A small point of note on career development of an academic library manager who specialised in information literacy and digital literacy, an information professional if you will. As I moved to Finland at the peak of my career, I was ready to fly. Mmmmn, but there was no recognition of my active 15 years of high-level specialised experience, and I had to make a sharp turn to re-adjust my skill base to adapt. Having done this, it has still not been the best option for me professionally. However, I am reminded each day that my world is worth a lot more than the career I was once projected to have. A spouse and mother of Finns, I love every minute of my family, but that is not the point.
Young,
hip, and enthusiastic, a manager of a college library, I am now mature, wise,
and quick-witted, finding that I am considered obsolete in the working life of
Finland. I am an MBA student. I have two jobs which I enjoy, but they are short
hours, and I crave a challenging and satisfying career in something I have developed in and can still develop from.
The skills and quality insights I once poured into training university students, I’m now out here trying to pimp out to AI tutor-writer projects. Not only is the management of work assignments outsourced to AI, but so too is the recruitment and onboarding training. After passing an interview by a bot, recruitment tests, I found myself grappling to complete the onboarding assignment. By this point, I found myself desperate to get the job, which was becoming evident would be highly demanding, short bursts of thorough research, following writing guides, and criteria.
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| Image: https://www.creativepadmedia.com/what-exactly-is-ai-in-photo-editing/ |
The idea was to train the generative AI with natural methods of research and logical sequencing of steps to research. I used to train people in this, and so I cannot help but feel that the skills and quality insights I once poured into training university students, I would now be pimping out to AI tutor-writer projects. Each assignment is deemed worth 10-15€, so in order to make sure I get through enough assignments within an hour would be a frenzy of panic. This begs the question. Is it meaningful work anymore? Has the most exciting part of my career been dismembered into bite-sized parts only worth such? Is the success of a wide-eyed ‘innovative’ executive in Silicon Valley who has worked out how to abuse others’ skill sets to make a financial name for themselves the new normal?
Ironically,
the AI company's onboarding module had a glitch and got stuck. I couldn’t
progress past the last question. And as my panic subsided, I realized this is a
sad case of affairs and I deserve better. But the only question is
how?
How can my skills be realised in a time and place that won’t appreciate them?