The sustainability industry is projected to grow regardless of who wins the federal election.(ABC News: Alexander Govan)
Green jobs and artificial intelligence are the growing themes for jobseekers and career-changers to keep an eye on this year, a career expert says.
Dr Jennifer Luke from the University of Southern Queensland said Australia's march towards net zero means sustainability and climate sector will continue to grow.
You don't have to be an engineer or a scientist to work in what you call the green jobs or the climate sustainability jobs, Dr Luke said.
It's going to need people across all industry sectors working in that space.
Workers looking for a 'strong conscience'
The latest report from Jobs and Skills Australia identified nine growing jobs under the net zero theme — ranging from electric vehicle technician to sustainability consultant.
That trend isn't just contained to the green industry.
Electric vehicle technician is one of a number of emerging 'net zero jobs.' (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Nicol Matheson runs a recruitment company in the financial sector. He said workers are increasingly looking for companies with a strong conscience.
Many people in corporate Australia want to ensure that the corporations they're working with or even engaging with as clients have some sort of strategy or policy that is working towards net zero or at least taking that into account.
Dr Luke said the sustainability sector will continue to grow regardless of who wins the next federal election.
It's still not going to go away because from a global perspective it's still an issue. If you're dealing with other countries and other businesses overseas, they will have guidelines as well.
So, no matter what the situation is in Australia, there's still going to be an industry there.
The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs report estimates climate change adaptation will contribute five millions jobs worldwide by 2050, while climate change mitigation will create another one million.
'A weird new frontier'
The other major impact to consider is the influence of AI, Dr Luke said.
But even as it becomes more and more a part of our work, it's still early days, she said.
Everyone's still working out what they're doing with it.
I think this year's going to be very interesting to see where that all falls and where it doesn't work.
Don't let it rattle you into thinking you're obsolete.
Jobs in the sustainability field are expected to see more growth.
Entry-level skilled positions are the ones most likely to be affected by AI — unlike in previous technological advances, Dr Smerdon said.
Usually, technological innovations are a form of automation for low skilled tasks. Here it's much more likely to be the middle-income earners, he said.
A new tutor in the education sector, an entry level accountant or clerical position. These jobs are much more likely now to be under threat.
David Smerdon is a lecturer in economics at the University of Queensland. (Supplied)
Increasingly, job seekers are turning to tools like ChatGPT to simplify one of the most dreaded parts of the job-hunting process: the CV and cover letter.
But economics expert David Smerdon said the increasing number of AI-generated cover letters means the documents could be losing their impact.
He said companies are also using AI to help them filter out AI-generated applications.
It's going to be a weird new frontier where you'll largely have AI writing the application packages, and AI is largely filtering for those as well.
Levelling the playing field
Dr Smerdon said this could also democratise job hunting.
It's much easier now to apply for a job or many jobs. The time it takes to write an application and tailor it to a particular job description has become so much quicker and cheaper, he said.
People who may not have been given career coaching or life skills in terms of how to apply for jobs, this will level the playing field a bit.
Dr Smerdon said in general people aren't as good as they think they are at telling what's generated by AI, and what isn't.
He said we could even see some employers moving back to face-to-face exercises to circumvent AI.
Things like getting the shortlist applicants into a room for a day's worth of group activities that are observed.
Ultimately, that is far more time consuming than being able to work out who the best person is just from applications.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-14/2025-jobs-outlook-workforce-future-employment-green-ai-work/104798978
