The Deep View: How AI is rewriting entry-level work

Posted on August 5, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
How AI is rewriting entry-level work

AI may be causing the job market to splinter. As companies adopt AI, UK employers are increasingly prioritizing experienced workers with AI skills, raising the bar for early-career professionals, according to new data from Indeed Hiring Lab. The research finds that graduate job postings in the UK have fallen to their lowest share since 2020, even as AI-exposed occupations like software development, IT, and engineering outperform much of the broader labor market.

“The recent rise in software development hiring has focused on senior and AI-specialist roles, suggesting that employers are prioritizing experience and AI fluency over volume hiring of junior talent,” Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, told The Deep View. “That makes the skills mix more important than ever.” Overall hiring remains subdued, with U.K. job postings 11% below where they stood at the beginning of 2026.

But the slowdown is reversed when AI skills enter the equation. While hiring remains weak across many white-collar occupations, job postings that explicitly reference AI continue to surge, according to Indeed. Job postings for HR, management, marketing, and finance that mention AI are growing even as overall postings in those fields decline.”We’re seeing the relationship between AI exposure and hiring demand has flipped, with occupations most exposed to AI now seeing stronger hiring growth on average,” Kennedy said. “This is true not just for software development, but also other AI-exposed occupations.”The data suggests employers are looking to hire for experience and AI fluency.

As AI increasingly handles routine coding tasks, Kennedy said companies are placing greater emphasis on prompt engineering, code review, and quality assurance alongside traditional technical expertise.“For jobseekers, particularly those in the early stages of their career, investing in that skills combination will be the most effective way to adapt to a market that is being rapidly reshaped,” Kennedy said. “Demonstrating genuine AI competency alongside strong technical, creative and problem-solving skills is increasingly what separates candidates who progress from those who don’t.”Indeed’s findings complicate the narrative that AI is coming for jobs. Since the introduction of generative AI, economists and business leaders have speculated that AI will automate the tasks of white-collar workers, rendering many roles obsolete. Software engineers, in particular, have gotten the most heat. While studies do suggest coding roles are highly exposed to automation, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re at risk of disappearing. Instead, AI is changing the work itself. For developers, that means spending less time writing code and more time reviewing, polishing, and validating AI-generated outputs. The same dynamic is playing out in fields like marketing and advertising, where professionals increasingly use their expertise to refine AI-generated work rather than create it from scratch. The shift suggests AI literacy is becoming increasingly important for employment. That’s especially true for college graduates entering a labor market where entry-level opportunities appear to be shrinking. Still, it raises questions about the quality of the work itself. Editing AI-generated outputs may not be as satisfying as creating something original, and whether workers will embrace that tradeoff remains an open question.Aaron Mok 
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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