LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky calls the common career advice to have a five-year plan “outdated,” especially given how quickly technology is changing. 

In a recent No One Knows What They’re Doing podcast episode, Roslansky argued that the pace of change in the labor market makes long career roadmaps unrealistic. As AI and new tools reshape jobs, it is difficult to predict the state of any job or industry five years from now.

“I hear [it] a lot,” Roslansky said on the podcast. “In reality, when you know technology and the labor market and everything is moving beneath you, I think having a five-year plan is a little bit foolish.” 

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Data backs up Roslansky’s claim. According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Work Change Report, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change by 2030, driven by AI. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum estimated this year that 41% of employers plan to reduce their workforce in the coming years as AI automates tasks. The report further found that 39% of workers’ existing skills will be transformed or outdated by 2030. 

As technology quickly changes the workplace, Roslansky suggested that workers adapt by making plans for a shorter horizon.

“I would recommend people focus on maybe the next few months and a couple of things that aren’t a plan, but what do you want to learn?” Roslansky said. “That’s, I think, the right mental model in this environment.”

He said that if workers focus on these shorter steps, their career paths will open up for them. 

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Lana Peters, chief revenue and customer experience officer at performance management software company Klaar, also favors moving away from five-year career plans. Peters told Entrepreneur that in the age of AI, employees should build skills like learning and adaptability. 

“Professionals should embrace ongoing experimentation by taking on new challenges,” Peters said in an emailed statement. 

Roslansky also noted there was no such thing as a single, linear “perfect path.” Workers rarely move neatly from school to one profession to one promotion track. LinkedIn’s own data with its Work Change Report shows that most careers are zigzags. There are many job moves over a lifetime. Gen Z, in particular, is changing jobs frequently in search of growth rather than stability. 

“Chart a path in your career where you’re just trying to learn new things, get new experiences,” Roslansky said. “No one knows what’s going to happen in the next five to 10 years.”

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