CHOSEN … to be employed, to stay employed, to be the Human-in-the-Loop

To be employed… the holy grail. Most of the time the source of our identity, and more often than not, also the source of our despair. Always first and foremost in every adult’s mind, “What do you do?” is the question we ask each other the most. 

So which are the traits and skills that will hopefully get me, and keep me, in the job market today? 

Across the board, CEOs and industry leaders are remarkably in sync about the kind of human workforce they are looking for in the AI-era, mentioning the same traits and skills again and again. 

Elon Musk said in a recent podcast that he now relies on his staff to find the “wow”-factor and asks for bullet points on ‘Evidence of Exceptional Ability.’ 

He added: “Generally, what I tell people—I tell myself, I guess, aspirationally—is, don’t look at the resumé, just believe your interaction. The resumé may seem very impressive…but if the conversation after 20 minutes is not “wow”, you should believe the conversation, not the paper. Strong credentials and an impressive work history don’t tell the whole story.” He puts value in a candidate’s talent, drive, and trustworthiness. “I think goodness of heart is important. I underweighted that at one point. So, are they a good person? Trustworthy? Smart and talented and hardworking?” 

Steven Bartlett: (CEO and founder of various companies, investor in over 70 companies, participant in Dragons Den, and popular podcaster) explained in a podcast what he is looking for in an efficient workforce. “I look at my workforce as divided into 3 groups: those with deep expertise and knowledge in a particular field, those that are AI-adept and can manage the agents and redesign agentic workflows across every department in the company and lastly those with human-to-human skills, for specific situations where the human touch is important.”

Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook) values raw talent and potential over specific past experience. He looks for individuals who can adapt, learn new skills quickly, and "go deep" into one subject to achieve excellence, which indicates they can apply that same tenacity elsewhere. “People who can look at the goal and job to be done. People who are not merely managers.”

Meta Platforms last month began giving employees in its Reality Labs Unit, one of three new job titles — "AI builder," "pod lead," or "org lead," to make sure everybody in the unit is ‘AI-native.’

Payments company Block is apparently dismantling traditional company hierarchies. Managers are becoming ‘player-coaches’ who build alongside their teams, while ‘individual contributors’ use AI tools to inform their own decisions instead of waiting to be told what to do.

Jensen Huang (co-founder, president, and CEO of NVIDIA Corporation) is also focusing on hiring individuals with "intelligence, heart, and courage," rather than just technical skill.

Huang prefers to focus on developing his human workforce and has stated that he rarely likes firing people because he believes most skills can be learned with the right opportunity and guidance.

Emad Mostaque (Businessman and mathematician) stresses the shift from ‘Workers’ to ‘Orchestrators.’ He advises that instead of hiring people for manual or routine cognitive tasks, the focus should shift to individuals acting as ‘orchestrators’ who direct and manage AI agents, rather than competing against them. As well as people who show adaptability: the willingness and ability to learn new tools quickly. He envisions the future of work replacing traditional managers—who control people—with ‘Directors of Intention’ who interface with the network and utilise digital interfaces to manage tasks. 

Some of the new descriptions still reference human oversight and support, but with less management per se.

Salim Ismael (Indo-Canadian serial entrepreneur, author, speaker, and technology strategist) stresses

people with a curiosity mindset as well as ‘Soft’ Skills and Power Skills which are difficult for AI to replicate. 

Here are some other traits human and AI-recruiters are looking for:

• Critical thinking: Analysing AI-generated outputs for accuracy. 
• Decision-Making: Workers must be able to validate, interpret, and act on AI-generated outputs rather than accepting them blindly.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Willingness to work across different departments and working effectively in hybrid teams where humans and AI agents perform complementary tasks.
• Adaptability: The capacity to thrive in a constantly changing environment.
• Complex problem-solving: Defining the right problems to solve, not just executing tasks.
• Workflow Redesign: Companies are looking for "work process experts"—employees who understand the day-to-day business and can use AI to optimise end-to-end workflows.
• Creativity and Innovation: The ability to generate new ideas, think critically, and apply unconventional thinking.
•  Empathy: high-level communication, and relationship management are critical, especially in customer-facing roles.
• Emotional Intelligence & Leadership: Leading, influencing, and resolving conflicts—areas where human context and empathy are critical.
• Ethical Judgement: Ensuring AI use adheres to ethical standards, mitigates bias, and maintains security.
• Curiosity and Continuous Learning: Because skills are depreciating faster than traditional training models can keep up, lifelong learning is essential. "Learning habits"— rather than a one-time event—focusing on "learning in the flow of work".
• Agility and Resilience: The ability to adapt to new workflows and tools quickly, as jobs are ‘reconstituted’ rather than simply disappearing.

According to the World Economic Forum and industry reports, technological literacy (AI and big data) is top of the list as important employable skills, followed closely by analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, and curiosity. 

The most important skill in 2026, cited by 73% of talent seekers? Leaders who can evaluate, question, and synthesise AI-generated content to prevent ‘expensive hallucinations’.

Some final observations and guidance for potential job-seekers and students who are not sure what to do with their lives: 

• Consider jobs in the skills market, i.e. electricians, welders, plumbers, builders, as well as jobs in green-tech, health care and agriculture. 
• Soft skills are growing in importance and value, as it seems as if artificial beings will never be able to own these skills. They are things (gifts) that make us human and different from machines: ethics, judgement, reason, feelings, emotions, compassion, empathy, social togetherness and innovation, self-realisation. In other words, ‘creature skills’ that should be cultivated. 
• Then consider jobs where human interaction is key: most retail customers still prefer to interact with humans. As do animals. And patients, and the grieving and the dying, the elderly, the very young and the vulnerable, the spiritual, the enlightened, also the unloved. Use your skills in these fields and use AI to help you.  

In Conclusion:

Prepare to answer that all important question on the day when you go for the job interview:

“Can you prove that you are using AI and for which purposes?"

Good luck.