The job market has been a sore subject for Gen Z. The unemployment rate among young college grads sits at 5.6%, hovering near its highest level in more than a decade outside the pandemic. Meanwhile, prominent executives—from Anthropic’s Dario Amodei to Ford’s Jim Farley—have warned that artificial intelligence will slash corporate entry-level jobs.
But some companies are realizing that cutting young workers out of the pipeline isn’t a sustainable long-term strategy: $240 billion tech giant IBM just revealed it’s ramping up hiring of Gen Z.
“The companies three to five years from now that are going to be the most successful are those companies that doubled down on entry-level hiring in this environment,” Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s chief human resources officer, said this week.
“We are tripling our entry-level hiring, and yes, that is for software developers and all these jobs we’re being told AI can do.”
While she admitted that many of the responsibilities that previously defined entry-level jobs can now be automated, IBM has since rewritten its roles across sectors to account for AI fluency. For example, software engineers will spend less time on routine coding—and more on interacting with customers, and HR staffers will work more on intervening with chatbots, rather than having to answer every question.
The shift, LaMoreaux said, builds more durable skills for workers while creating greater long-term value for the company.
With job market conditions likely to stay tight for young candidates in 2026, applicants who show initiative and comfort with AI may be the ones who break through at companies like IBM. According to LinkedIn, AI literacy is now the fastest-growing skill in the U.S.
Cutting entry-level talent could backfire in the long term, according to IBM’s HR head
As AI increases pressure on companies to be leaner and more productive, early-career hiring has often looked like the simplest place to cut. A report from Korn Ferry found that 37% of organizations plan to replace early career roles with AI.
But while that strategy might be helpful with short-term financials, LaMoreaux argued, it could cause havoc in the future.
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