Don’t wait to be laid off: a business coach explains what you need to do in the next 30 days so AI doesn’t leave you without a job

Talk that artificial intelligence will take millions of jobs away has long since stopped sounding like a futuristic scenario. Large companies are cutting staff, increasingly explaining it as automation, while generative AI is gradually taking over tasks that people were doing until recently.

Against this backdrop, executive coach and career consultant Andrea Wasserman published a practical guide for those who fear losing their jobs because of AI. Instead of the usual advice along the lines of “learn neural networks,” she offers a concrete action plan that can be carried out in just one month.

Panic is the worst strategy

According to Wasserman, most employees are asking the wrong question: “Will AI replace me?”

It is much more useful to ask yourself this instead:

“Which specific tasks in my job can already be automated now?”

Entire professions rarely disappear completely. Much more often, AI takes over routine operations: drafting, data analysis, writing reports, processing information, composing emails and presentations. But decision-making, negotiations, managing people, strategic thinking and responsibility for results still remain with humans.

1. Identify the weak points in your profession

The first step is to honestly break down your own work by tasks.

Make two lists:

processes that can be automated;

tasks where human experience is still indispensable.

The second category is what should be developed more strongly, while the first should be learned to perform faster with the help of AI.

Experts note that employers are increasingly evaluating not the amount of work completed, but an employee’s ability to use modern tools to increase efficiency.

2. Don’t wait for a conversation about layoffs

Wasserman advises starting the discussion about using AI with your manager yourself.

You should not ask:

“Are you planning to replace me with a neural network?”

It is better to suggest ideas for how artificial intelligence can speed up the entire team’s work without cutting staff.

Such an approach shows initiative and turns you from someone who can be replaced into someone who helps the company introduce new technologies.

3. Prove that you are the one bringing money to the company

One of the article’s main ideas is that employees must learn to connect their work with business results.

If you are a marketer, show the impact of your actions on sales.

If you are an analyst, explain which decisions are made thanks to your findings.

If you are a manager, demonstrate how your work helps retain clients or reduce costs.

The more obvious your value to the business, the harder it is to replace you with an algorithm.

4. Use AI before others do

The most practical advice is to start experimenting now.

For example:

ask ChatGPT to prepare a first draft of a report;

compare the result with your own work;

automate repetitive tasks;

create prompt templates that save time for the entire team.

But it is important not just to use a neural network, but to show management a concrete result:

how much time was saved;

how much the quality of the work improved;

what new opportunities it opened up.

These are the employees who today become the most valuable for employers.

5. Do not let fear paralyze your work

The stream of news about mass layoffs can indeed cause anxiety.

However, Wasserman emphasizes that worry on its own changes nothing.

It is much more useful to spend that time learning new tools, testing AI and developing skills that cannot yet be fully automated: communication, leadership, critical thinking and decision-making.

What other experts say

Specialists differ only on the speed of change, not on the direction itself.

Goldman Sachs chief economist Joseph Briggs believes that as AI spreads, around 15 million jobs could be displaced in the United States. At the same time, he emphasizes that technological revolutions have historically destroyed old professions and created new ones at the same time.

Other researchers, including McKinsey experts, note that today AI mainly automates individual tasks rather than entire professions. This means that the main competitive advantage is not rejecting neural networks, but the ability to use them better than others.

Bottom line

Andrea Wasserman’s main point is simple: AI will not necessarily replace your profession, but it will almost certainly change it.

The winners of the new era will not be those who resist technology, nor those who rely entirely on neural networks, but employees who know how to combine artificial intelligence with human skills — experience, responsibility, creativity and the ability to make decisions.

A few years ago, advice on how not to lose your job because of artificial intelligence probably sounded like science fiction. Today, it is already a very practical guide for millions of office workers around the world.