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If you have been watching the job market lately, you have probably seen the same storyline everywhere.
AI is here. Entry level roles are disappearing. Graduates are doomed.
Reality is less dramatic and more practical. Early career hiring is under pressure, but not for one single reason. AI is part of the picture, and so are higher employment costs, lower business confidence, and the sheer volume of applicants.
Recent analysis published by techUK, drawing on data from Adzuna, McKinsey, the Institute of Student Employers, CIPD, ONS and the World Economic Forum, paints a far more nuanced picture than the headlines suggest.
From a RecruitHer perspective, this matters for one big reason. Early career roles are not just “junior work”. They are the talent pipeline. Cut the pipeline and you pay for it later with higher hiring costs, slower ramp time, and weaker diversity outcomes.
This is what we are seeing, what it means for EdTech, and what employers and candidates can do next.
Data referenced by techUK shows a sharp drop in UK entry level job postings since large language models became mainstream, with some platforms reporting declines close to one third. At the same time, application volumes have surged, driven by easier online applications and broader skills based hiring.
If you are a candidate, this explains the silence.
If you are an employer, this explains why screening now feels overwhelming.
According to Institute of Student Employers data cited by techUK, graduate hiring has fallen modestly year on year, while apprenticeship hiring has grown. This points to a shift in how organisations structure early career pathways rather than a total collapse of opportunity.
The report is clear that AI is not acting alone. Rising payroll costs, regulatory uncertainty, and weaker economic confidence are all pushing employers to slow hiring. In that environment, AI becomes an attractive way to maintain output with fewer people, especially in routine roles.
The techUK analysis shows AI affecting early careers in three main ways.
From scheduling and data cleaning to basic customer support and first pass coding, a large share of tasks historically assigned to junior staff can now be completed faster with AI. The World Economic Forum estimates that 50 to 60 percent of junior level tasks are exposed to automation.
That does not automatically remove the role. It changes what the role should be.
Some employers are bypassing traditional entry level routes and hiring graduates into more advanced roles because AI shortens the learning curve for foundational tasks. Others are redesigning junior roles to emphasise creativity, problem solving, and stakeholder interaction.
When done well, this can accelerate development rather than block it.
A recurring theme in the techUK report is the mismatch between AI adoption and workforce training. Many organisations report productivity gains, but far fewer invest in structured AI upskilling. Employers want AI capable talent, yet are not consistently building it internally.
EdTech sits directly at the intersection of education, technology, and human development.
Early career roles feed future implementation leads, learning designers, product managers, customer success leaders, and commercial talent who understand how education actually works.
Without that pipeline, EdTech products risk losing classroom credibility and sector trust.
As highlighted in the techUK report, apprenticeships are gaining traction as a more sustainable early career route. In EdTech, they work particularly well for roles across customer success, implementation, support, QA, learning design operations, and sales development.
These are not charity hires. They are long term capability investments.
Degree requirements are already loosening across sectors. EdTech hiring is moving faster towards portfolios, projects, and demonstrable impact, especially as AI makes output easier to show.
Based on what we are seeing with clients.
Redesign junior roles around outcomes and learning
Define ownership clearly. Spell out what success looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days.
Build an AI enabled training plan
AI should be treated like any other core tool. Train people on responsible use, quality control, and judgment, not just speed.
Stop hiring juniors into admin only work
Roles that are mostly admin will disappear. Roles that combine customer exposure, problem solving, and ownership will not.
Keep the pipeline diverse on purpose
When markets tighten, bias increases. Structure protects both fairness and quality.
Show AI literacy without overplaying it
Explain how you use AI to support research, analysis, lesson planning, customer communication, or coding. Then show how you validate and improve outputs.
Lead with human skills and evidence
Communication, collaboration, adaptability, and critical thinking matter more, not less. Prove them with outcomes.
Pick a direction and signal commitment
EdTech is broad. Choose a lane and show involvement through projects, placements, tutoring, partnerships, or product feedback.
Be strategic with applications
Volume alone does not work. Target roles, tailor CVs, and build warm connections with people in the sector.
Here is how they connect, in practical terms.
Good leaders are not just technically strong. They understand:
Entry-level roles sit closest to the work. In EdTech, that might be supporting teachers, onboarding schools, running pilots, handling renewals, or supporting learning design. That exposure builds judgement, which is the core leadership skill AI cannot replace.
Leadership is rarely taught formally at the top. It is learned through:
These habits form in junior roles long before someone gets a “manager” title. If those roles disappear, organisations lose the space where people learn how to lead safely.
Strong organisations do not rely entirely on external leadership hires. They grow people internally who already:
When entry-level hiring shrinks, leadership pipelines break. Companies then pay more to hire leaders externally, with longer ramp times and higher risk of misalignment.
Entry-level roles are where diversity enters the organisation. If access points narrow, leadership becomes less diverse over time.
In EdTech, that matters deeply. Leadership teams that lack classroom, learner, or community perspective often build products that miss real needs. Early career roles are where those perspectives start.
AI may remove some junior tasks, but it does not remove the need for leaders who can:
What does change is the nature of entry-level roles. They need to be redesigned to focus less on repetitive work and more on learning, problem-solving, and ownership. That actually accelerates leadership readiness when done well.
The techUK report makes one thing clear. This is not an entry level job apocalypse. It is a structural shift.
AI is changing tasks. Costs and confidence are shaping hiring decisions. Competition is rising.
Employers can shrink early career pipelines and pay later, or redesign them so junior talent contributes faster and grows into leadership.
Candidates can compete on tasks AI can do, or on judgment, learning speed, communication, and sector understanding.
RecruitHer works with EdTech teams hiring across go to market, product, learning design, and leadership. If you are building an early careers pipeline or trying to break into the sector, you can book a 60 minute CV and LinkedIn audit, or a larger package that includes interview prep and job search strategy.
