Unlocking the AI Career Frontier: Prompt Engineering in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

iStock | Akarapong Chairean

There’s been a lot of recent completely justifiable panic over artificial intelligence (AI). This week CNN reported, “…the technology behind ChatGPT could make mind-reading a reality.”  A fake AI-generated photograph showing an explosion near the Pentagon posted on a “verified” Twitter account went viral and had to be debunked. Striking Writer’s Guild members demand producers pledge not to use AI to generate the content that is their talent, calling, and livelihood. AI is on the go. A couple clicks and it’s on your phone. AI is singing songs and picking stocks. Did I mention Artificial General Intelligence? This is not a joke. This is not science fiction. This is happening.

However, let’s remember that AI is powered by HI - human intelligence. We are still in charge. Until Skynet goes live, AI serves us and it’s time to take a more tempered and practical (and proactive) view of what’s going on. Soon, the feckless U.S. Congress will enter the fray with a slate of ineffective regulations written by the tech industry and we’ll all be paying through the roof to use AI. Meanwhile, AI is the wild west and it just rode into town at high noon with guns blazing.

Right now, there are two players in the new boomtown called AI. Townspeople thrust into the AI world as it roars in like a new train line, and the gunslingers of AI prompt-engineering. The beauty of AI-powered tools like ChatGPT is in their simplicity. It’s a one-step process. You ask a question – a prompt – in the same way you would ask a person and it returns content. However, results may vary. The content is only as good as the prompt. The better the prompt, the better the content. It’s simply that complex.

AI is out there for anyone to use. The more you use it, the better you become at prompting. Chances are your company is already exploring AI technology to accelerate its business goals and it’s only a matter of time until the memo goes out. Chances are greater that memo will be treated with the same warm and fuzzy feelings people get when they’re fired and asked to train their replacement before the door hits them on the way out.

Don’t Panic! Keep calm and embrace the prompt. Once your employer figures out a way AI can benefit the bottom line, like it or not you will need to learn how to use it just like any other application your company uses. Oh, and there may be mandatory training sessions and possibly a new cottage industry of certifications. The good news for the townspeople (this author included) is while Skynet may not be live, Promptnet is. The rise of AI isn’t occurring in a vacuum. Its supporting players are on every corner and in every saloon.

Want to learn the basics or master prompt engineering? YouTube, Coursera, and Udemy have many tutorials and courses to choose from. Or maybe PromptHero is more your speed, which offers courses and is also an online community. Learnprompting.org is another educational resource and online community. Just to name a few.

How about user-rated prewritten prompts? PromptHero, FlowGPT, and Prompts.chat got you covered. Want to buy and sell prompts? PromptBase and Prompt.AI are online prompt marketplaces. Just to name a few. Everybody is moving to boomtown and they’re making it easy for you to apply your human intelligence to learn artificial intelligence.

In the new rugged sexy world of AI prompt engineering, the most important buzzword is money. Money is why this previously non-existent skill is rolling off people’s tongues and into your newsfeed. BusinessInsider reported there was a job listing on Indeed.com for an AI prompt engineer with a salary of $335,000. For some reason, that got people’s attention.

Here are five facts sourced from a comprehensive overview of AI prompt engineering on PCMag.com. A link to the full article follows.

1. AI Prompt Engineers write prompts to achieve best-of-class results from AI tools and/or write copy to test and teach AI systems.

2. Currently, there are around 1000 job openings for AI-prompt engineers in the United States and around 200 of them pay six figures.  

3. The immediate outlook for AI prompt engineers is stellar, but views on their long-term prospects range from ‘prompt-engineering will be a big percentage of jobs’ to ‘prompt engineering is a specialized skill now but will become obsolete’ as AI technology evolves and the system become auto-prompting.

4. “AI whispering” is slang for prompt engineering because it’s more art form than science. Individuals with above-average writing skills have a head start. The better the prompt, the better the content.

5. Writing is rewriting. Prompt engineers hone their prompts until they achieve the best results. This requires a mastery of language, rigor, and analytical skills.

Whether a gold rush that will fizzle out or the new literary masters of the Age of AI, prompt engineers are the latest rage. You can deep dive into this topic by reading PCMag.com’s excellent primer, “Weird New Job Alert: What Is an AI Prompt Engineer.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Taking Charge of Your Job Search: Don't Wait for Offers, Make Them Happen

iStock | StarLineArts

You are the force that must move your job search along. You can’t just wait for the offers to come rolling in.

Let’s agree that it is much easier to be a body at rest than a body in motion. It’s easy to push, defer, procrastinate, and pencil things in like updating your resume or writing a cover letter until after you binge-watch just one little show – all five seasons of it. Getting a new job isn’t just competitive, labor-intensive, rote, and stressful. It’s also the fear of rejection and being forced to start all over again. There are a lot of reasons to think about it tomorrow.

However, the reasons to be a body in motion are far greater. It’s obvious the primary reason is economic. There are people everywhere in the world who have such deep resources that work is an option. If you’re not one of those people, and regardless of how financially successful you may be, chances are you can’t weather unemployment for too long before the “stressful” part of a job search starts to kick ass and take names.

