The job market is a sore subject for Gen Z. The unemployment rate for young college graduates remains at 5.6%, near the highest level in more than a decade, excluding the pandemic. Meanwhile, prominent executives from Anthropic’s Dario Amodei to Ford’s Jim Farley have warned that artificial intelligence will eliminate entry-level jobs in their companies.
But some companies are recognizing that removing younger workers from the pipeline is not a sustainable long-term strategy, and $240 billion tech giant IBM just revealed it is ramping up its recruitment of Gen Z.
“The companies that will be most successful in three to five years are the ones that have doubled their entry-level hiring in this environment,” Nickle Lamoreaux, IBM’s chief human resources officer, said this week.
“We’re tripling our entry-level hiring. Yes, that’s software developers and all the jobs that we’re told AI can do.”
She acknowledged that many of the responsibilities that were previously defined as entry-level jobs can now be automated, but IBM has since rewritten its roles across the sector to account for AI fluency. For example, software engineers will spend less time on routine coding and more time interacting with customers, and HR professionals will no longer have to answer every question and will spend more time intervening with chatbots.
Lamoreaux said this change will build more durable skills in employees while creating greater long-term value for the company.
The job market may remain tough for young candidates in 2026, and applicants who show positivity and comfort with AI could break out at companies like IBM. According to LinkedIn, AI literacy is currently the fastest growing skill in the US
IBM’s head of human resources says cutting entry-level jobs could be counterproductive in the long run.
As AI increases the pressure on companies to become leaner and more productive, early career hiring often appears to be the easiest place to cut back. According to a report by Korn Ferry, 37% of organizations plan to replace early career roles with AI.
But Lamoreaux argued that while that strategy may help short-term finances, it could cause havoc in the future.
Reducing the number of junior employees ultimately risks a shortage of mid-level managers. Poaching talent from competitors is likely to be costly, and external hires tend to take longer to adapt to internal systems and culture.
That’s why HR leaders need to push back, she says.
“New employees, it’s your responsibility to advocate for that,” she said. “Build the business case now, even though it may not be so obvious to leaders, because in three years, AI will make your job easier.”
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has already heeded Lamoreaux’s plea, rejecting the idea that AI will reduce opportunities for graduates.
“People are talking about either layoffs or hiring freezes, but I would actually say the opposite,” Krishna told CNN in October. “We expect to probably hire more people from universities over the next 12 months than we have in the past few years. We’ll see.”
But just a week after his remarks, IBM announced it would cut thousands of jobs by the end of the year as it shifts its focus to high-growth software and AI areas. A company spokesperson said: luck At the time, the round of layoffs affected a relatively low single-digit percentage of the company’s global workforce, and when combined with new hires, would leave IBM’s U.S. headcount roughly flat.
luck We have contacted IBM for further comment.
Like IBM, some technology companies are rethinking their talent pipelines and embracing Gen Z.
IBM isn’t the only company betting that a younger workforce could actually accelerate AI adoption. In fact, according to Melanie Rosenwasser, chief human resources officer at Dropbox, Gen Zers are actually coming into the workplace with better AI skills than their older colleagues.
“It’s like they’re riding their bikes in the Tour de France and the rest of us are still on training wheels,” Rosenwasser told Bloomberg. “To be honest, how far behind us are they in terms of proficiency?”
The file-sharing company plans to expand its internship and graduate programs by 25% to tap into the AI fluency of its younger employees.
Ravi Kumar S, CEO of IT company Cognizant, said the same. luck Last year, he said his bullish view on Gen Z would create more entry-level jobs.
“So many companies have a pyramid with school graduates at the bottom. That pyramid will get wider, shorter, and the path to expertise will be faster,” he said.
“This year, we’re hiring more graduates than ever before. I’m able to hire graduates and give them the tools to really punch above their weight. AI is an amplification of human potential. This is not an exclusionary strategy.”
