July 11, 2025

The Impact of AI on the Workplace: Tips for Tech Professionals

7 min read

AI is evolving fast, and it’s reshaping how we work just as quickly. So how do tech professionals stay ahead of the curve?

In my last blog, I explored how AI is affecting tech recruitment from an employer’s perspective. This follow-up blog takes a look at the other side: how AI is impacting tech professionals in the workplace today.

From evolving roles to AI literacy and soft skills, I’ve pulled together five practical takeaways to help you stay relevant, resilient, and ready for what’s next. (Spoiler: you don’t need to become a machine learning engineer – but you do need to stay curious.)

1. AI Literacy is the New Baseline

I’ll start with my biggest takeaway: understanding the possibilities of what AI can (and can’t) do is super important for anyone working in the tech space. Employers are beginning to hire beyond just the technical skills required for the job itself. We’re starting to see more emphasis on AI literacy; the ability to understand and work with AI tools effectively. It’s a big topic and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but committing some time each week to understanding key developments is a good start. Here are some things to think about:

Spot AI in your current role: How is AI showing up already in your current role or specialty? What new tools are emerging? Are there features in your current tech stack powered by AI? Keep an eye on local trends as well as international developments to stay ahead.
Experiment with mainstream tools: If you haven’t already, have a play with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot to get a feel for their potential. Try using them for everyday tasks, like refining emails or summarising information, to build familiarity and confidence.
Explore industry-specific AI: Go a step further by exploring tools designed for your niche. For example, if you’re in software development, try out Tabnine, GitHub Copilot, or other AI coding assistants. If you’re in data, look for AI-enhanced BI tools. There’s likely something tailored to your space.
Identify where AI adds value – and where it doesn’t: Reflect on where AI could save you time, provide insight, or improve accuracy in your day-to-day so that you can get the most out of it. But it’s just as important to recognise where human judgement is still essential. The future of work is human + machine – not one or the other.

2. Your Role Isn’t Standing Still, and Neither Should You

In a fast-evolving tech environment, traditional job descriptions are starting to lose their rigidity. Roles are becoming more fluid, capability-focused, and increasingly shaped by emerging technologies like AI.

This doesn’t mean sweeping changes overnight – most organisations are still figuring things out, and existing roles won’t vanish anytime soon. But the work itself is shifting, and with it, the value placed on certain skills. Think of manual software testing roles that are now partially automated, or business analysts using AI tools for requirements gathering. Staying adaptable will help you stay relevant.

Here are some ways to future-proof your role and stay career-resilient:

Talk about AI at work: Have proactive conversations with your team, coworkers and manager, about how AI is showing up in your sector, and discuss how your role(s) might evolve over time. Staying informed – and showing initiative – is a key way to remain visible and involved in change.
Revisit your PD: Pull out your current position description and take a critical look. Which parts of your role are routine or repetitive? These are the areas most likely to be automated first. Identifying them early gives you the chance to upskill, shift focus to higher-value work, and stay ahead of change.
Build ‘T-Shaped’ skills: The aim here is to develop deep expertise and broad skills. Look for opportunities to pilot new tools or processes, even informally, so you’re gaining hands-on experience with emerging tech, which will be valuable in the long run.
Track your growth: Build your own personal ‘skills tracker’. Keep a personal log of new skills, tools, certifications, and even soft skills you’re building. This makes performance reviews easier and gives you a head start when applying for your next opportunity.

3. Soft Skills Are Like Superpowers

Speaking of soft skills – AI can analyse data, write reports, and even troubleshoot, but it can’t empathise, persuade, or think outside the box. This is where soft skills, or ‘power skills’ as they’re sometimes called, are invaluable. Employers are increasingly looking for:

Critical thinking: Can you spot patterns and ask the right questions?
Learning agility: Do you adapt when things change?
Communication: Can you explain ideas clearly and collaborate with others?

Make sure these strengths are front and centre in your CV, LinkedIn profile, and during interviews. And if you’re not sure how to describe them, try storytelling; use the STAR method to share a time when you had to learn fast, problem-solve, or work through ambiguity.

4. You’re Not Behind…Yet

A recent BCG report found that only 26% of organisations feel ready to unlock real value from AI. That means most businesses – and most professionals – are still figuring it out. The good news? There’s still time to get ahead. Here are a few practical (and low-cost) ways to boost your AI confidence and career resilience:

Upskill: Take a free online course tailored to your area, whether that’s data, dev, testing or BA work. Platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy offer practical, role-specific AI learning you can do at your own pace.
Stay informed: Make it a habit to read one AI-related blog or newsletter a week. Follow industry leaders on LinkedIn, subscribe to podcasts like Hard Fork or Practical AI, and mark your calendar for local events like Techweek NZ.
Volunteer: If your workplace is testing AI tools, put your hand up to get involved. No pilots yet? Suggest one! Even a small internal experiment gives you hands-on experience and positions you as someone who embraces innovation.

