Perspectives

The creeping AI threat to entry-level and early-career roles

Data Science, Human Factors

If AI is dealing with ALL administrative work, how are humans going to learn the ways of the workplace?

Finance & administration manager Samantha Duncan reflects on how AI is affecting entry level jobs and the human experience of work

At 23, I started my career in an entry-level job that let me develop my skills and start to understand all the processes involved in the workplace.

This experience came vividly to mind as I listened to technology author Parmy Olson at the recent CIPD in Scotland annual conference in Edinburgh.

The topic was how today’s generative AI boom is posing a growing threat to entry-level and early-career roles.

The experience paradox

Parmy’s core argument is one that should make every business leader pause: companies are eliminating the “grunt work” that used to train young professionals, often without a clear plan for what comes next.

The level of automation in place in some businesses and the push to utilise AI for administrative and simple tasks is causing the number of entry level jobs to reduce.

AI is now analysing documents, writing briefing notes and handling customer service queries. While this creates immediate efficiency, it removes the very tasks that allow a younger human to learn by doing. Apparently the CEO of AI firm Anthropic has predicted AI will wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs.

Those roles that are available come with an increased and more senior job description. Entry level candidates are now expected to demonstrate a level of critical and strategic thinking.

This to me is doing a disservice to university and school leavers. I was lucky enough to gain one of these entry level jobs in administration and I certainly didn’t have the level of critical and strategic thinking that I do now approaching 40.

Safe space

Where are future business leaders going to learn vital skills such as human interactions and communication across the different levels of an organisation? Administrative tasks provide a safe space to make mistakes when they aren’t yet critical to the survival of the business.

AI to me isn’t yet able to grasp the nuances of some of this administrative work. While we must adapt as technology changes, we shouldn’t blindly embrace every cost-saving measure if it means eroding our future talent pool.

As the existing workforce ages and eventually retires, will businesses have the number of suitably qualified individuals to fill these gaps or will it cause a skills shortage?

Should businesses really be automating all possible processes or keeping some back so that they can maintain the junior level roles?

Perhaps existing staff should hold back on delegating tasks to AI and let others gain the skills and experience.

In my opinion, junior employees should be given the opportunity to learn about AI to then show how they could use it to make the role more efficient without completely doing away with the role.

This is where I look to my talented colleague Kai Henderson. Kai is roughly the same age now as I was when I entered the job market. As a digital native, he is ideally placed to become one of the most valuable people in the workplace because of his strength in manipulating AI tools.

No to the removal of roles

However, there is a fine line between using AI as a tool and becoming dependent on it.

Are employers expecting too much from employees in junior roles? If the grunt work is taken out of the equation, are these roles ultimately better paid or just a way to reduce outgoings?

The lesson here for businesses is that sure, in the short term you can outsource entry-level work to AI and cut costs, but that means missing out on capturing AI-native talent.

Time efficiencies are one thing. Removals of roles are another thing entirely, and one that I think goes too far.

It could spell the difference between raising a workforce that can think strategically, and one that can’t think beyond the output of a prompt.