The Entry-Level Disconnect

Authored by Dahlia Ardizzone

The “entry-level” employment crisis isn't caused by just one broken piece of a system. It’s employers, job seekers, and higher education all out of sync — three disconnects reinforcing one another.

For Gen-Z, the transition into the workforce isn't as simple as it used to be. Artificial intelligence is driving marked shifts in the labor market, impacting the skills most needed for entry level roles and the hiring tools used by employers. Entry level roles are declining, and the expectations of employers are shifting. As a recent graduate, I know this firsthand. After submitting endless applications with little to show for it, I started to wonder: am I the problem, or is the system the problem? I’ve realized the answer is both. 

The Employer Perspective

As employers face growing economic pressure and rapidly changing AI-driven tools, they’re looking for hires who can adapt to new technology, get up to speed quickly, and already be well versed in the industry. Forbes shared that "66% of leaders say they wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills” and, “71% say they’d rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them.”

According to the World Economic Forum, while overall labor markets remain relatively stable, young workers face disproportionately high unemployment. Many routine tasks that used to be handled by entry level roles, are now being automated by AI. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas researchers noted in Fortune that “Returns on job experience are increasing in AI-exposed occupations… Young workers with primarily codifiable knowledge and limited experience will likely face challenging job markets.” The problem isn't just AI itself, but that these new expectations of employers aren’t always clearly communicated or line up with the ways students and young job seekers are being prepared. This expectation gap flows downstream to applicants.

In addition to shifts in their hiring needs, when employers do post a role, they are receiving more applications than ever. AI application tools have made it much easier for job seekers to quickly apply, resulting in hiring teams being flooded with thousands of applications for just one role. 

The Early Job Seeker Perspective

From the perspective of early-career job seekers, the experience of finding viable employment opportunities can feel discouraging. In our Work Forces podcast episode with Audrey Patenaude, CEO of RippleMatch, she shared the finding that entry level candidates were submitting over 300 applications on traditional job platforms just to land a single role. Audrey introduced the term “entry-plus” roles, which are essentially jobs that are labeled as “entry level,” but actually require candidates to have prior experience, fluency in new technology, and strong power skills such as critical thinking, adaptability, and communication.

Candidates aren't necessarily unqualified, but are having difficulty understanding where to improve their approach to job-seeking. With little feedback from employers or applicant tracking systems, it’s difficult to know how to better communicate skills or tailor applications to AI-driven hiring tools. This lack of transparency often leads to applicant burnout, self-doubt, and a cycle of applying more, rather than applying smarter.

The Higher Education Perspective

As the bridge between students and employers, higher education has the power to prepare students for this new landscape, but institutions are struggling to keep up with the changing skill demands of employers and the far-reaching impacts of AI. Industries are evolving faster than universities and programs can adapt. The knowledge and experiences students obtain aren't translating to skills and abilities sought by employers. 

On the Work Forces podcast, Mary Gatta, Director of Research and Public Policy at NACE discussed this challenge: “We need to help ensure that our faculty are able to connect the amazing work that we’re doing in the classroom… with careers, and help students translate that.” NACE’s President and CEO Shawn VanDerziel described this disconnect as a “language gap” between students and employers. Coursework, clubs, and internships do build skills, but those skills aren’t always communicated in relevant ways that hiring teams can recognize. By better communicating the skills that learners are gaining across a range of academic and extracurricular experiences, educators are trying to prepare students for employer expectations that continue to evolve.

What's Next

Employers, job seekers, and higher education institutions are all reacting to rapid technological and economic shifts, but without consistent coordination. Employers are raising their expectations for candidates, job seekers are applying everywhere with no direction, and education is struggling to keep pace with the changing landscape. So where do we start? The following are a few next steps that education providers, learners, and employers themselves can take, along with examples of existing work supporting these efforts. 

1. Explore Careers Earlier

It is important to help learners understand career pathways long before they start the job search. On the Work Forces podcast, Jean Eddy, former President & CEO of ASA, now called Britebound, made the case that middle school is actually the optimal window for career exploration — before students have already narrowed their sense of what's possible. Britebound reaches millions of students through mobile-based tools that help them discover interests and connect to potential career paths, with the goal of helping every student find a path that, as Eddy put it, "makes their hearts sing." The College Board’s investment in Teamship (formerly of District C) reflects this same conviction – bringing project-based learning directly into K-12 classrooms to build career awareness early. As District C co-founder Dan Gonzalez shared on the Work Forces podcast, this model allows students to solve real-world problems for actual businesses –  proving that building skills to navigate the workplace is becoming as fundamental to college readiness as the SAT or AP courses. The sooner students can connect learning to real careers, the stronger their career readiness is later on.

2. Develop Work-Based Skills 

Education providers need to create classroom experiences that mirror real-world work. Riipen, founded by Work Forces podcast guests Dana Stephenson and Dave Savory, connects college students with industry-aligned projects integrated straight into coursework. These experiences allow students to build portfolios that demonstrate applied skills, not just academic knowledge, making it easier for employers to recognize readiness and for candidates to explain their value.

Inside Higher Ed gives some examples of colleges building real career experience directly into the classroom. Instead of hypothetical assignments, students are working on real projects for employers and community partners, like creating marketing campaigns, or helping plan major events. These hands-on projects give students concrete work to show and make it much easier to explain their skills to employers.

Apprenticeships take this idea even further, combining paid employment with structured learning from day one. On the Work Forces podcast, John Colborn, Executive Director of Apprenticeships for America, described apprenticeships as an "earn-and-learn" pathway that addresses both the unaffordability of traditional education and the disconnectedness many young people feel after finishing school. Joe E. Ross, President and CEO of Reach University, also shared the "Apprenticeship Degree" model — a framework built around three principles: affordability with no student loan debt, learning based in the workplace from day one through graduation, and academic credit for work. Together, these models point to a future where the tension between earning a degree and starting a career doesn't have to exist.

3. Match Applicants to Applicable Roles 

Finally, better matching job seekers to employers can reduce friction on both sides of the hiring process. Platforms like RippleMatch focus on matching candidates and employers based on skills, readiness, and role fit—rather than relying solely on traditional resumes. On the hiring end, HireEZ is a job matching tool which streamlines the recruiting process by using AI to match, engage, and manage candidates. By aligning expectations upfront, job matching platforms help reduce excessive applications, missed matches, and frustration for both job seekers and hiring teams.

However, improving job matching tools alone isn't enough. It is important for employers to communicate and define their skill needs clearly and more effectively, which will make it easier for job seekers and higher education to prepare for the workforce. 

These efforts show that solutions exist, but we’re still in the early days of this evolution. There is much more opportunity to develop new ways of navigating the landscape and changing the trajectory for early career job-seekers. Through the podcast and consulting at Work Forces, our work is focused at this complex intersection, and we can see that closing the entry-level gap isn’t about one tool, but rather realigning the whole system. With intentional connections between work and learning, this disconnected system can become more coordinated – where job expectations are transparent, skills are developed and demonstrated in more meaningful ways, and candidates are met where they are.