Students edition
More and more new graduates get jobs where they manage AI agents, and companies doubt whether they still learn the profession this way.
Junior staff manage AI agents, but who teaches them the job?
More and more junior employees are getting jobs where they manage AI. Lotte Underwood (25) is an 'AI associate' at a British PR agency. She manages about 30 AI agents. Dillan Patel (24) builds internal agents at a software company. Cian Clinton (23) uses about 10 agents every day. He says he now does tasks that would normally have taken him four or five years to reach.
Research by PwC in the US shows what this demands. Entry-level roles that AI affects strongly ask for senior skills seven times more often. Companies disagree on whether this is good for junior staff.
What does this mean for you? If you design a traineeship or onboarding program, you have to decide how much time juniors spend on AI and how much on the profession itself. Portman Finance Group lets junior staff rotate through four departments over two years, alongside experienced colleagues. Arvato Connect, on the other hand, focuses on junior staff who challenge the company to use AI more widely. PwC UK says a basic knowledge of AI is needed for every junior employee, but that knowledge of the sector must be added to it.
Background for subscribersIn the US, entry-level jobs that are strongly affected by AI ask for senior skills seven times more often. These are American figures, not figures for the Netherlands. According to PwC UK, AI knowledge alone is not enough, because you also need knowledge of the sector.
Arms race in hiring: both sides use AI
Candidates let AI write their CV. Employers use AI themselves too. Researcher Hickman calls this an arms race. What one side comes up with, the other side can use right away too. One example is white text in a CV, meant to fool AI filters. According to Hickman, this usually does not work with a well-designed system.
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