won’t be defined solely by concrete and steel. It will be defined by intelligent systems and the organizations prepared to deploy them.

Robotics hiring is about to get very competitive. In the last 12 months we’ve moved from “interesting demos” to real commercial deployment across multiple verticals: logistics, manufacturing, agriculture, kitchens and general-purpose labor. The shift isn’t hype anymore. It’s workforce. Companies like RoboForce, Cyngn, Apptronik, Agility Robotics, Figure, Cobot, Ambi Robotics and Chef Robotics are all pushing toward the same outcome: Robots that operate reliably in messy human environments. Not labs. Not fenced cells. Warehouses, farms, streets and restaurants. That changes hiring completely. The bottleneck is no longer funding or hardware. It’s people who understand the full stack: perception, controls, systems and reliability. There are plenty of robotics engineers. There are very few deployment engineers. Curious what others are seeing: Where is your biggest gap right now, autonomy, manipulation, or productionization? Curious to hear how this looks from the people actually building and deploying these systems day-to-day 👇 Brett Adcock (Figure) Melonee Wise Damion Shelton (Agility Robotics) Jeff Cardenas (Apptronik) Rajat Bhageria (Chef Robotics) Lior Tal (Cyngn) Jim Liefer (Ambi Robotics) Feels like we’re crossing from robotics engineering → robotics operations. Are you hiring more autonomy specialists… or more people who can keep robots alive in production? #robotics #autonomy #humanoidrobots #ai #hiring