AI is Replacing Entry-Level Jobs and Erasing Your Future Leaders
Written by Wayne Elsey, Founder & CEO
Wayne Elsey is the founder and CEO of Elsey Enterprises. He is also the founder and CEO of Funds2Orgs, one of his independent brands. With over 30 years of experience in social impact entrepreneurship, he helps businesses align profitability with positive global change.
I started my career at 15 in a retail footwear work-study program. Nobody hired me for what I knew, because I didn't know much. Instead, they hired me for who I might become. Today, AI is replacing entry-level jobs at a pace that should worry every leader, and too many companies have decided that betting on young people isn't worthwhile anymore. I think they'll regret it.
Here's the thing. Every executive I know started somewhere small. Somebody gave them a shot, let them make mistakes, and taught them how the business actually works. Right now, we're quietly pulling up that ladder, and most leaders haven't stopped to think about who'll be standing at the top of it ten years from now.
How AI is replacing entry-level jobs right now
This isn't speculation. In recent years, companies have started freezing entry-level hiring, and one reason is AI. Mercer's Global Talent Trends 2026 report found that 99% of executives expect AI to drive some headcount reduction within a few years, and the cuts are already showing up in the data.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that employers cited AI for 101,743 announced job cuts in the first half of 2026 alone. That's nearly double the 54,836 cuts attributed to AI in all of 2025. Who takes the hit first? Unfortunately, it's young people who lack strategic experience and can be more easily replaced by AI.
Researchers at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab used Automatic Data Processing (ADP) payroll data to find that workers ages 22 to 25 in the occupations most exposed to AI saw a 16% relative decline in employment since generative AI went mainstream. Meanwhile, employment among more experienced workers in those same jobs held steady or grew.
In other words, we're not replacing the work. We're replacing the beginning.
I understand the math, I just think it's wrong
I've run companies for a long time, and I get the spreadsheet logic. If AI can draft the report, sort the data, and answer the routine customer email, why pay someone who's 22 to do it? The answer is that entry-level jobs were never only about the tasks. They were where people learned how a business breathes and how to read a room.
My path went from that work-study program to becoming president of Kodiak Terra USA, and then to becoming a social entrepreneur. Along the way, I learned strategic leadership, operations, market expansion, and global supply chains. I learned by doing the small jobs first, getting some wrong, and having people around me who cared enough to correct me.
Your leadership pipeline is where the bill comes due
Today's junior hire is tomorrow's manager. That's what a leadership pipeline is. Cut off the intake now, and in five or seven years, you'll look around for your next generation of team leads and find an empty bench. I'm not the only one saying it. International Business Machines (IBM) announced it will triple its entry-level hiring in the United States in 2026.
Its chief human resources officer, Nickle LaMoreaux, has been candid that AI can now do much of the work that entry-level jobs involved a few years ago, but IBM's answer wasn't to delete those jobs. It rewrote them. LaMoreaux warned that cutting recruitment of people early in their careers could leave companies short of middle managers and force them to hire externally, which costs more and requires more time to integrate new hires.
So you save a little now and pay a lot later, usually by poaching talent at a premium and hoping they fit your culture. But there's another problem. Marsh found that only 32% of respondents believe their workforce can optimally combine human and machine capabilities. Therefore, companies are cutting people before they've figured out how people and AI should work together. That's backward.
Rethink entry-level hiring, don't abandon it
Avoiding AI isn't the answer, and I'm not suggesting it. The answer is to rebuild the first rung so it still holds weight. Here's where I'd start:
Rewrite entry-level roles around judgment. Let AI handle the first draft, and make the new hire responsible for checking, questioning, and fixing it. That's how IBM now uses some entry-level human resources (HR) staff, who step in when chatbots fall short.
Put new people close to customers and operations. I've spent time in warehouses with teams sorting thousands of shoes. Nothing teaches you a business faster than being close to where the work actually happens.
Pair every junior hire with someone who's weathered a few hard seasons. Experience doesn't transfer by email or text, but through proximity to seasoned pros who can share what they learned and how they pivoted.
Track your leadership pipeline, not just your headcount. Ask your team a simple question: Who are our managers in 2031, and where are they right now? That’ll force your team to look in the mirror and think of the future.
Leaders are grown, not bought
Every leader I respect started small. Somebody took a chance on them before they'd earned it. That chance is the most important investment a company makes, and it doesn't show up neatly on a quarterly report. It takes time, but it pays dividends for any business's future.
AI will keep getting better at tasks, and yes, AI is replacing entry-level jobs that used to be the first step for millions of people. That's a reason to redesign those jobs, not abandon them. If we stop giving young people a place to start, we won't have to wonder where the next generation of leaders went. We'll know because we never hired them.
Read more from Wayne Elsey
Wayne Elsey, Founder & CEO
Wayne Elsey is the founder and CEO of Elsey Enterprises. Among his independent brands, he is also the founder and CEO of Funds2Orgs. This social enterprise helps nonprofits, schools, churches, civic groups, individuals, and others raise funds while supporting micro-enterprise (small business) opportunities in developing nations and the environment.
