Staying confident and human-centred in the age of AI: An interview with Katherine Wiid

On 14 April, we’ll explore careers in the age of AI in an interactive workshop with Katherine Wiid, Career Management Coach and Facilitator at Career Ambitions. Ahead of the event, we spoke with Katherine about supporting career journeys, navigating change, and what changes AI will - and will not - bring to STEMM careers.

Read on to learn more—and register now for the workshop 'Human + AI: Confidently augment your career without losing what makes you special'.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what motivated you to work on supporting individuals navigating career changes?

I've always been fascinated by people and what drives them especially around the work they do. My early career in senior-level recruitment made me even more curious about the psychology behind the choices we make at work.

My first business, Recrion, offered recruitment and retention services to employers - but when the 2008 global financial crisis wreaked havoc on industries worldwide, it faced unprecedented challenges. Whilst my business survived, it was tough going. At that time many leaders in the businesses my team and I were supporting asked me to help them with their CVs and interview skills. They simply weren't used to being on the other side of the interview table. I realised then how transferable my own skills were, and I got involved in supporting hundreds of professionals across the East of England through a Response to Redundancy initiative. It was from that experience that the idea for Career Ambitions and supporting professionals through career change was born. 

Linking back to my interest in psychology, I wanted to learn more about our unconscious motivations especially at work. I went on to train to use a psycho linguistic conversational tool (the LAB Profile) based on the speech patterns we use. Being consciously aware of what drives us, how we process information and how we make decisions is key to managing our careers successfully. It certainly helped me make some important choices when I founded my Career Ambitions business and for the last 14 years I have absolutely loved what I do!

I am driven to help professionals become clear on how they can get the most from their careers.

You've supported many people through periods of professional uncertainty. What key lessons would you share for navigating change in a career?

One of the biggest things I learnt during the 2008 crash was that we don't need a crisis to change our job, career, or lifestyle. And for many us, the greatest challenge is to simply create the time and headspace to think about what we want more of and what we want less of in our careers. And then finding the courage to make the leap ….

I also see how some people are able to face the challenges of losing their jobs with a positive mindset. Others find it really hard and can't move on, which severely impacts their ability to find another role. As a coach, I help clients understand the difference between resilience and adapting, and what's actually required in the circumstances they find themselves in.

Some pointers if you are wanting to recalibrate your career. Take some time away from the distractions of work and life and then ask yourself: "Am I passively letting change happen to me?" And then: "Where do I find the belief in my own abilities to make changes in my career? What's the spark I need to step outside my comfort zone?"

What is your perspective on the impact of AI on STEMM careers, and which areas do you think will be most affected?

I spend time with my clients thinking about which tasks AI might replace in what they do - not how AI will replace their jobs. You are not competing with AI. You are a human professional who can choose to be augmented by AI whilst preserving your unique judgement, creativity, and expertise.

A Chief Scientific Officer I spoke to recently believes that AI is not going to replace humans in drug discovery anytime soon. He sees current AI mainly as assistive technology, not a direct substitute for scientists. People use "AI" as an umbrella term, but what most call AI is actually something like ChatGPT, a LLM (large language model) not general AI. It's excellent at reasoning within its design, but still limited. It's far less reliable for deep, domain-specific scientific work.

"For me, AI is like a pair of glasses. It doesn't replace your eyes; it just helps you see better. In science, we're a long way from AI replacing people." ~ Jose, CSO

Many people look at AI with apprehension around job stability and skill evolution. Can AI actually support career development?

There are some genuinely exciting career development tools coming onto the market. From career chatbots that help you navigate the complexity of finding potential career paths, to LLMs that can help you tidy up your CV or cover letter and save you a lot of time researching organisations ahead of job interviews.

On that last point, though, I'd offer a note of caution. If you're applying for roles and using a LLM, it's worth asking yourself: is this helping me stand out, or is it making me sound like everyone else? Employers and recruiters would much rather receive a slightly "flawed" application that feels real than a perfectly polished document with no soul that sounds like everybody else.

Remember — you are not competing with AI. You are a human professional who can choose to be augmented by AI, whilst preserving your unique judgement, creativity, and expertise.

You're leading the workshop 'Human + AI: Confidently augment your career without losing what makes you special'. What can participants expect from the session?

The workshop uses a practical framework to explore how participants can manage, position, and develop their careers in an AI-driven world. The session is experiential - with focused activities, clear career messages, and a four-point personal action plan for every delegate to take away.

A big part of what we explore together is how to navigate change in your career with intention. What's genuinely new right now is not change itself as careers have always involved uncertainty and reinvention (for example the 2008 economic crash, Covid, the emerging AI-driven market). What's new is the speed and the scale of it. That can feel overwhelming, particularly when the noise around AI makes it sound as though the ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet.

But here's what’s important: you have far more control in this than the noise suggests. The workshop helps participants find and hold onto that sense of control and become clear on their values, strengths, and the direction they want to move in.

That clarity is what the workshop is really about. We look at the current rapid pace of change and how we can respond with resilience, empathy, adaptability, and intuition — our human skills. Because ultimately, those are the qualities that no algorithm can replicate, and the ones that will carry you furthest. We're very much looking forward to exploring careers in the age of AI together!

Register for the workshop