5. Be Someone Who Leans In

Let’s face it – conversations about AI can easily spiral into fear and uncertainty. The old “AI will replace us all” narrative might grab headlines, but it oversimplifies a much bigger story. The truth is, AI is a tool, and like any tool, the value it delivers depends on how we use it.

Across the globe, AI is already doing meaningful work: helping forecast floods, manage emergency responses, reduce waste in supply chains, and improve healthcare diagnostics. The potential is enormous, and that includes opportunities in your day-to-day role too.

You don’t need to become an AI expert overnight. But you do need the right mindset: open, curious, and proactive. The people who will thrive in the next stage of tech evolution aren’t necessarily the ones with the most technical skills, they’re the ones willing to learn, experiment, and adapt.

Here are a few thought-starters to help you lean in:

How can I use AI to do improve quality, not just speed? Look beyond shortcuts. Can AI help you test more accurately? Personalise a product feature? Improve user experience? Elevating your impact is just as important as increasing your efficiency.
What’s one thing I can learn this month? Choose something small and easy to achieve: a podcast episode, an intro course, or a case study about AI in your industry. Learning doesn’t have to be formal to be valuable.
Who can I collaborate with at work to try something new?
Innovation is a team sport. Is there someone in your team (or another department) who’s also curious about AI? Even a shared experiment or knowledge session can spark something bigger.

AI isn’t a threat – it’s a shift. And those who lean in now will be best placed to lead, shape, and thrive in the tech landscape of the future.

Progress, Not Perfection

We think the smart thing to do is stay in motion, to keep learning, experimenting and talking about what’s changing. Really, this isn’t vastly different from what has always served anyone working in the tech space. It’s always been important to be open and ready for new developments, and AI is no different in this regard.

If you’re curious about where AI might take your career next, or want help positioning yourself in a job market, please feel free to reach out. We’re making it our mission to keep discussing and sharing the shifts in the job market, and what AI means for organisations, and job seekers.

You could also check out our latest Job Market Report, which has some really valuable insights and data about how business and individuals are using AI, as well as a broader view of the New Zealand employment landscape. Check it out here.

Lucy Graham

Senior Consultant

I enjoy the buzz of the ever-changing technology world and creating a trusted connection with my candidates and clients.

The Impact of AI on Tech Recruitment: Tips for Employers

6 min read

Since the end of another great Techweek, I’ve been reflecting on the amount of AI-related content within the programme this year. While it’s not surprising given the impact of Artificial Intelligence beyond even the tech sector, I’ve noticed that it can be a tricky topic to tackle. There’s so much to dig into, and there are so many grey areas in terms of its use, that even just mentioning the subject of AI in general can be a bit polarising!

But at the end of the day, it’s hard not to talk about AI when it seems so ubiquitous. This was definitely the case when I attended Techfest in Christchurch. It was like the elephant in the room – we had to discuss it because we couldn’t escape the fact that nearly every person there had used some form of AI.

With that in mind, I got to thinking about the impact of AI in my own industry: recruitment. Artificial Intelligence is redefining tech roles, and reshaping teams and organisations across New Zealand. Rather than replacing humans (which was, and in some cases still is, a valid concern), we’re seeing it change how we work instead. So what are the impacts for tech employers, especially when workforce planning? Here are my thoughts and a few tips and advice.

Adapt Your Workforce Planning

Workforce planning used to be based on the assumption that job roles were relatively fixed and predictable. It focused on headcount forecasting, job classifications, and filling vacancies in a structured way.

But over time, business environments have become increasingly changeable, and expecting success with that more ‘traditional’ workforce planning approach is not very realistic anymore.

Today, AI is accelerating the evolution of tech jobs in ways that can make static job descriptions feel outdated before they’re even released. For example:

Data Analysts and Scientists: These roles used to be focused on data cleaning and preparation, but now AI tools are being increasingly used for automation, effectively shifting the focus more to strategic interpretation and insight generation.
Software Testers: Many repetitive, previously manual aspects of testing are being replaced with AI-driven automations, enabling testers to move into quality strategy and systems thinking roles.
IT Support Analysts: Routine troubleshooting can now be handled by AI-powered chatbots or diagnostics, pushing support roles toward more complex issue resolution, and enhancing user experience.

