What will the career of the future look like and how can people adapt to AI? Insights from Kateryna Kuzmenko, HR Director at Kyiv Consulting.
JULY 2026 | 2 mins read
Just a few years ago, AI was perceived as a technological trend or an additional tool for process opti-misation. Today, it has become a factor that directly affects team structures, hiring approaches and the market value of individual specialists.
It is commonly believed that AI has already learned to perform a significant portion of work faster, cheaper and at scale: preparing draft presentations, conducting basic research, generating visuals, writing texts or compiling analytics. This raises the question of which skills will be valuable in the next five years, as, according to LinkedIn's Work Change Report, 70% of people will need to adapt to new market demands.
That is why the key question today is: which people will remain irreplaceable over the next five years? Together with Kateryna Kuzmenko, HR Director at Kyiv Consulting, we explore the key labour market changes already being shaped by AI development, as well as the risks emerging for professions, skills and career paths in the coming years.
It is thought that AI does not necessarily replace specialists entirely, but it is rapidly changing what exactly businesses are willing to pay for. Companies no longer need large teams to handle simple tasks. Instead, demand is sharply increasing for people who can manage processes, shape vision, work with complex systems and take responsibility for decisions.
Junior roles are currently experiencing the greatest pressure. Tasks that once served as entry points into a profession are now increasingly being handled independently by AI. This raises questions not only about certain professions but also about the entire model of career development.
Kateryna Kuzmenko believes that the greatest transformation over the next 3–5 years will affect so-called “information intermediaries” — specialists whose value has historically been based on access to knowledge or speed of information processing. These roles will not disappear completely, but their essence will change dramatically: businesses will care more about those who can make decisions.
The greatest risk today lies with office-based ‘routine-analytical’ professions: certain accounting functions, document management, candidate sourcing, screening, recruiting, junior IT positions, data analytics, assistants, coordinators and graphic designers. The market is already beginning to reassess these skills. At the same time, the value of qualities that AI still cannot fully replace is growing.
According to Kateryna Kuzmenko, the following are becoming more valuable:
01
In a world of automation, businesses increasingly value people who can take responsibility for decisions and build trust within teams and processes.
02
One of the key skills is becoming the ability to adapt quickly, make decisions and act in situations where there are no ready-made answers.
03
Communication, negotiation, empathy and the ability to be present in difficult situations remain qualities that AI cannot fully replace.
AI is creating a particular challenge for junior specialists. The very basic tasks that once formed the foundation of learning and career beginnings are increasingly being automated. As a result, the entire model of professional development is changing. Career entry is becoming more conceptual: employers are increasingly evaluating not only technical skills but also the ability to learn quickly, adapt and draw meaningful conclusions from mistakes.
At the same time, the situation strongly depends on the industry. For example, in consulting and auditing, companies often find it easier to hire junior specialists and train them according to internal processes than to search for ready-made professionals on the market. Meanwhile, in IT, banking and insurance, some junior-level functions are already being successfully performed by AI. Mass reductions of junior roles in IT only confirm this trend.
The market is also seeing growing demand for so-called hybrid specialists — people who combine deep expertise in their own field with the ability to understand adjacent disciplines, technologies and business context. This is about the ability to think across disciplines and work with complex systems.
Kateryna Kuzmenko identifies the key skill of the coming years as, “The ability to formulate the problem correctly. AI works exceptionally well with already-formed requests, but it cannot independently determine which questions are truly important. The people who can see problems more clearly than others and ask the right questions will remain the most valuable to businesses.”
“At the same time, there is a risk of gradually losing critical thinking skills due to excessive delegation of decisions to algorithms. The problem is how consciously people use AI. Technology can eliminate routine, but responsibility for judgment and final decisions remains with humans. The greatest danger is failing to notice the moment when AI starts thinking instead of us” — Kateryna says.
Despite this, the specialists who adapt best to the new work model are precisely those who view AI not as a competitor, but as a tool for enhancing their own effectiveness. This applies to analysts, consultants, designers, HR specialists and anyone capable of combining human thinking with the possibilities of technology.
The generation of specialists who studied and built their careers before the emergence of AI became accustomed to relying primarily on their own thinking. That is why the main challenge of the coming years will not be competition between humans and AI, but the ability to preserve independent thinking in a world where algorithms increasingly offer ready-made answers.
Thus, the development of AI is already transforming the labour market, hiring approaches and the very logic of career building. Simple technical skills or the ability to execute tasks quickly are no longer enough for long-term competitiveness. Instead, strategic thinking, adaptability, the ability to work with uncertainty, communication and decision-making are becoming increasingly valuable.
In the coming years, the most successful specialists will be those who learn how to work effectively alongside AI while preserving humanity’s greatest advantage — the ability to think independently.
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