In Wise Design, we're actively exploring how AI can help us become better practitioners. We believe the core traits of the humans we recruit remain constant: humility, curiosity, customer focus, a growth mindset, and the ability to self-teach and create opportunity from ambiguity.

Looking back through major technological shifts - the rise of personal computers, the birth of the internet, and the advent of touchscreens - each created new careers and demanded self-taught adaptability. AI is the next driver of change, moving at an exponential rate. What defines those who thrive in any shift is agility and the ability to self-teach.

While AI can amplify our work by automating repetitive tasks, it requires human vision and insight to design entirely new experiences.

At Wise, we’re invested heavily in our internship programme which provides growth opportunities not only to help in the development of the best new talent in the industry, but also to develop future leaders by giving our designers an opportunity to try their hand at people leadership for the first time. 

Here’s some things to think about as you prepare for the start of your career and aim to convince hiring managers that you are right for their company:

• Use AI to enhance your work, not avoid doing the work, and be able to explain the difference

• Have your own position on the ethical and environmental concerns about AI

• Push your thinking in your projects to shape experiences driven by AI, rather than with AI bolted on

• You have unprecedented access to the finest minds in the industry through their blogs and podcasts. Challenge yourself to learn things by yourself, find the limits of the thinking of the industry, think beyond that. Being able to self teach will be the defining characteristic of those who succeed in any shift

• Be able to tell stories of how you found a problem and fixed it, not just solved problems you were given. These may be stories from your wider life, not just tech projects

• Be able to review the terms of use of different AI tools so that you know who owns the intellectual property you create using them

Try to weave evidence of the depth of understanding you have about AI into your preparations for interviews.

At Wise we're investing in people who are proactive- people who make things happen rather than having things happen to them. Wisers are people who create patterns, not just follow them. AI won't just change our design processes - it will change the nature of the customer experience itself and who we are.