There’s been a lot of chatter about the difficulties today’s graduates are facing—a brutal job market, record underemployment and the vanishing of entry-level jobs, courtesy of AI.

I’m not going to tell you there’s no truth to a lot of that. Young people are stepping into a labor market that is shifting too constantly to gain sure footing, and the only certainty is that more change is sure to follow.

But as someone who’s been hiring entry-level workers for close to 20 years, I’m going to let you in on a secret: the market you’re entering today may be tough, but the qualities that made someone hireable in years past are the same qualities that make someone hireable now.

First, it’s important to separate fact from fiction when it comes to today’s employment landscape. A hard truth is that entry-level jobs are indeed among the first on the chopping block thanks to AI’s ever-expanding capabilities.

That’s because so many of the tasks assigned to fresh graduates tend to be those that are also easiest to automate—the dull, repetitive stuff that AI can mostly do faster and cheaper. Research from Revelio Labs has found that postings for entry-level jobs in the U.S. have plunged by 35 percent in the last 18 months. That’s a tough stat to swallow.

But smart organizations understand the value of young workers and the risks of replacing them with bots. The first rung on the corporate ladder may not seem important, but it’s the place where tomorrow’s leaders learn the ropes—technically, socially and creatively. Experienced managers, directors and executives all had to cut their teeth somewhere. As Amy C. Edmondson and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic write for Harvard Business Review, “entry-level jobs—by providing safe spaces to try, fail, and try again, where the stakes are lower than at the top—are vital for building adaptive and confident professionals.”

While some organizations may be slashing their entry-level workforce, the wiser play is to rethink what those roles look like.

Shore Up Your Soft Skills

Obviously, today’s grads can’t control the job market. What they can control is their readiness to meet employers’ needs.

At Jotform, I've hired hundreds of people at the start of their careers. The ones who thrived, both in 2006 and 2026, are the ones who showed up curious, communicated proactively and treated every early assignment, however unglamorous, as something worth doing well.

Unfortunately, many of today’s young workers lack the soft skills employers so desperately need. For example, McKinsey finds that while Gen Z has strong digital instincts and enthusiasm for AI tools, they are less adept at determining when it’s wrong and course-correcting as needed. That type of critical thinking is essential in any workplace, and it’s one that can’t be automated.

The same goes for communicating effectively, working in teams and problem-solving strategically. At Jotform, any new hire, no matter how technically skilled, needs to be able to thrive on a cross-functional team.

The good news is that none of these skills are fixed. They're built through practice, and you don't have to wait for a job offer to start honing them. Seek out situations that require you to communicate under pressure: lead a project, join a club with responsibilities, volunteer somewhere that gives you real problems to solve. Take feedback seriously, even when it stings. Learn to disagree constructively. These are the traits that employers will look for. Trust me.

As the founder of a tech startup, I’m as all-in on AI as anyone. But I also understand the perils of over-relying on it to do your thinking for you.

Researchers call it cognitive offloading, and there’s plenty of evidence of its costs. One 2025 study found a negative correlation between frequent AI usage and critical thinking abilities, suggesting that individuals who rely heavily on automated tools may struggle with independent reasoning.

Additionally, overly sycophantic AI models also run the risk of reducing our resilience to real-world frictions, like settling a disagreement or working with someone with whom you don’t see eye-to-eye. The truth is, not all of your ideas will be brilliant, and you’re not always right. Pushback from managers and colleagues not only makes you better, but it also teaches you to handle adversity.

In more practical terms, there are also risks when it comes to letting AI write your resume and cover letter for you. The majority of hiring managers will reject an AI-generated application that hasn’t been personalized, and more than a third say they can spot one in under twenty seconds. You've spent years becoming someone worth hiring. Don’t outsource the last step.

Despite the dark headlines, there are plenty of employers out there looking for promising recent grads. The fundamentals of what makes someone worth hiring haven't changed, and they won’t anytime soon. You, the class of 2026, didn't choose this market. But you can choose how you show up in it.