Diploma may not be the most important of college, tells LinkedIn founder to Gen Z
The traditional way to build a stable career – go to college and ensure a comfortable six -digit position in an office – is being shaken by artificial intelligence. Now LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman admits to recent graduates that you may not even care if you have graduated in computer science or art history-connections and flexibility are the new differentials of the market.
“What you should take from your degree is not necessarily what you have learned in X-101,” Hoffman said in a recent video posted on his YouTube channel. “They are not specific diplomas, specific courses, not even necessarily specific skills that will be relevant to you.”
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In the technology entrepreneur’s view, being agile in the current job market is a huge differential: “It’s your ability to say, ‘Look, here is the new set of tools, here’s the new challenge.’ This is how future work will look like. The important thing is not to focus on the diploma, but how you learn and always learn,” said Hoffman.
“The other part of the college that is super important, and that you should not forget, is that life is a collective sport, not only individual,” he continued. “You can help yourself.”
According to Hoffman, young people who know how to navigate well in this new world of work – enjoying connections, constantly learning and dominating the AI - will come out ahead. And unfortunately for those who are in debt, having a university diploma is not the only way to develop these skills.
The ‘hugely attractive’ skill that generation Z should have
There is no doubt that many young people of generation Z have already started their career facing difficulties-graduated in a postcovid world, with AI agents being presented as new co-workers. Some employers even labeled this generation as lazy and disorganized, but Hoffman believes generation Z has an advantage that goes crazy recruiters.
The LinkedIn co -founder says young people are part of the “IA generation”: like digital natives that have grown with advanced technology within their reach, they are in the best position to take advantage of this skill. This can be the passport of generation Z to win a vacancy.
“Bringing the fact that you have in your repertoire is one of the things that makes you enormously attractive,” said the 57 -year -old billionaire.
Therefore, despite all the fanfare of the IA threatening to steal vacancies, technology can be precisely the best weapon of generation Z to find work. Last month, both OpenAi CEO Sam Altman and LinkedIn’s director of economic opportunities, Aneesh Raman, warned that AI can rival junior staff.
Hoffman agrees that AI can make it difficult to search for more young people – but recommends that Generation Z candidates use technology to create their own opportunities.
“AI is changing the scenario (from work), can make entry jobs more difficult to achieve, can make employers insecure about who they are looking for and hiring,” continued Hoffman. “So you think, ‘Ok, how do I use current circumstances, this disruption, to improve my situation? How do I use AI to identify possible new opportunities?’
As generation Z can climb a career ladder with broken steps
Generation Z grew up believing that going well in college would guarantee a well -paid job after graduation – but this trajectory is no longer a promise. Even Dario Amodei, CEO of Ai Anthropic company, predicted that AI can eliminate about 50% of all office entry jobs in the coming years.
Instead of burying their heads in the sand, leaders recommend that young people change strategy to become professionals disputed in the market.
Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang has been especially emphatic on the subject; He strongly defends the idea that being an AI user is a protective quality in the face of the transformations of the labor market.
“Every job will be affected, and immediately. This is unquestionable,” Huang said at the Milken Institute Global Conference in May. “You won’t lose your job to an AI, but you’ll lose to someone you use.”
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