👋 Hello!

Welcome to the sixth edition of The Early Impact, the newsletter that provides you with news, updates and resources on how to build your career as an emerging professional.

It’s a new financial year, and I’d say I’ve started it off well. Yes, I did take my pedal off the gas called “LinkedIn,” but I’ve taken the time to realign myself for how I want the rest of the year to look, connected with some new individuals, and am ready to smash the next half of 2024.

Let’s get into it!

📰 News & Updates

The monthly roundup of emerging professional news and updates

• 77% of employees report AI has increased workloads and hampered productivity, study finds: Despite 96% of C-suite executives expecting AI to boost productivity, the study reveals that 77% of employees using AI say it has added to their workload and created challenges in achieving the expected productivity gains. Not only is AI increasing the workloads of full-time employees, it’s hampering productivity and contributing to employee burnout (Forbes).

• Job mobility falls for the first time in three years, returning to pre-pandemic levels: Fewer Australians are leaving their jobs or starting new ones than since before the pandemic, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has found. However, Gen Z are more likely to leave their jobs than other generations (ABC).

• More workers feel stuck in their jobs. Bosses are responding: Employers are reassessing how they praise staff and helping individuals connect their work to a broader purpose, as they try to re-energise a rising number of employees who feel stuck in their jobs due to a weakening labour market (AFR).

• Office gets busier as job market tightens: New data suggests the sharp uptick in office attendance at the start of the year has marked the beginning of a longer-lasting shift (AFR).

📑 Publications

Useful references, documents, and sources

• State of the Global Workplace: This annual report represents the collective voice of global employees. In this year's report, Gallup examines the role of work in employee mental health and wellbeing. One thing to note: $8.9T was lost in global GDP due to low employee engagement (Gallup).

• 2024 Australian Graduate Salary Guide*: Over 700 submissions covering ~150 companies and firms in corporate Australia across the graduate market's biggest and most competitive industries. *Based on anecdotal community feedback. Salaries have not been verified (The Aussie Corporate).

📢 Opportunities

Professional growth opportunities that can help shape your future

• Devpost: Join the world's best online and in-person hackathons. Multiple hackathons are listed here.

• Tech Council: Virtual Work Experiences for young learners to explore technology careers and jobs for free.

• Kaggle: Grow your data science skills by competing in exciting competitions. Multiple competitions are listed here.

• Google: Build incredible apps with the Gemini API! It's your chance to make a real difference - or just have some serious fun in the Gemini API Developer Competition.

• Career Diary: Find your passion. Join a community. Explore new hobbies. Multiple different opportunities are listed here.

• Hackathons.com.au: a curated list of upcoming hackathons and STEM challenges in Australia, New Zealand, and around the globe. Multiple hackathons and STEM challenges are listed here.

🗓️ Events

Online and In-Person events for progressing your career

• Build Club: A community of AI Engineers, researchers and builders pushing the frontier of AI forward. Join us and build your startup with a community who cares about AI. Multiple events are listed here.

• QPay: Discover university clubs, events, and merch. Multiple events are listed here.

• Sydney AI, Data and Tech Events: The hottest technology and AI events in Sydney! Multiple events are listed here.

• Melbourne AI, Data and Tech Events: The hottest technology and AI events in Melbourne! Multiple events are listed here.

🧠 Thought Leadership

Expertise, insight, opinions and experience in careers

• Why confidence in your skills is crucial in the age of AI: 3 key points across the article: interpersonal skills are challenging for tech to duplicate, AI doesn’t equal critical thinking, and creativity is uniquely human (Forbes).

• How to convince your employer to cover training: Find out if your employer offers reimbursement and provide an outline for structuring your request (LinkedIn).

• Why saying “No” is critical to protecting your personal brand: 4 key points across the article: you must draw lines in the sand, standing your ground has its limits, flexing your principles does happen, and walking away shapes your narrative, and authenticity fuels strong personal branding (Forbes).

• 5 work perks that everyone should look out for: Perks that support wellbeing, community and connection, your quality of life, your experience, and your happiness (Forbes).

• How to stand out at work without stepping on toes: The article makes four key points: engage others—how we communicate, spend time—how we approach work, handle wins—how we celebrate our achievements, and manage conflicts—how we handle tricky conversations (Forbes).

• A beginner’s guide to surviving a business conference: If you don’t know why you’re at an industry gathering, you need to devise a strategy. Here’s what you need to know (AFR).

• Four traits that standout out among the 2024 BOSS Young Executives: This year’s BOSS Young Executives have a desire to master the task at hand, collaborate and inspire - and they are tech savvy (AFR).

• The six tips that stuck with 2024’s BOSS Young Executives: There’s no single route to the top. But a few good habits will help you on your way (AFR).

• The top skills leaders need to succeed this decade: Knowing how to get the most out of hybrid working and generative AI are among the skills that leaders need today. The future will call for much more (AFR).

• How to deal with being the youngest in the office: What’s the advice for the ‘babies’ of the office for coping with age stereotypes you may face in the world of work (The Conversation)

🛠️ Featured Tool

One great career tool you need

This is maybe a little bit different from the other career tools that I have suggested, but it's a self-help podcast called “The Psychology of Your 20s,” which discusses the science and psychology behind a topic, concept, or universal experience that defines people’s 20s, from dating to mental health, career anxiety, friendship, finances, and all the growing pains associated with this decade.

🃏Quick Extra

A bonus from me

A couple of articles in this month’s newsletter reference “AI,” but it can be a confusing topic to navigate.

Fortunately, The Verge wrote an article titled “AI is confusing—here’s your cheat sheet,” which helps you understand the world of AI by explaining what the most common AI terms mean and why they’re important.

You’ll learn what AI is, what AI models are, how AI models get their info, a couple of extra terms, and then some examples of AI tools you’ve likely heard of.

…and that’s all for this month’s edition of The Early Impact. Feel free to hit 'reply' and let me know how I did!

Cheers,

Noah

P.S. I post on LinkedIn too if you want to see more frequent content from me!