AI raises concerns over loss of early-career skills
Employers are recognising the potential loss of opportunities to develop essential skills as AI changes entry-level work.
A survey of senior HR, talent acquisition and L&D leaders found 78% were concerned about the long-term loss of critical leadership skills as AI takes on tasks and responsibilities traditionally associated with entry-level roles.
Talogy, which produced the survey, argues that organisations may need to create development opportunities for capabilities previously acquired through experience.
The concern extends beyond whether career entrants have the skills to use AI. Entry-level work also gives people opportunities to develop attention to detail, communication and problem-solving through experience.
As AI takes on more of that work, the question for employers is whether some of those opportunities need to be created more deliberately rather than left to develop through day-to-day experience.
Bauer Media is one company already changing parts of its early-career development in response to AI and other changes in how young people experience work.
Its new Amplify programme will bring apprentices into roles across content, communications, finance and data. Recruitment is based on potential, capabilities and future skills rather than previous experience.
While AI sessions have been added to its onboarding programme, development also covers creativity, communication, resilience and problem solving in the workplace.
Courtnay McLeod, managing director of Bauer Academy, told Learning News that apprentices also receive training in proofreading, supporting attention to detail, which she said ‘can be compromised with increased use of AI’.
Professional communication and time management are also taught deliberately. Bauer gives Amplify participants wider business context that McLeod said can be harder for young people to acquire naturally through hybrid working.
Bauer Academy serves the company's in-house development and delivers apprenticeships and work-based learning to external organisations.
AI and early-career development:
- 78% are concerned about the long-term loss of critical leadership skills as AI takes on work associated with entry-level roles
- 95% say AI is automating work at least moderately
- 78% report challenges assessing AI skills
- 38% feel very prepared to adapt job descriptions and career paths for AI
Source: Talogy survey of 207 senior HR, talent acquisition and L&D professionals in the UK and US.