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The job-hunting advice I give my own kids in the age of AI
Billionaire serial entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban has some job-hunting advice for his two children — and anyone else who finds themselves looking for entry-level roles — in the age of artificial intelligence.
The advice is simple: Prioritize working for a smaller company over fighting for a job at a large corporation.
At a big business, your AI skills are probably somewhat extraneous, says Cuban: You might know how to use AI effectively, but so does everyone in the company’s large, established IT department.
“Small- to medium-size companies don’t have that depth,” Cuban tells CNBC Make It. “They are typically entrepreneurially driven and don’t have the flexibility to have people research things. Bringing a new graduate on to work on agentic AI projects is inexpensive for them and can get them immediate results.”
Cuban referenced his own company Cost Plus Drugs as an example, in a podcast episode of “The Dumbest Guy In the Room” that published on Sept. 30. “People that understand AI and agentics, [who] can go and look at our processes and automate them using AI … [can] help us become more productive, competitive and profitable,” he said.
Podcast host John Dick’s company CivicScience was similarly situated, Cuban noted.
“[Small companies] have to compete differently, and they don’t have the resources to just have a huge IT department,” said Cuban. “Just like we saw with the early days of the internet, you hired young kids who were more comfortable with it, who learned it already and could come in and implement new things.”
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Ninety-five percent of companies haven’t yet seen measurable revenue return from their AI investments, according to a July report from Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. The few companies in the minority are largely early-stage tech startups run by young entrepreneurs, who build their companies’ processes around AI models specifically tailored to their businesses, the MIT report said.
“I tell [my children], like I tell every young kid, there’s going to be two types of companies in this in this country: There’s going to be those who are great at AI and those who used to be in business … And if you’re looking for a job, it’s going to be easier to work for a small company than a large company,” Cuban said on the podcast.
Cuban, 67, has three children, including two daughters currently attending college at Vanderbilt University and UCLA. He’s advised them to “learn all you can about AI, but learn more on how to implement them in companies,” he told the “TBPN” podcast in an Aug. 20 episode. “Companies don’t understand how to implement all that right now to get a competitive advantage,” he added.
Some other experts also say young people seeking entry-level jobs in the age of AI should emphasize their soft skills — like communication, emotional intelligence and critical thinking — to potential employers. Being curious, adaptable and embracing new opportunities to learn “is a skill in and of itself,” Kiersten Barnet, executive director of the nonprofit New York Jobs CEO Council, said at the CNBC Workforce Executive Council Summit on Oct. 7.
Ben Goodwin, the CEO and co-founder of beverage company Olipop, attributes most of his success with his $1.85 billion-dollar company to his human skills, not his technical capabilities, he told CNBC Make It in September.
“Things that have been really important for me have been believing in myself, emotional regulation, things like storytelling, [and] getting as good as possible at leading people as quickly as possible,” he said.
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