{"id":286863,"date":"2026-07-07T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/07\/the-real-problem-with-entry-level-jobs-its-not-ai\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T17:40:08","slug":"the-real-problem-with-entry-level-jobs-its-not-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/07\/the-real-problem-with-entry-level-jobs-its-not-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real Problem With Entry-Level Jobs (It\u2019s Not AI)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Real Problem With Entry-Level Jobs (It\u2019s Not AI)<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/markcperna\/2026\/07\/07\/the-real-problem-with-entry-level-jobs-its-not-ai\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-07-07 13:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.forbes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Entry-level roles should never have been about \u2018grunt work.\u2019 In the age of AI, companies need a more strategic approach.<\/p>\n

Organizations need to redesign entry-level roles<\/span><\/p>\n

getty<\/p>\n

Entry-level jobs are broken, and it\u2019s not just because of AI. <\/p>\n

According to new data from ICIMS, 78% of Generation Z sees artificial intelligence as a major detriment to their early-career opportunities. They\u2019re not wrong, but there\u2019s a bigger problem here\u2014and one that predates the rise of AI. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with entry-level jobs has only been accentuated with the topic of AI,\u201d says Trent Cotton, Head of Talent Insights, ICIMS. \u201cThe real problem is that many of the roles were designed incorrectly. <\/p>\n

\u201cHiring a recent college grad should be more about building your internal pipeline and less about finding someone to do the \u2018grunt work\u2019 of the role.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Grunt work,\u2019 or repetitive tasks, is what AI does most effectively, at least right now. This can give companies a unique opportunity to make entry-level roles more strategic\u2014if they can think beyond AI as merely a way to reduce headcount and cut costs. <\/p>\n

I recently connected with Cotton to talk about the true state of entry-level jobs and how Gen Z is grappling with this changing job market. Here\u2019s what we covered. <\/p>\n

2 major obstacles for Gen Z<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve noted before how every generation seems to feel they have a uniquely tough set of circumstances to navigate. And while a little perspective can help, it\u2019s also true that Gen Zers just entering the workforce are facing early-career headwinds from several different directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeneration Z has a distinct set of frustrations regarding entry-level job postings, primarily centering around unrealistic employer expectations and the shrinking availability of roles due to automation,\u201d says Cotton. \u201cOver half (59%) of Gen Z candidates agree that companies now expect entry-level applicants to already have mid-level experience. Gen Z feels the requirements on these postings…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Real Problem With Entry-Level Jobs (It\u2019s Not AI) https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/markcperna\/2026\/07\/07\/the-real-problem-with-entry-level-jobs-its-not-ai\/ Publish Date: 2026-07-07 13:00:00 Source…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":286864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/imageio.forbes.com\/specials-images\/imageserve\/6756fada36bb838905a9a32b\/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&height=900&width=1600&fit=bounds","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-286863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286865,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286863\/revisions\/286865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}