SERIES: The Future of Work in the AI Age

S4-S6 / Adult

Multiple Sessions

Building Your AI-Resilient Career Plan

A career plan built around one fixed job title can become fragile when technology and industries change. A stronger plan is built around direction, durable capabilities, evidence of skill and regular review. You will apply the whole series to a career you genuinely care about and create a flexible one-, three- and five-year roadmap. […]

Building Your AI-Resilient Career Plan

Your Mission

Build a career plan for an AI-changing world without pretending you can predict one perfect future job.

You will choose a direction, map task change and durable skills, research real entry routes and build a flexible one-, three- and five-year roadmap.

The Shape of This Challenge

Discover

✏️ ️ Notice & question

Explore

️ Investigate & test

Create

✏️ Make & communicate

Reflect

️ Think & apply

Discover

Start with a direction you genuinely care about rather than a fashionable job title.

Step 1

Choose a Direction, Not a Destiny

✏️ Career focus · 8–10 mins

We are learning to define a career direction specific enough to research but flexible enough to adapt.

An AI-resilient plan is not a prediction that one job title will exist unchanged for 40 years.

Your Task

Choose one field, role family or problem area you are genuinely interested in.
Write what attracts you to it.
List three possible roles within or adjacent to the direction.
Write one reason you want to keep the plan flexible.

I can define a realistic career direction without pretending the future is fixed.

→ This gives your plan a clear but adaptable focus.

Self-ManagementCareersCritical Thinking

Step 2

Map the Tasks and Durable Skills

️ Career anatomy · 10–12 mins

We are learning to apply task exposure and durable-skill thinking to my own career direction.

Use the methods from earlier challenges: what changes, what remains human-centred and what new tasks may appear?

Your Task

List at least eight tasks found in your chosen direction.
Mark likely AI assistance or change for each.
Identify four durable capabilities worth building.
Choose one emerging skill that could complement them.

I can identify durable and emerging capabilities for my chosen career direction.

→ This provides the skill priorities for your roadmap.

Self-ManagementCritical ThinkingAI Literacy

Explore

Ground the plan in real entry routes and stress-test it against change.

Step 3

Research the Real Entry Route

Choose your route · 12–18 mins

We are learning to use current evidence to understand entry routes, requirements and proof of skill.

Different fields reward different combinations of qualifications, work experience, portfolios, apprenticeships, certifications and networks.

Your Task

Choose your career direction.
Complete one research route.
Record current entry requirements and at least three recurring skills.
Identify one way employers or clients can see evidence that you can actually do the work.

⚡ Quick Track

Compare three current job descriptions or official career profiles. Record qualifications/experience, recurring skills and one form of proof of work.

Dig Deeper

Compare several routes into the field: degree, apprenticeship, direct employment, freelancing/portfolio or professional training. Evaluate cost, time, access and flexibility.

I can build a career route from current evidence rather than assumptions.

→ This anchors your roadmap in real opportunities and requirements.

ResearchSelf-ManagementCareers

Step 4

Stress-Test the Plan

️ Future scenarios · 10–12 mins

We are learning to build adaptability into a career plan by testing it against change.

A resilient plan includes signals that tell you when to update it.

Your Task

Test three scenarios: AI automates more routine work, the field grows quickly, the preferred route becomes unavailable.
For each, write what you would change.
Define three signals you will watch over time: hiring, skill requirements, regulation, wages, technology or another indicator.
Write one condition that would make you seriously reconsider the plan.

I can adapt my career strategy when evidence or circumstances change.

→ This turns your roadmap into a living plan rather than a fixed promise.

Self-ManagementProblem SolvingCritical Thinking

Create & Share

Create a practical roadmap with skills, evidence, milestones and review signals.

Step 5

Build Your AI-Resilient Career Roadmap

✏️ Plan · Create · 35–50 mins

We are learning to turn career research into specific actions across the next one, three and five years.

The plan should prioritise skills, evidence and experiments rather than collecting qualifications without a reason.

Your Task

Create 1-year, 3-year and 5-year sections.
Include at least four durable/emerging skills.
Include one portfolio/project, one experience/network action and one formal learning route where relevant.
Add your three future signals and reconsideration condition.
Choose one output below.

AI-Resilient Career Roadmap

1 page · 1/3/5-year timeline

⏱ 35–40 mins

Map skills, projects, experience, learning routes and review points across the timeline.

Career Resilience Plan

2 pages · 450–600 words

⏱ 40–50 mins

Explain your direction, evidence, skill priorities, route, scenarios and review signals.

My Future Work Strategy

4 slides · maximum 30 words per slide

⏱ 35–40 mins

Present direction, skill priorities, roadmap and how you will adapt when evidence changes.

I can create a flexible evidence-based career roadmap with clear milestones.

→ This is your personal capstone output for the career-planning part of the series.

Self-ManagementResearchProblem Solving

Step 6

Reflect, Apply, Look Forward

️ Personal review · 8–10 mins

We are learning to reflect on how evidence can guide career choices without removing uncertainty.

The final series challenge moves beyond personal planning to the wider ethical question: who should carry the costs and benefits when AI changes work?

Your Task

Answer the prompts.
Choose one action from the 1-year plan you can start this month.
Choose one person who could challenge the plan constructively.

Reflect

Which part of your plan is most strongly supported by current evidence?

Apply

What small experiment could teach you more before making a major commitment?

Look Forward

Which workforce change would make you revisit the plan fastest?

I can explain how I will keep my career plan evidence-based and adaptable.

→ You now have a practical plan; next you will consider what a fair AI workforce transition should look like for everyone.

ReflectionSelf-ManagementCareers

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TOOLKIT

Choose Your Tools

Use current sources where possible. AI and labour-market evidence changes quickly, so record publication dates and distinguish forecasts from observed data.

Career research

Use current job descriptions, course/apprenticeship routes, professional bodies and employer skill requirements.

Plan

Use a simple 1-year / 3-year / 5-year roadmap. Focus on skills, evidence and experiments rather than predicting one fixed future job title.

Create

Use a career resilience plan, roadmap or short personal strategy presentation.

Educator / Parent Notes

Age, Stage and Prior Learning: Designed for S4–S6 and adults. This is personal career planning, but learners should never be forced to disclose sensitive financial or family circumstances.

Before You Start: The plan works best after earlier series challenges. If completed standalone, provide a simplified task-exposure/durable-skills framework.

How to Open This: Ask: “Would you rather have a five-year job prediction or a five-year method for adapting?”

Scheduling: Allow multiple sessions: research and roadmap building are more valuable than rushing to finish a polished design.

If a Pupil Gets Stuck: Provide a 1/3/5-year template and one career route. Reduce research to three current job descriptions.

For Fast Finishers: Ask learners to compare two entry routes, build a portfolio experiment or define measurable quarterly review signals.

Marking Guidance: Look for current evidence, specific skill/action milestones, flexibility, realistic entry routes and explicit conditions for reviewing or changing the plan.

Building Your AI-Resilient Career Plan

Building Your AI-Resilient Career Plan

Discover

Choose a Direction, Not a Destiny

Map the Tasks and Durable Skills

Explore

Research the Real Entry Route

Stress-Test the Plan

Create & Share

Build Your AI-Resilient Career Roadmap

Reflect, Apply, Look Forward

Show What You Have Learned

Career research

Plan

Create

Show What You Have Learned

Career research

Plan

Create

TOOLKIT

Career research

Plan

Create

Educator / Parent Notes

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