Eighty-one percent. That is the share of employers who plan to hire more early-career staff over the next two years, according to new global research from AMS, a Korn Ferry company. It cuts against the common fear that AI will remove the first rung of the career ladder.
What the Numbers Say
The report, “Class of 2030: The future of early careers,” rests on two surveys run with Phronesis Partners. One covered more than 5,000 employees and job seekers in 13 countries, with a close look at students and candidates aged 16 to 24. The other polled more than 500 chief human resources officers, talent acquisition executives and senior HR leaders across the same 13 countries and 14 industries.
Beyond the headline figure, 76% of talent acquisition leaders said entry-level jobs are not vanishing from their organizations. Nearly three-quarters expect the work to change rather than disappear. Yet roughly half admit they do not know yet what that change will look like. The report also found that companies outperforming peers on revenue growth and profitability are more likely to see entry-level work as part of their 2030 strategy.
“Entry-level hiring is fundamental to the health of any organization,” said Susan Major, AMS’s Global Managing Director of Early Careers and Campus. “It is how you bring in new skills, fresh thinking and build the talent you are going to rely on in the future.” She added that the roles themselves are evolving, which makes investing in young talent more important, and that organizations should decide now which people and skills they will need.
Less Routine, More Judgment
The research describes junior work shifting away from repetitive execution. At some leading organizations, early-career staff now spend their time researching and synthesizing information with AI, analyzing data, testing AI-generated output and automating workflows. The human part is judgment: deciding whether what the machine produced is right.
The Firm Behind the Report
Korn Ferry is headquartered in Los Angeles. Lester Korn and Richard Ferry founded it in 1969, having met in 1962 while working at the accounting firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell. By 1981 it was the largest executive search firm in the world. It opened its first offices in India in 1994, then China in 1995, Indonesia in 1996 and South Korea in 1998. As early as 1992 it had a video-conferencing system for screening job candidates.
As of 2019 the firm ran 111 offices in 53 countries with 8,198 employees. Its business lines include Consulting, Digital, Executive Search and Recruitment Process Outsourcing. In 2018 it took a $106 million non-cash impairment charge to fold sub-brands such as Futurestep, Hay Group and Lominger into the single Korn Ferry name.
The Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit, carries the same name through a sponsorship deal that runs through the 2028 season. The PGA Tour announced its 2027 schedule this week: 25 events in seven countries and 15 states, with 40 PGA Tour cards at stake.
Sources
- Korn Ferry Report: 81% of Employers Plan to Increase Early-Career Hiring as AI Reshapes Entry-Level Jobs
- Korn Ferry
- PGA Tour unveils 2027 Korn Ferry Tour schedule
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