This video is what I would tell myself if I were starting a career or rethinking my career today—because man, it is rough out there. I’ve been watching fresh grads from top schools struggle for a year to find work, and people with a few years of experience get laid off from “safe” places like consulting, banks, and tech. I dug into reports from places like the World Economic Forum and McKinsey to understand what’s actually happening, and two big trends keep showing up: (1) cost of living and business costs are insanely high, which makes companies more conservative, and (2) technology—especially AI—plus the perception that AI will replace jobs, is slowing hiring even if most companies don’t actually have mature AI strategies. Then there’s the weird dilemma: tons of people can’t get hired, but employers also say they can’t fill roles. My hypothesis is that skills are changing faster than traditional education can keep up, and because training is an “investment,” companies don’t want to do it right now. They want people who can already keep pace. So what do you do? The differentiator I’ve seen in people in their 20s and 30s who are thriving is initiative—learning what’s not taught in school, reaching out, building leverage, and (highest ROI, in my opinion) freelancing on real projects to get real skills. In a world moving toward human + agentic AI workflows, you need AI literacy plus higher-cognition and soft skills—and you need to own your career trajectory.