As Artificial Intelligence reshapes entry-level work, exam results may be only one part of preparing young people for successful careers. Victoria Knight, Chief People Officer at Node4; Paraic O’Lochlainn, Vice President at eMaint, a Fluke Brand; Russell Attwood, CEO of Route 101; Bron Gondwana, CEO of Fastmail; Hugh Scantlebury, CEO and Founder of Aqilla; Mark Williams, Managing Director, EMEA & Global Customer Success at WorkJam; and Shilpa Kaluti, CFO at Scrumconnect, discuss the skills, opportunities and alternative career paths the next generation will need.
As thousands of young people receive their A-level results, they are entering a labour market undergoing profound change.
Artificial Intelligence is automating routine activities, altering entry-level roles and changing the skills employers value. This year’s A-level results show continued growth in STEM participation, although Computing recorded a relatively modest 1.1% increase, with 20,009 students taking the subject compared with 19,796 last year.
Against that backdrop, being ready for work is increasingly about more than qualifications or technical knowledge. Adaptability, judgement, practical experience and the ability to work effectively alongside Artificial Intelligence are emerging as important differentiators.
Redefining what it means to be job-ready
Victoria Knight, Chief People Officer at Node4, believes employers need to reconsider expectations of young people entering the workforce.
“Being job-ready no longer means entering the workforce with every technical skill already mastered. AI is changing roles faster than education can keep pace, so it isn’t realistic for employers to expect young people to arrive as the finished product.”
Instead, she believes organisations should prioritise qualities such as critical thinking, adaptability and judgement, while accepting greater responsibility for developing technical capabilities once employees enter the workplace.
That requires continuous development rather than isolated training courses. Knight advocates structured learning, mentoring, peer learning and practical experience that allow early-career employees to develop alongside the organisation.
Bron Gondwana, CEO of Fastmail, similarly believes young people should concentrate on developing capabilities that remain valuable as technology changes.
“For young people starting their careers, I’d focus less on trying to predict which jobs AI might change and more on developing expertise that makes you valuable, regardless.”
For Gondwana, combining different skills and disciplines can be particularly valuable because that is often where innovation occurs.
“AI will continue to change how we work, but curiosity, adaptability and deep expertise will always matter.”
Protecting the first rung of the career ladder
The challenge is that some of the tasks traditionally given to junior employees are precisely those most susceptible to automation. This raises an important question: if Artificial Intelligence removes entry-level work, how will young employees acquire the experience needed to progress?
Mark Williams, Managing Director, EMEA & Global Customer Success at WorkJam, believes those roles remain essential.
“Entry-level roles are crucial in helping young people transition from education to the workplace, enabling them to gain the experience needed to build strong foundations for their careers.”
Rather than treating Artificial Intelligence simply as a means of reducing headcount, Williams argues employers can use it to accelerate workplace learning. AI-powered tools can provide employees with real-time guidance and recommend relevant training as problems arise.
However, getting young people through the door is only the beginning. Employers also need clear progression routes supported by training and development.
“Ultimately, we owe it to the next generation to protect these opportunities and support early career staff, even when economic pressures make doing so more difficult.”
Ensuring AI accelerates learning
Hugh Scantlebury, CEO and Founder of Aqilla, sees a related challenge. Today’s graduates are increasingly comfortable with Artificial Intelligence and may identify opportunities for automation that more experienced colleagues have overlooked.
“Today’s graduates are increasingly AI natives. They’ve grown up with AI becoming part of education and everyday life, so they naturally expect it to play a role in how work gets done.”
But removing repetitive work can have unintended consequences. In professions such as finance, routine activities have traditionally helped junior employees develop technical understanding and professional judgement.
As AI assumes more of these responsibilities, Scantlebury expects graduates to move more quickly towards reviewing and interpreting outputs.
“In practical terms, knowing when to trust AI – and when to question it – will become just as important as learning how to use it in the first place.”
Employers will therefore need to deliberately create the learning experiences previously provided through repetition and exposure to routine work.
“The real opportunity is ensuring AI accelerates learning rather than replacing it.”
Shilpa Kaluti, CFO at Scrumconnect, similarly argues that AI literacy should become a fundamental workplace capability.
“AI literacy should be treated as an essential workplace skill. Young people need opportunities to use these tools in practice and learn to question their outputs, and businesses have a responsibility to help make that happen.”
There is more than one route to success
Preparing young people for the future also means challenging the assumption that university represents the default route to a successful career.
Paraic O’Lochlainn, Vice President at eMaint, a Fluke Brand, argues that traditional perceptions of vocational careers have contributed to a mismatch between education and the needs of industry.
“For years, young people were told that success meant university, a degree and an office job. Everything else was quietly branded second-best.”
At the same time, sectors including manufacturing, engineering and the trades are struggling to recruit the skills required to support areas ranging from data centres and renewable energy to UK manufacturing.
“We don’t just need more opportunities. We need to stop hiding the ones that already exist behind outdated assumptions about what a ‘good career’ looks like.”
O’Lochlainn argues that manufacturing and the trades should not be regarded as a fallback option but as routes into skilled, well-established careers.
Russell Attwood, CEO of Route 101, makes a similar case from personal experience.
“Results day can make it feel as though there is one correct route into adult life, but there isn’t.”
Attwood left school at 16 and built his career through employment, sales and on-the-job learning before eventually founding Route 101. His company now recruits both graduates and non-graduates and operates its own apprenticeship programme.
“If we insisted on degrees for all at Route 101, we’d be shutting the door on many talented people who make a real contribution to our business.”
Kaluti also believes apprenticeships deserve greater recognition, particularly within technology, because they combine formal learning with practical workplace experience.
“Results day is a major milestone, but there’s no single route to a successful career. What matters is giving the next generation the skills and confidence to thrive in a workplace that will keep changing.”
Building careers for a changing world
The rise of Artificial Intelligence does not necessarily mean the disappearance of opportunities for young people. It does, however, require educators, employers and students to reconsider how careers begin and how expertise is developed.
Recent research reinforces that shift: PwC’s 2026 UK analysis found that AI-exposed junior roles are increasingly demanding capabilities traditionally associated with more senior positions, including leadership and strategic thinking.
For young people receiving their results, that makes adaptability, judgement and continued learning increasingly important. For employers, the responsibility is arguably greater. If Artificial Intelligence removes the routine work through which previous generations developed experience, organisations will need to create new pathways through which the next generation can learn.
Whether that journey begins at university, through an apprenticeship, in manufacturing, technology or another route altogether, the challenge will be ensuring Artificial Intelligence expands young people’s potential rather than removing the first opportunities they need to realise it.
