Aibu for being increasingly worried about the job market?

[gymboe]

another threat of redundancy here. Business not going well and to be honest we are full steam ahead with AI.

a quick search in my large town in south of England:

• 5 x nhs jobs (4 of which I am not qualified for and one is really terrible pay as just three days per week)
• school jobs: just three and very low pay
• our high street is mostly made of charity shops and vape stores. Retail doesn’t offer what I want.
• a big employer now hardly owns any office space. There are just a few jobs. I’m not qualified.

I do have a degree but found myself in a specialised account/client mgmt type role. Pays around £50k.

10 years ago there were loads of these type of jobs, decent salary even if you had to start low, good career progression, hundreds of them and tonnes of temp agencies. And the nhs had loads of admin jobs. Not to mention school jobs being plentiful.

where the hell have they all gone?

this is a huge issue. Massive. I’m really worried.

Thank you. Yes, that’s how I established my business, by working it out as I went along. I employ a team of seven now. I generate hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax that would otherwise not exist if I hadn’t experimented with a side hustle.
I’m not sure you actually need a degree to work in the AI field. It is so new that hands on experience is best. I’m in Scotland so we have organisations such as Codebase etc here but I’d start by looking at the free courses available online from reputable universities such as MIT in the states which has put most of its courses online for free.
Reputable organisations also have YouTube tutorials. Follow the leading members of the AI community on social media and see what they recommend. Check out your local businesses hubs. Or just ask ChatGPT to devise and recommend a schedule of instruction.

Thanks it’s more for dc who is looking at maths, CS or engineering at uni and reading your last line made me think hmm which would survive and thrive in that best.

On AI generally and business creation you make good points and if any party can incentivise new start ups they should. A lot of what is listed below is either democratised - eg marketing on SM or made easier eg using accounting apps.

Unfortunately we’re in a voting cycle that seems to hammer SMEs and be the opposite of what is needed with AI incoming. Hopefully it’ll change.

You are right about all of the above. I really don’t think anyone can go wrong with a degree in maths, physics or other stem subjects but I would alwsys advise anyone to do a degree in the subject they are passionate about. It’s a long slog. You are much more likely to thrive and do well when you are engaged with the subject. So much of what is needed for a career or a business will be learned outside the classroom. Good luck to your DC. It’s a scary but exciting world. Our kids thrive when they have parents who love them unconditionally and encourage them to fulfil their potential and then let them get on with it.

I disagree with this. All personality types can be entrepreneurial. It’s just that the ones we see on television and social media tend to be extrovert and self-promoting so I can see why entrepreneurship is associated with that type. It’s more about mindset. In certain circumstances and societies without the safety net of welfare or support, many people start businesses. The developing world is full of brilliant entrepreneurs and full of micro businesses. We’re lucky to have support here. But anyone with a good idea and the drive to develop it can make it work.

You say mindset, I say personality.

It's the same thing.

Totally different things.

I’ve for the first time heard in my industry that the flight towards AI is slowing: it’s not bringing great results and in some cases can bring catastrophic results - but then I’m in Pharma . Having said that, redundancies have already happened - but I think we’re entering a re-calibration.

Not really, just a way to categorize people according to certain attributes.

Labour have really done a number on the job market.

Mindset is something we have complete control over. We can change our mindset. We can’t change our fundamental personality. Introverts can’t become extroverts. But someone with a negative mindset can make a conscious decision to reframe their way of thinking to view things in a positive light. I agree there is a correlation but this is the key difference.
My contention is that entrepreneurs are representative of most personality types. But most entrepreneurs I know have a positive outlook and and a similar attitude to calculated risk taking - this is mindset. Otherwise a degree of fatalism creeps into things and it becomes an excuse not to do something.

Thank god we are not arguing about potatoes....

But most entrepreneurs I know have a positive outlook and and a similar attitude to calculated risk taking - this is mindset. Otherwise a degree of fatalism creeps into things and it becomes an excuse not to do something.

Most entrepreneurs that I know have had security systems in place so that if they do fail they are not exactly going to find themselves thrown out on the streets with not even a blanket, whether it’s money or property or family or good friends.

First law of ‘calculated’ risk is not to risk anything essential. You only risk what you can afford to lose. And in our times of inequality that is one hell of a luxury.

Hence “calculated risk taking”. You do need to have some appetite for risk to grow a business. But obviously, you don’t risk anything you can’t afford to lose.