Employers are planning their moves. Here are yours.

Leaders are being urged to rebuild junior roles, hire for skills, work with more freelancers and talk about AI sooner. A few have started. Here is your side of each one.

People working together in a bright open office

You don't have to wait for your employer's plan.

Four shifts, four moves

1Learn to check AI's work
2Show what you can do
3Build skills that travel
4Ask how your role will change

Their move, and yours

Each one comes with a number we checked.

1 · Employers: rebuild the first rung

Learn to check AI's work.

Some big employers are hiring more new grads again. The new junior job is checking AI output, steering it and explaining it to people. You can practice that now.

IBM's plan for 2026

3×

its US entry-level hiring, with juniors checking AI output.

IBM, March 2026

2 · Employers: hire for skills over experience

Show what you can do.

More employers say they look at skills, not just degrees. One small project that explains a choice you made can speak louder than a list. Ask what the AI rules are at each interview step.

Entry-level hiring

70%

of employers say they use skills-based hiring for entry roles.

NACE Job Outlook 2026

3 · Employers: reach past payroll

Build skills that travel.

Companies are bringing in more experts by the project. That work goes mostly to people with depth and a network. Build both, and freelance work can become a real plan B.

Independent contractors

36%

are 55 or older. Experience is what clients pay for.

BLS, July 2023 data

4 · Employers: tell your people first

Ask how your role will change.

Most people haven't heard a clear AI plan from work yet. You can start that talk yourself. Bring a few clear questions and your own notes on your week.

US employees

1 in 4

say their employer has shared a clear AI plan.

Gallup, August 2026

Questions to bring to your next one-on-one

Short, fair and easy to answer.

  1. Which of my tasks are being tried with AI?
  2. What will my role look like a year from now?
  3. Is there AI training for my team, and who pays for it?
  4. Which internal moves are open to someone like me?
  5. What would you like me to get better at first?

Two colleagues talking at a standing desk

Your plan ends with this conversation.

By then you'll have notes on your week to bring.

Students walking across a college campus

Still in school?

Add one project you can show. Try an internship or apprenticeship. Learn how skills tests work before you meet one.

We'll tell you when we're not sure

Most employers haven't changed yet.

In the one study that tracked real hires, dropping degree rules changed fewer than 1 in 700 of them. So build proof of your work, and keep a second path open.

Harvard Business School and Burning Glass Institute, 2024

Two colleagues laugh together by a window

Turn your four moves into 13 weeks.

Get my plan
Sources