Recent reports suggest generative AI could redefine over 40% of all common work activities within the next few years. That’s crazy right? Nearly half of all common tasks are expected to change! I think that really helps demonstrate why a classic workforce planning approach – one that typically operated on a three-to-five year horizon, sometimes even longer – is almost obsolete.

What to Consider When Hiring

At Absolute IT, we’ve been discussing the rise in the relevance and value of soft skills in the tech sector for a number of years, and with the rise of AI, these skills are now more necessary than ever. As AI becomes embedded in the tools your team use, the ability to learn, adapt, think creatively, and solve problems, is hugely important. For employers, this means considering:

Hiring for AI literacy across all tech roles. A Harvard Business Review article notes that companies who proactively develop AI literacy across their workforces are better positioned to innovate and retain high-performing teams.
Putting as much value on soft skills, such as problem-solving and learning agility, as you do on coding languages or database knowledge.
Rewriting job descriptions to include these essential capabilities: curiosity, critical thinking, communication.

Build AI Capability in Your Leadership Team

It’s a common scenario in mid-sized or larger tech organisations: senior leaders are no longer ‘on the tools’, and in contrast, all the enthusiastic young grads are already integrating AI into their daily workflows. The issue is that this can lead to a lag in the understanding and adoption of AI at the leadership level. If your people managers don’t understand how AI is being used, or how it could be used, then they can’t support it, scale it, or lead change effectively. To tackle this, here are some ideas:

Audit AI literacy at the leadership level.
Invest in short, focused AI training for non-technical leaders.
Ensure emerging leaders, especially those from internal mobility, are upskilled before they step into decision-making positions.

Build AI Capability Across Your Organisation

More on the topic of upskilling: A 2024 report from BCG reinforces the challenges of getting tangible value from AI, with data showing that only 26% of companies surveyed had the capabilities to generate value. Developing capability across your organisation needs to be seen as an essential, ongoing commitment, because the pace of change is just too fast otherwise! When planning your workforce, a good place to start is by identifying:

Which parts of your tech stack are adopting AI fastest?
Which roles are at risk of skill redundancy? (This month/quarter and year)
Where do you need to build new capability pathways internally?

In New Zealand, some tech employers are already running internal micro-learning sprints, allocating their teams time for experimentation, and bringing in external advisors to support AI tool integration into product, dev, and infrastructure teams.

Review Your Hiring Processes

Of course, all of the above means consideration on the recruitment side of things too. If your hiring process hasn’t changed in the last few years, it might not be assessing candidates for what matters.

AI is altering the skills that are needed, but also how candidates present themselves. We’re seeing a huge increase in Chat GPT-assisted CVs and cover letters, and as candidates get more savvy at using AI, it’s becoming more difficult to spot, making it harder to evaluate authenticity. Here are some ideas for how to deal with this challenge:

Focus more on practical assessments and scenario-based interviews.
Ask about specific AI tools used in prior roles, e.g. What was used, how, and what were the outcomes?
Be alert to over-polished applications, and look for depth in how candidates talk about learning and adapting (i.e. not just surface-level observations, whi).

You might also need to reframe how you position your roles. Candidates skilled in AI will want to know: Will I be empowered to use it? Will I get to lead or experiment with AI-powered solutions?

A Positive Attitude is a Competitive Advantage

Our former PM has some thoughts on this topic, calling for a shift in how we talk about AI: from fear, to opportunity. She notes that jobs won’t disappear overnight, but they will be redefined, and we’re better served by embracing that reality. In recruitment and workforce planning, this mindset shift can be the difference between attracting top talent, or losing them to competitors, who are faster to adapt.

I’d recommend encouraging your people managers to:

Talk openly about AI as part of team culture.
Invite experimentation and learning.
Remove stigma around using AI tools in day-to-day work.

Let’s Get Started!

With all this in mind, the conclusion I’ve come to is this: AI isn’t going away, and it’s evolving fast. That means we can’t wait for the perfect ‘how-to’ guide for advice on adapting, but we can take steps towards building an AI-ready workforce.

As for the people out there wondering, “What about me as a job seeker/employee?”. Don’t worry, I’ve got some ideas! Look out for part 2 of this blog coming soon…

And as always, if you need help building a hiring strategy or workforce plan, I’m here to help – get in touch.

Lucy Graham

Senior Consultant

I enjoy the buzz of the ever-changing technology world and creating a trusted connection with my candidates and clients.