Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday! Happy National Intern Day!

How do we know when we are prepared? Prepared to be effective in our chosen hobbies, games, sports, and certainly our careers. Becoming prepared is never quick, and remaining prepared is even more challenging, as any athlete will attest to the hard work of preparation and maintenance. Our jobs are no different, and given the exciting times of AI, staying current and remaining effective is essential.

I am often asked about the jobs of the future and the impact of AI on those jobs and in preparing and maintaining competency. Questions revolve around successful job search tactics and security of employment thereafter in a tight job market like today. My answer has remained the same over the years: become prepared and remain prepared through internships and apprenticeships, and treat lifelong learning as your career infrastructure.

An effective mechanism to gain insight and real-time labor market intelligence is engaging with your industry and enhancing your academic credentials with timely and necessary microcredentials. A combination of academic rigor with industry-based experiential learning provides an unbeatable platform to land you a job in any market, regardless of any new tools of the trade, such as AI. Industry engagement will also lead to identifying new learning to bolster an existing skill set.

Fortunately, with existing and ever-expanding tools of learning, AI included, we can and must sharpen our knowledge, not only to remain employed, but also to ensure upward mobility in our work environment. Again, lifelong learning must become our careers’ infrastructure and the scaffolding needed to upgrade ourselves. As a private pilot with decades of experience in general aviation, for example, I routinely sign up and participate in new courses, technology overview seminars and safety classes. The need for remaining “current” in aviation, like in competitive athletics, is perhaps more readily understood than in other fields.

Here at S&T, as we prepare to welcome our students back from their internships and co-op activities, I look forward to learning about their industry engagement and how they intend to calibrate their path forward based on their internship and co-op experiences. Many of our students share that viewing their chosen major and their upcoming careers from “the inside” provided a different perspective that they would not have gained otherwise. The academic rigor of engineering and science curricula requires focus and deep engagement with the subject matter; at the same time, it limits our distant perspective, a view from outside. But just as a painter takes a step back to view the work from different angles and perspectives, we will benefit from an occasional look to ensure balance and alignment, and to convince ourselves of our chosen path.

I also hear directly from industry recruiters that our students who engaged in internships of various kinds ask better questions and adapt to their work environments faster than their counterparts. As a result, companies are more inclined to recruit those with relevant internship experiences. 

So, on this Thursday as I write this message, on National Intern Day, I encourage our students who might be concerned about the impact of AI on their chosen field to work early and closely with our Career Opportunities and Employer Relations (COER) office and consider internship programs. In today’s new reality, it behooves us to identify internship opportunities that are not just good starting positions but are also great career first steps.

To summarize, to thrive professionally in the world of AI, believe in yourself, enhance yourself and connect yourself. Engage early, anticipate positive change, and build your career infrastructure and network.

After all, AI is here to help; take advantage of what it offers and leave the fear behind. If you've read the news recently, “A New Report Says AI Layoffs Are Backfiring and Half of Companies Will Start Rehiring” and “big companies are starting to hire again, defying prediction of AI wipeout.”

Warmly,

-Mo.
 
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Read previous Friday morning messages.

Check out the latest news from S&T:

• Professor receives Oak Ridge Associated Universities junior faculty award
• Student turns company project into AI internship
• S&T innovators take ideas to National I-Corps

Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu