The critical importance of entry-level roles

Since the launch of ChatGPT, entry-level job postings have dropped by nearly a third in some markets as AI takes on more of the routine work that once defined early careers. This isn’t just a shift in how work gets done, but a shift in how organisations are building their future workforce.

 

Search ‘AI and jobs’ and the narrative is clear: companies are scaling back entry-level and early-career hiring, and are instead using technology to automate tasks that were previously handled by junior, temporary, or part-time roles. In this way, AI is increasingly stepping in for junior talent, taking on the operational and administrative work that used to form the foundation of early-stage professionals.

 

On the surface, it makes sense. When businesses are under pressure to move faster and do more with less, using technology to handle routine work feels like the obvious move. But this is where organisations risk getting it wrong. Entry-level roles aren’t just about getting work done. They’re where people learn how to think, collaborate, and grow. They’re where future managers, specialists, and leaders begin.

 

Remove that starting point, and you’re not just changing how work happens today – you’re shaping what your workforce looks like tomorrow, removing the most established route through which people become experienced hires.

 

 

Redesigning entry-level roles

For organisations thinking long-term, the question isn’t whether entry-level roles should exist, but what they should look like now. When fewer people enter the workforce at a junior level, the impact doesn’t show up straight away – it builds over time. Skills gaps start to appear, roles take longer to fill, and the cost of experienced talent begins to rise.

 

Therefore, rather than removing entry-level roles altogether, leading organisations are rethinking them to contribute more today while still building the capabilities they’ll need in the future.

 

In practice, this comes down to three shifts.

 

 

1.   Designing roles that create value from day one

The biggest change is in what entry-level roles actually look like in practice. Many of these roles were built around repetitive, admin-heavy tasks in the past, like searching for documents, manually cleaning up databases, or formatting spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. Work that needed to be done, but didn’t always help people understand how the business really operates.

 

With AI now taking on much of that work, there’s an opportunity for businesses to rethink not only the experience itself, but what they expect early-career employees to contribute..

 

Instead of sitting on the sidelines, early-career employees can spend more time close to the work that matters. Things like shadowing experienced colleagues, seeing how decisions are made, and understanding how people and technology work together daily.

 

They can take on meaningful pieces of work earlier, contribute to discussions, and bring fresh perspectives that more established teams often miss. Doing this well requires a shift in how businesses think about early-career talent. It requires a move away from the assumption that quality is tied to experience alone, and towards trusting less experienced employees with work that genuinely contributes.

 

That shift doesn’t just improve output; it changes how people learn. They build confidence earlier, develop better judgement, and start adding real value much sooner.

 

 

2.   Designing roles with a clear next step

Redesigning the role itself is only part of the picture. What matters just as much is what it leads to. If entry-level roles are the starting point for future capability, then people need to understand where that starting point can take them.

 

The organisations doing this well make that visible early on. Not through rigid career paths, but by showing how people can grow. That might mean exposure to different teams, opportunities to take on more responsibility, or simply clearer conversations about progression from the outset.

 

Just as importantly, progression needs to reflect the changing nature of entry-level roles. With these individuals taking on more meaningful and challenging work from day one, follow-on roles need to continue that trajectory. They need to build on those skills, increase complexity, and maintain a clear sense of momentum.

 

Because when people can see how their role connects to something bigger, and feel their development is continuing at pace, they’re far more likely to stay, grow, and invest in it.

 

 

3.   Supporting early-career talent

Redesigning entry-level roles is only part of the equation. What matters just as much is whether the teams around those roles are set up to support junior hires.

 

When fewer early-stage professionals enter the workforce, another gap begins to emerge: managers and teams lose recent experience of working with – and developing – entry-level talent. As a result, the decline in entry-level roles has a knock-on effect, weakening managers’ ability to build and grow future talent.

 

Expectations have shifted at the same time. As early-career employees are given the opportunity to contribute to meaningful work from day one, the level of responsibility they take on earlier in their careers is increasing. But without the right support, that shift can quickly become overwhelming rather than developmental.

 

Businesses doing this are focusing just as much on the team as they are on the role.

 

They are equipping managers with the skills to support less experienced employees – from giving clear direction and regular feedback to knowing when to step in and when to step back. They are also creating team environments where learning is part of how work gets done, not something that happens separately, combining hands-on guidance with tools that enable early-career employees to sense-check their own work. In practice, that might mean more structured onboarding, clearer ownership of work, using AI-enabled tools to support learning and consistency, or simply making time for guidance and feedback in the flow of day-to-day work.

 

Because even the best-designed entry-level role will struggle to deliver value if the team around it isn’t prepared to support it.

 

The pressure on experienced hiring isn’t going away. If anything, it’s increasing.

 

Organisations that rely on the external market to fill senior roles will find themselves competing for a smaller, more expensive pool of talent.

 

The ones that get ahead of this are the ones that get entry-level roles right. They treat them as the foundation of long-term capability – not just a way to get work done today, but a way to build the people they’ll need tomorrow.

 

Because entry-level roles don’t just shape organisations – they shape access to opportunity. And as those roles evolve or disappear, businesses play a direct role in determining who gets the chance to enter and progress within the workforce in the first place. 

 

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Toby Hough is VP of People at HiBob

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and skynesher