EP 562: How Will New Grads Get a Job with AI? What You Need to Know
🎯 Summary
Podcast Summary: EP 562: How Will New Grads Get a Job with AI? What You Need to Know
This 50-minute episode of the Everyday AI Show focuses on the alarming trend of rising unemployment among recent college graduates, directly linking this crisis to the rapid integration and displacement effects of Artificial Intelligence, particularly Generative AI. Host Jordan Wilson argues that this is a structural shift caused by the negligence of higher education institutions and the profit-driven decisions of corporations.
1. Focus Area
The primary focus is the impact of AI on entry-level employment and the crisis in higher education. Key themes include:
- Analyzing data from an Oxford Economics study showing high unemployment concentrated among new graduates.
- Critiquing universities for banning or ignoring AI integration over the past several years.
- Identifying corporate behavior (quiet firing/not replacing retirees) as a contributing factor.
- Providing actionable advice for employers, parents, and students on navigating this new workforce reality.
2. Key Technical Insights
- AI Literacy as Oxygen: The necessity of AI proficiency has shifted from being a niche skill to a fundamental requirement (“oxygen”) for modern employment across all sectors, a reality employers now demand.
- Ineffective Institutional Response: A significant majority (70-80%) of higher education institutions lack comprehensive AI policies, and faculty confidence in using AI for teaching is extremely low (only 14% confident).
- Lagging Societal Effect: The negative employment impact seen now is the delayed consequence (a “lagging effect,” similar to COVID-19’s timeline) of universities ignoring AI adoption between 2022 and 2024.
3. Business/Investment Angle
- Collapse of Entry-Level Hiring: Tech sector hiring has seen a significant contraction (down 40% from pandemic highs), and this structural collapse in entry-level roles is expected to bleed into other industries.
- Shareholder vs. Human Interest: Fortune 500 CEOs are criticized for prioritizing shareholder returns over workforce stability, accelerating job displacement via AI adoption.
- Advice for Private Companies: Non-public companies are warned against following the playbook of public companies, which often feel pressured to use AI buzzwords for stock performance rather than focusing on sustainable human integration.
4. Notable Companies/People
- Oxford Economics: The source of the key study highlighting that 85% of the rise in recent graduate unemployment is concentrated in this cohort due to structural shifts in tech hiring driven by AI since mid-2023.
- Higher Education Leaders/University Presidents: Singled out as the primary culprits, alongside corporate CEOs, for their “negligence” and “self-serving” decisions in banning or ignoring AI education.
- Adobe, Microsoft, Nvidia: Mentioned as companies that partner with the podcast host’s organization for AI strategy and employee training, indicating the high demand for practical AI upskilling among established corporations.
5. Future Implications
The host predicts a significant contraction in the higher education landscape within the next 15 to 20 years, suggesting many current colleges and universities will “go belly up” because their core value proposition—job placement rates—is being undermined by their failure to adapt to AI. The concept of traditional full-time employment is also expected to continue evolving.
6. Target Audience
This episode is highly valuable for Students/Recent Graduates, Parents of Students, Higher Education Administrators/Faculty, and Business Leaders/Employers who need to understand the immediate and long-term structural changes affecting the talent pipeline and workforce readiness.
🏢 Companies Mentioned
đź’¬ Key Insights
"I said in 15 years, I think there's going to be way fewer universities. I think institutional names that have been around for 150 years, they're going to be gone. Period. There's literally no other way around it."
"Are you getting a valuable education that's infused with AI or are we spending tens of thousands of dollars... or are we wasting it away on an overpriced participation trophy? Because if your if your child's day-to-day learning experience... is not infused with AI, I think it's time wasted..."
"Parents, you need to demand that your child's school AI policy, you need to get it in writing. And if they don't have it or if that school isn't actively teaching AI or still bans it in any way, don't walk, run."
"You need to get rid of that specialist, you know, or me, right? The subject matter expert. You need to get rid of that mentality, even if that's been you for decades, right? Specialists, if I'm being honest, it's not a bright future..."
"knowledge work is already commoditized, and it's only going to become commoditized more, and the market is going to continue to figure that out."
"I hate the term upskill, reskill, skill, skill, share, blah, barf, gross, vomit. Yuck. Stop doing that. You need to unlearn."