AI skills can be your secret weapon in a job interview

Flaunting your AI skills can help you land a bigger job and salary, according to tech recruiters on LinkedIn, but they warn it's important to distinguish between being a developer of AI and a user of it.

LinkedIn data has revealed the AI talent pool in Australia has grown at an exponential rate of 527% between 2016 and 2022, and that the growth in AI talent hiring outpaced other industries by 12% over the past year.

"Many companies currently view AI skills as a 'nice to have' for candidates and rarely as an essential skill, and on the candidate side developing AI-based skills is being embraced to ensure they stay competitive," said Sam Murphy , an IT and telecommunications recruiter at Hays .

"However the landscape is changing rapidly with these skills becoming increasingly more sought after and, as a result, businesses are happier to put a higher salary on the table."

Having technical skills in AI, such as an understanding of programming languages, machine learning and Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI), is an asset, and recruiters say they should be reflected on your CV and job profiles online.

The data from LinkedIn shows a 62% increase in the share of Australian members adding AI skills to their profiles over the past five years, with the top skills in Australia being machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning, while the fastest-growing AI-related skills in 2022 are computer vision, natural language processing (NLP) and PyTorch.

Nicola Steel , Founding Director of JJP Talent Solutions , a specialist IT and Digital Recruitment Consultancy firm, said applicants who have skills in AI and machine learning are still considered niche for now, helping them to attract a premium salary.

"As more people develop these skills, the salaries will start levelling out," she said.

Steel also cautioned that job applicants shouldn't oversell their AI skills if they are not technically trained.

"Just mentioning that you have some exposure to AI skills as a user rather than a deep understanding is not going to command a premium salary and are likely to make your CV confusing rather than desirable," she said.?

"There is still a talent shortage in Australia and this looks set to continue so highlighting your core technical skills, regardless of whether they are in AI, is critical in finding the right role and salary."

Zubin Pratap — a former lawyer who taught himself how to code at age 37 and then became a software engineer — helps professionals with no tech background learn to code and change careers .

He agreed job seekers should not overstate their AI expertise.

"It doesn't take much skill to use AI [platforms] but to create one is an extremely high order of skill that takes years to master," he said.

Speaking to? The Australian 's Joseph L. , the Recruitment Consulting and Staff Association's? Charles Cameron ?said professionals with AI developer skills could pull in a 10-15% salary premium compared to those without , and possibly as high at 20%.

"The thought is that this will shift in the next 12 to 18 months. By then, the salaries should start to come back down again because candidates will be expected to have acquired AI skills,” Cameron said.

Millions of Australians are now using AI, as a new technological era dawns that promises to make our lives easier.?Read this article to learn how to wield the power of AI , and get up to date on the biggesting issues facing the sector, according to AI experts on LinkedIn.

Start your AI learning journey

Alex Brogan , a LinkedIn Top Voice in AI and the Go-To-Market Lead for Zipline.io , said in a post on LinkedIn that many people are adverse to upskilling to prepare for the AI future.

"There are two key challenges to overcome — one is mindset and the other is practical," Brogan said.

“Often, people fall at the first hurdle of mindset because they believe change is too fast or upskilling is too difficult. This barrier can be overcome in three ways — start small, reframe the challenge and find your 'why',” he said.

Brogan?explains these steps in detail ?in this recent LinkedIn post, and?also shares some free resources to get started learning .

In a recent LinkedIn post ,? Aruna Pattam ?— head of AI Analytics and Data Science (APAC) for 凯捷咨询 ?— said AI is not just a technology but also a career revolution that is creating groundbreaking roles.

“We're witnessing the emergence of jobs like AI ethicists who navigate the moral compass of AI, and novel roles like prompt engineers who leverage AI's conversational capabilities to facilitate better human-machine interactions,” she said.

“This accessibility to easily develop AI skills is game-changing. From massive open online course (MOOCs), to YouTube and other online platforms filled with insightful tutorials, the resources to master AI are vast and varied.”

“Remember, in the journey of AI learning, your biggest asset isn't a degree — it's your passion for discovery and growth. If we're always ready to embrace change and learn new skills, we can stay relevant no matter how the job market evolves.”

Cam Stevens , an innovation consultant and SafetyTech expert, said he started experimenting with AI generative tools, like ChatGPT, as 'life hacks' and grew his knowledge from there.

"Over the past few years I have used AI tools to be more creative and more efficient in my work processes — content creation is faster, more fun and simply getting started, on any work task, is much easier to do," he said in a post on LinkedIn .

"It has solidified my perspective on what it means to be human in the workplace and made me realise that the end game is how we can leverage emerging technologies to enable human flourishing."

?? Want to upskill in AI? Follow these AI experts on LinkedIn, who share tips on how to start using AI in your daily life.

Zubin Pratap , who helps professionals with no tech backgrounds learn to code and change careers . Alex Wang , who shares her AI and data science learnings on LinkedIn. Alex Brogan , who shares online resources to help develop your AI knowledge. Jeffrey Zheng , who shares AI prompts to help boost your efficiency. Danny Ma , who helps aspiring tech professionals learn data analytics, data science & machine learning. Martin Kemka , who created a LinkedIn Learning course about responsible AI algorithms.

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