ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The traditional career ladder is falling apart.
- People need to explore new areas quickly.
- Practical moves will help you reach the top.
For decades, the story was simple: start in an entry-level role, gain on-the-job experience, and move up the career ladder step by step. Now, in an age of AI, that long-accepted narrative is crumbling.
Also: ‘Specialists are no longer required’: How to remain valuable in today’s AI agent workplace
AI automates routine tasks at the bottom of the career ladder while giving people the tools to work on more complex tasks earlier in their careers.
In this AI-enabled workplace, instead of a single upward career path, professionals will encounter a flexible employment structure where they must grow vertically in senior roles, horizontally across functions and diagonally in adjacent areas to build new skills.
“AI isn’t just changing what work looks like; it’s also changing how people climb,” Ankur Anand, group CIO at recruiter Harvey Nash, told ZDNET. “The traditional career ladder is replaced by a career grid, and people who learn to move on it will get to the top faster than those who wait for the next rung.”
Also: Companies that embrace AI the most are hiring more people — including entry-level, report finds
It is already clear that the workplace of tomorrow will not look like the one we know today, nor will its traditional career.
Business leaders told ZDNET that ambitious professionals rise to the top in today’s work environment by focusing on two core areas: exploring new territory and making practical moves.
Explore new territories
If step-by-step promotions are a thing of the past, professionals must find new ways to reach the summit.
Anand said that climbing the career ladder means being open to opportunities, especially those involving emerging technologies. “The path to the top is less about staying in one track and more about building a broad, transferable skill set while using AI to accelerate learning and impact,” he said.
Also: The 3 types of people who will excel in the AI agent era, according to Tech Leader
That sentiment resonates with Jesse Cox, billing manager at healthcare specialist Solis Mammography, who told ZDNET that upwardly mobile employees are ready to explore fresh territories.
“I said the other day, ‘AI is here. You either get on your surfboard and ride the wave, or it’s going to hit you, and you’re going to be left behind. There’s really no choice.'”
Cox said professionals should prioritize continuous personal development. Smart employees recognize that AI will help them work faster and move into new areas that once seemed beyond their compass.
“AI doesn’t mean you’re going to lose your job,” he said. “It means you can do things that you put on the back burner because you never had time to get to them. That’s what AI really means.”
Also: Businesses are finally seeing AI ROI, but 62% can’t handle storage demands
In his own department, professionals exploit AI services to save time and improve existing business processes, such as the approval and payment of invoices.
People who demonstrate strong AI use cases, share best practice lessons and demonstrate their ability to become next generation leaders.
“You have to look and say, “Okay, well, what does that mean? What do I get to do? How do I continue to grow?” As a professional, you have to grow with this wave.”
Tal Carmi, CIO at technology specialist WalkMe, also told ZDNET that professionals need to embrace AI, recounting a story where one of his senior executive colleagues clearly expressed this demand.
“He said, ‘If someone comes to me and they don’t speak AI at the basic level, then it’s like someone who doesn’t use the Internet or someone who doesn’t use email or Excel.
Also: 91% of professionals say their company is still falling behind on AI – how to fix it
Carmi has met people outside the tech industry who said they haven’t explored AI because they aren’t developers. This limited approach will limit your upward ambitions.
“AI is in a different place today,” he said. “Companies try to give you skills or knowledge. But in the end, I think it’s curiosity that drives people, especially at the rate things are changing.”
Make practical movements
The key to long-term career success, suggests Kirsty Roth, Chief Operating Officer at Thomson Reuters, is adaptability. The best professionals are excited by the change.
“I remember a bunch of excited team members playing with the big breakthrough models for ChatGPT,” she told ZDNET. “And guess what? Those people have turned out to be some of our most capable engineers in the last 18 months.”
Adaptability is not just a core requirement for those on the lower rungs of the career ladder. Roth said too many people mistakenly assume that younger people are best placed to respond to the career changes brought about by AI.
Also: This CIO Isn’t Hiring Engineers to Write Code: 3 AI Fundamentals He’s Prioritizing Instead
Instead, their evidence suggests that the best professionals, regardless of demographic, are confidently adapting to the new, AI-enabled workplace and the continuous learning journey it requires.
These professionals ask important questions about the next rung of the career ladder long before they get there.
“We all get to these points in our careers where we have a choice of job A or job B, and I usually tell people to write what you think are the two or three lines on your resume that are added at the end of the job,” she said.
“Think about it: What are you learning? What did you do differently in that role?” If you go into these changes with an open mind and are willing to learn new things, you will be just fine. These people will be the CEOs and board members of the future.
Also: Managers play a critical role in a company’s AI transformation – and they know it
The key message, Anand suggested, is that AI is not just a technology shift, but a leadership test. People who excel will pass with flying colors.
He suggests six practical moves for professionals who want to keep their career ambitions on track:
- Use AI to learn faster, not just to complete tasks: “Treat AI as a coach. Ask it to explain concepts, test your ideas and help you explore different approaches before you decide. This approach turns everyday work into a faster learning loop.”
- Aim for judgment-heavy work early: “Look for opportunities to review AI outputs, highlight complex cases, or surface proposals for senior teams. These activities build the decision-making muscle that will define future leaders.”
- Build a T-shaped profile: “Go deep in your core discipline, like finance, recruiting or engineering, but add a strong crossbar of AI fluency, data literacy and basic product or business thinking. This combination makes you valuable as roles evolve.”
- Think projects, not job titles: “Treat each role as a series of projects where you can clearly demonstrate impact, such as saving time, impacting revenue, reducing risk or improving experience. This mindset will help you stand out when promotion criteria fade.”
- Invest in human skills that augment AI: “Communication, empathy and critical thinking are the areas where humans still lead. Use AI to handle routine work so you can focus more on relationships, stakeholder management and problem solving.”
- Be open to lateral and diagonal moves: “If a move across teams or functions builds important skills or AI experience, take it. In a grid, side steps can be the fastest way up over time.”
See full bio