{"id":26153,"date":"2026-03-03T16:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=26153"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:15:25","slug":"ai-layoffs-spur-workers-to-want-a-career-change-flexjobs-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=26153","title":{"rendered":"AI, layoffs spur workers to want a career change, FlexJobs finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-107380344\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Pedestrians make their way early morning in the hallway of the Grand Central terminal in New York on February 29, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>More than 4 in 10 people \u2014\u00a0or 43% \u2014 are trying to change their career fields this year, according to a new report by online employment platform FlexJobs. <\/p>\n<p>Concern around possible layoffs, the role of artificial intelligence and work-life balance are all factors driving people to want to move to a new profession, said Keith Spencer, career expert at FlexJobs. <\/p>\n<p>The survey, conducted in early February, included over 4,000 U.S. respondents. <\/p>\n<p>But changing careers can feel daunting, and data show that most people are still reluctant to leave their current employers. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many people know they want to leave their current job, but haven&#8217;t fully defined the role they want or how their existing skills translate to a new field,&#8221; Spencer said. &#8220;Without that understanding, it&#8217;s easy to lose confidence and motivation.&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\"><a id=\"headline0\"><\/a>&#8216;The collapse of linear career paths&#8217;<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The old formula for a successful career \u2014 &#8220;pick a track, work hard and follow it upward&#8221; \u2014 isn&#8217;t working for many people anymore, said executive coach Megan Hellerer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The advent of AI has accelerated the collapse of linear\u00a0career\u00a0paths,&#8221; Hellerer said. &#8220;When certainty and safety disappear, people start asking deeper questions:\u00a0If the ladder isn&#8217;t secure, do I even want to be climbing it?&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-relatedContent\" id=\"RegularArticle-RelatedContent-1\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-container\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-nonCollapsibleContent\">\n<h2 class=\"RelatedContent-header\">Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<ul>\n<li>AI, layoffs spur workers to want a career change, survey finds \u2014 but few may do it<\/li>\n<li>Poor coordination can cost couples an average $14,000 in retirement wealth<\/li>\n<li>Gold price jumps on Middle East turmoil. 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How they work<\/li>\n<li>Trump said beef, egg and chicken prices are falling. Here&#8217;s what the data shows<\/li>\n<li>Trump pitches new retirement plan with a match of up to $1,000 \u2014 who may benefit<\/li>\n<li>CNBC&#8217;s Financial Advisor 100: Best financial advisors, top firms ranked<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>That reflection is spurring people to want to move toward more creative and complex roles, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscareerinstitute.edu\/blog\/65-jobs-with-the-lowest-risk-of-automation-by-ai-and-robots#:~:text=The%20jobs%20safest%20from%20AI,cosmetologists,%20personal%20trainers,%20and%20coaches\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AI is less able to replicate<\/a>, said Erik Brynjolfsson, an economics professor at Stanford University and the director of the\u00a0Stanford Digital Economy Lab. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;AI is changing the &#8216;recipe&#8217; of most jobs, and many workers are proactively looking for roles where they can better leverage their unique human strengths,&#8221; Brynjolfsson said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\"><a id=\"headline1\"><\/a>Demand for white-collar skills &#8216;uncertain&#8217; <\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Although many people may want to change their careers, few are taking the plunge. Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School, said the quit rate \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/jolts.t04.htm#:~:text=(1)%20The%20quits%20level%20is%20the%20number,entire%20month%20as%20a%20percent%20of%20employment.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">government data<\/a> that measures the number of people who have voluntarily left their jobs in a given month \u2014 was 2% in December, compared to 3% in Nov. 2021 during the so-called great resignation. <\/p>\n<p>Fuller said AI and economic uncertainty are to blame for workers&#8217; reluctance to leave, a trend some experts have dubbed &#8220;job hugging&#8221; or &#8220;the great stay.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Historically, upper-income people were the most comfortable quitting because they usually had material savings [and] robust qualifications,&#8221; Fuller said; however, &#8220;generative AI is the first technology whose impact goes up with income.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The demand for white-collar skills is uncertain,&#8221; he added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\"><a id=\"headline2\"><\/a>First step to change careers: a &#8216;curiosity campaign&#8217; <\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Those who want to change careers but are anxious about the next steps should put their resumes aside for now, Hellerer said. To begin, she encourages people to do a &#8220;curiosity campaign.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Forget trying to find your purpose \u2014 that question is too big and too paralyzing,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Instead, follow your curiosity. Notice what you&#8217;d read about for free, what problems you find yourself drawn to.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>AI is a double-edged sword, she said. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s creating real anxiety about job security, which is pushing people to reconsider their paths,&#8221; she said, but it&#8217;s also &#8220;a strange gift \u2014 it&#8217;s stripping away the &#8216;safe&#8217; choices and forcing people to ask what is the work that is uniquely well-suited for them.&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Rather than trying to plan too far ahead, people should &#8220;take an experimental approach,&#8221; she said: &#8220;Take a class, have a conversation with someone in a field you&#8217;re curious about, read a book on a topic that&#8217;s been nagging at you.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Career change\u00a0doesn&#8217;t have to be dramatic,&#8221; Hellerer added. &#8220;It often begins with small, low-risk experiments. The goal isn&#8217;t certainty, it&#8217;s momentum.&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/03\/03\/career-change-ai-layoffs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pedestrians make their way early morning in the hallway of the Grand Central terminal in New York on February 29, 2024. Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images More than 4 in 10 people \u2014\u00a0or 43% \u2014 are trying to change their career fields this year, according to a new report by online employment platform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[887,316,1801,9781,4164,3470,2873],"class_list":{"0":"post-26153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance-news","8":"tag-career","9":"tag-change","10":"tag-finds","11":"tag-flexjobs","12":"tag-layoffs","13":"tag-spur","14":"tag-workers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}