The AI and Data Employment Struggle: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market
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Introduction
Everyone is on the lookout for opportunities. Whether you’re a professional seeking an AI and Data job or a tech founder of an AI and data consulting company hunting for clients, the search for employment is a common struggle. But why do some professionals and tech founders seem to always find successful employment, while others are left behind?
In our crowded marketplace, opportunities are scarce. Unemployment is on the rise, and it’s not just a problem for professionals. Tech founders, too, are feeling the pinch, struggling to secure the opportunities they need to stay afloat.
Think about it: when was the last time you heard about a tech founder of an AI and data startup going bankrupt? It happens all the time, often because they can’t find enough opportunities. The dictionary tells us that employment means “the state of having paid work.” This applies to both professionals and tech founders. When either is without paid work, they’re unemployed.
We all dream of a world where professional has a job and every tech founder thrives. Sadly, that’s not our reality. Unemployment rates are high everywhere, even in the so-called developed countries. AI and data business are closing their doors every day due to a lack of opportunities.
But here’s the twist: some professionals and tech founders seem to have more opportunities than they can handle.
- What’s their secret?
- How do they manage to succeed where others fail?
That’s what we’re here to find out.
In the next few sections, I’ll reveal what these successful people and businesses are doing to secure a steady stream of employment, year in and year out.
The Dilemma of Employment
Let’s delve deeper into the dilemma of employment. Professionals are looking up to tech founders for job opportunities, while these tech founders are also searching for opportunities. So, who helps whom? The struggle for employment is critical because the success of any society depends on how well it can provide opportunities for both professionals and tech founders running businesses.
Consider a startup in the AI and data sector. Their goal might be to help professionals transition into AI roles by providing the necessary skills. This startup hopes to create job opportunities by hiring trainers and support staff, but they can only do so if they attract enough professionals seeking AI training. In this way, professionals and tech founders must work together to create employment opportunities.
Demand and Supply of Employment
This brings us to the crucial concept of demand and supply in employment. From basic economics, we learn that equilibrium is reached when supply balances demand. Unfortunately, this is rarely true in the real world. We live in a world where the supply and demand for employment opportunities are often unbalanced. Tech founders struggle to create enough jobs (supply) for the increasing number of professionals entering the job market (demand). On the other hand, there are many tech founders offering the same AI and data consulting services to limited customers, reducing overall demand. In such a state, unnecessary competition arises, meaning some professionals and tech founders will inevitably miss out and be left unemployed.
It might be tempting to Instead aim for a balanced economy—which doesn’t exist in reality—This unbalanced demand and supply isn’t necessarily bad depending on the view point. The goal should be for professionals and tech founders to position to attract high demand for their services. This requires identifying and seizing new opportunities that others are overlooking, effectively becoming a monopoly in your defined niche.
Competition vs. Monopoly
Let’s explore the dynamics of competition versus monopoly. At face value, you probably don’t like monopolies. But to be truly successful, you need to become a monopoly in your niche. When we talk about monopoly, we mean owning your own world without competition or at least not being threatened by others offering similar services.
This concept might seem unrealistic because we live in a society where opportunities appear limited. The job market is congested and highly competitive for both AI and data professionals and tech founders who rely solely on publicly announced opportunities. To understand this better, let’s look at how AI and data opportunities are distributed in companies.
At the top of the pyramid, only 3% of job opportunities are announced. These are the opportunities where companies have identified a problem, devised a possible solution, defined the skills needed to solve the problem, and then made an open call for applications.
As an AI and data professional or tech founder, if your strategy to acquire opportunities is only through this means, then you face tight competition because almost everyone is vying for that 3%. Instead, you should aim to avoid competition at all costs. To do so, you must seek the 97% of opportunities that lie below the top of the pyramid. The further down you go, the more opportunities you find, with less competition, allowing you to become a monopoly.
Becoming a Monopoly
Avoiding competition and becoming a monopoly requires a change of mindset and approach to the job market. As shown in the figure above, the companies at the bottom require a different approach. These companies need help identifying problems that prevent them from achieving their goals, figuring out solutions, and defining the skills needed to solve these problems. They need someone who can help answer these questions and grow their business. This means positioning yourself as a problem solver. You need to be not only good at executing but also at identifying problems and seeking solutions that most cannot.
For example, consider a tech founder who specializes in using AI to streamline clinical trials in the life sciences industry. By identifying inefficiencies in the current process and offering innovative solutions, they can carve out a niche market. Similarly, an AI professional might focus on developing predictive analytics tools for healthcare providers, addressing a specific need that hasn’t been widely recognized yet.
This mindset is stimulated when you start seeking to identify problems that no one else sees. With this approach, you begin carving your own path in the market, free from competition, and becoming a monopoly in your niche, which you comfortably dominate.
This many sound challenging because our education system has taught us to learn, get certificates, and then go after announced opportunities. That formula worked in the 19th and part of the 20th century but is becoming increasingly obsolete today.
By positioning yourself to identify and solve unique problems, you create a demand for your skills that is not contingent on the limited opportunities everyone else is chasing. This strategic positioning allows you to dominate your niche, becoming a monopoly in your field, and ultimately leading to sustained success in the competitive AI and data industry.
The Way Forward
By now, you should understand the main message: there are still many untapped opportunities, but you can’t find them in plain sight. You need to dig deeper and intentionally seek to identify problems in a small niche that no one is addressing. By doing so, you can mark your own space, free from competition, with an abundance of opportunities.
Building this mindset might be challenging at the beginning. Therefore, I will provide two separate frameworks in the following paragraphs—one for non-tech professionals and another for tech founders of AI and data consulting companies.
Unlocking Potential for Non-Tech Professionals
You might not realize the value of your non-tech educational background because you haven’t had the chance to put it into practice. However, you can leverage that knowledge in combination with AI and data skills to create and access new, untapped opportunities free from competition. To help you with this process, I have designed the Education to Professional Employment (E2PE) framework. This framework will guide you in transitioning into AI and data within 3-6 months, guaranteeing a 10-50% increase in salary. By studying this framework, you will be able to:
- Identify which specific career paths in AI and data are suitable for you based on your educational background and past experience.
- Identify the minimum AI and data skills needed to equip and prepare you to tackle unique challenges in your industry.
- Gain work experience by executing projects that solve problems faced by companies in your industry.
- Position yourself in the job market as a unique and unchallenged candidate equipped to solve industry-specific problems.
You can get a free copy of the E2PE framework report using this link.
Empowering Tech Founders of AI and Data Consulting Companies
There’s no doubt you have the technical expertise in AI and data, which is why you started your consulting company to serve clients in your industry. However, it doesn’t matter how well-defined your technical expertise and services are if you fail to communicate their value effectively. Your potential clients need to see how you will exceptionally solve their number one problem better than existing solutions in the market.
Your goal should be to create enough attraction to guarantee your business high-value deals every month. To help you achieve this, I have designed the brand-new Graffiland-Biz innovation and growth marketing system. This system will help guarantee your business at least 2-5 high-value AI and data deals every month without requiring extra investment in marketing and sales. You can grab a free copy of this framework by using this link.
Conclusion
There is no gain in being just one of the infinite players in the game-field of AI and Data. Your goal should be to uniquely differentiate yourself to avoid competition and become a monopoly in a game where you set the rules. To achieve this, you need to stop thinking conventionally and start solving problems that everyone else is overlooking.
There is an abundance of AI and data opportunities still untapped. You won’t find them in the marketplace where everyone is looking and waiting eagerly to grab them as soon as they are announced.
Create your own small AI and Data world and become a monopoly.
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