A lucrative job doing exactly what you are qualified to do at a company that overcompensates its employees and provides free lunch for all employees prepared by a Michelin Star chef and operates out of a luxury building less than a block from where you live was posted on every job board for a week but you never saw it because you were doing something other than finding work. Your job search cannot stop by itself. Only you can stop it. Stop stopping it.

Instead, consider the following:

1.     Do Not Paint by the Numbers: The numbers look great! As of April 2023, the national unemployment rate is at a fifty-year low of 3.4%  - down from 14.7% in April 2020 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). That is a remarkable drop. However, the Federal Reserve interest rate increases have unemployment in its crosshairs and are designed to inflict pain on the job market. Coupled with other inflation pressures the immediate future of the job market is uncertain. Don’t rely on the historical low of the unemployment rate to indefinitely work in your favor.

2.     Focus on What You Can Control. Inflation. Recession. Bank meltdowns. Cryptocurrency fraud. We’re inundated with negative economic news that can make it difficult to keep your balance. Do not get discouraged by the noise. Tune out the doomsayers and focus on what you can control – submitting resumes, writing cover letters, hitting the job boards, etc. Shrink your world to your best prospects and the best ways to break into them.

3.     Keep Up Momentum. Finding a job works on the honor system. You are the only person to whom you are accountable. If you put forth less effort than you are capable you increase the chances you will end up in the wrong position. There are many ways to keep you on track and you have to find the best ones for you. It may be committing to a certain number of hours per day or creating task lists that you must complete. If you have the financial resources, there are many professionals standing by to guide you through the process including, but not limited to, professional resume writers, career counselors, and for students or recent graduates (it’s May!) career centers and alumni groups.

4.     Attack your network. Yes, attack. Searching for a job is the one-time people expect you to be aggressive. If it’s against your nature, then get over it. Adapt and overcome. Nobody is going to blame you for taking the steps you need to take to find employment. Reach out to whomever you can. Get on the phone and speak with mentors. Notify professional contacts you’re looking for work. Activate your “Open to Work” frame on your LinkedIn account. Wear a neon sign around your neck that says, “Will Work For  Tons of Money.” Keep in mind there is a fine line between being aggressive in your job search and being downright annoying. Respect traditional boundaries.

5.     Be realistic. Don’t let up, but don’t beat yourself up either. While circumstances vary and predictions cannot apply to everyone, on average it takes five months to find a new job from the time you submit a resume to the time you are hired (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Sometimes less, sometimes more, depending on the overall economy and a variety of other external factors. Experienced professionals in managerial and executive roles should keep in mind their job searches may be on the higher end of the average as there are fewer jobs available.

The best job you’ve ever had is waiting for you to claim it. Find it.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

What To Do When Salary Negotiations Go South

iStock | feedough

You breeze through a series of interviews, your references sing your praises, and you pass your background check with flying colors. Your soon-to-be employer extends a job offer that you’re ready to accept. Mission accomplished! Time to pick out that new Tesla!

The offer arrives and your initial euphoria subsides in the face of a new reality – the compensation package doesn’t meet your expectations and you must shift from work mode to salary negotiation mode. You respond with what you believe is a reasonable counteroffer. It is met with silence and suddenly you can’t HR on the phone. What should you do?

1.     Don’t jump to conclusions. There are many reasons the final stage of getting a new job may take longer than you think. It is easy to become impatient and imagine many different scenarios without any reason or evidence. Even if you’ve followed up multiple times without a response doesn’t mean your counter-offer is the cause. Let’s say, however, that the company wasn’t expecting a counter-offer and the delay is because they are deciding how to proceed. 

2.     Salary negotiations are win-win. Your salary is significant. Not only on day one, but it sets your starting point for future compensation increases. However, you and the company are equally happy to reach this stage. Nobody wants to start over. Don’t panic and approach the situation with a measured proportional response. Focus on finding common ground. It’s a negotiation.

3.     Review your counter-offer. Is it as reasonable as you believe? What criteria did you use to determine your numbers? Previous job? Market rate? Did you consult Payscale.com? Do your research and make sure your metrics are beyond reproach. You may need to defend your position and it can’t be, “I want more”. Choose the deal points on which you are willing to be flexible and decide your deal breakers (if any).

4.     Do everything you can to restart discussions. Reach out to whoever made the offer. Email. Leave voicemails. Put the ball in their court. Reiterate you want to work at the company and are ready to align on the final details. At this stage, you still don’t know what the sticking points are or how involved the negotiations will be.

5.     Listen! You have them on the phone. Now what? Listen to what they have to say. Once you know their position you can initiate an informed dialogue. Try and understand their position and reasoning behind their original offer. Use open-ended and conciliatory language, but most of all listen. 

6.     Make your case. You may be told that the original offer is the only one and that you can take it or leave it. In other cases, you may have wiggle room to negotiate. Since you did your homework and prepared in advance, it should be easy to lay out how you arrived at the numbers in your counter-offer, why you believe they are reasonable, and, most importantly, the value you will bring to the company that justifies the extra money or perks you ask for. If you negotiate in good faith, you may be able to move the needle.

7.     Don’t burn bridges. If final negotiations go smoothly, it’s time to resume your hunt for the perfect chair. However, some unions aren’t meant to happen. Negotiations break down. Sticking points can’t be unstuck. Be professional. Thank them for their time. Follow up with a written thank you note. You never know what the future will bring.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.