Why Is It So Hard for Gen Z Workers to Get Hired Right Now?

The US unemployment rate for workers born between 1997 and 2012 (Gen Z) sits at 8.3%, double the national average (4.2%), and the implications for talent pipelines, leadership development, and the economy as a whole are dire.

Despite often being described as highly educated digital-natives, the rising generation is struggling to get work. Why?

In this article, we’ll break down the reasons for Gen Z unemployment and explore how HR, hiring managers, and talent acquisition teams can do the following:

• Support Gen Z candidates
• Reinvigorate entry-level roles
• Ensure workforce sustainability at their organizations

What’s really going on with entry-level jobs?

The first rung on the career ladder is missing and business leaders should be very worried.

Entry-level jobs are disappearing, with junior roles declining by 35% in the US since 2023. At the same time, even postings dubbed “entry-level” often end up requiring three to five years of experience.

Here’s what’s happening to the real entry-level roles:

• You guessed it: They’re going to AI.
• Companies are cutting back on learning and development investments, such as hiring training specialists that would develop entry-level employees.
• The rise of remote hiring and shrinking teams is changing how entry-level work even looks.

HR pros and business leaders should be hearing alarm bells.

When the jobs that once served as on-ramps into the workforce disappear, organizations quietly erode their own future talent pipelines and an entire generation falls through the cracks.

Reversing course will depend on how well we understand the reasons for the decline in entry-level jobs, so let’s dive a little deeper.

AI is taking over the tasks early-career workers used to do

There’s an AI-elephant in the room (and it eerily looks so real you’d never guess it was AI).

The tasks that used to be handled by junior employees (now Gen Z) are being automated, outsourced, or absorbed by artificial intelligence, with leading tech CEOs predicting AI’s impact will speed up the decline of junior-level hiring in 2026.

Historically, entry‑level new hires in white-collar roles handled foundational tasks like drafting reports, pulling data, responding to customer inquiries, scheduling, or documenting processes. These responsibilities weren’t glamorous, but they developed context, confidence, and competence—early-career boons as far as professional development goes.

Today, many of those tasks have been replaced by technology:

• AI writing and research tools
• Automation software
• Self‑service platforms
• Leaner teams doing “more with less”

From a productivity standpoint, this shift makes sense. AI can draft faster. Automation reduces errors. Agile teams move quicker.

But there’s a tradeoff: Now there are fewer opportunities for early‑career employees to get a foot in the door.

Training roles are being cut to save time and money

Many organizations have quietly deprioritized roles designed primarily for internal learning.

In the short term, this may seem prudent if budgets are tight, but in the long term, it creates serious risks for workforce sustainability:

• A shrinking internal talent pipeline: Without early‑career development, there’s no one ready to step into mid‑level roles.
• Higher hiring costs: Relying solely on external hires is almost always more expensive than growing talent internally.
• Leadership gaps down the road: Without hands-on experience, employees struggle to develop the skills for sound judgment, decision making, and people management.

If every company avoids training from within, it becomes nearly impossible for new talent to advance anywhere.

Remote hiring and smaller teams are changing what “entry-level” means

Remote work has opened up global talent pools, but it’s also changed expectations when it comes to new hires.

In distributed teams, there’s often less tolerance for learning curves. Managers need hires who can operate independently, communicate clearly in writing, and make good decisions without constant oversight.

In other words, managers want direct reports who have already learned the hidden curriculum of the workplace and come equipped with a strong foundation of soft skills, also known as “human” or “durable” skills.

These expectations naturally push entry‑level roles closer to mid‑level reality, hence those bewildering “entry-level” job postings requiring years of prior experience.

As BambooHR’s director of HR business partners, Kelsey Tarp, puts it, “How do you get the experience when you don’t have the experience?”

It’s a catch-22 Gen Z workers find themselves in all too often.

Employers to Gen Z: “Come with skills you never had a chance to learn”

Think of entry-level roles like informal apprenticeships. When they disappear, so do the training moments embedded within them. But new workers are still expected to arrive already knowing how to think critically, communicate effectively, and navigate ambiguity—without having had the chance to practice those skills on the job.

At the end of 2024, troubling research emerged showing the following:

• Over a quarter of executives wouldn’t consider hiring a recent college grad.
• 75% of managers say Gen Z workers require more time and resources than employees of other generations.
• And one in five managers have considered quitting due to the stress of managing Gen Z workers.

A general lack of soft skills among Gen Zers is cited as the main reason for executive reticence and managerial burnout.

The thing is, interpersonal skills like communication, problem solving, collaboration, and conflict resolution are traditionally learned passively in school and on the job. But Gen Z came of age during Covid-19-era lockdown and social distancing, and as we’ve established, junior level roles are becoming harder and harder to find.

Yet as the rising generation, Gen Z (and Millennials) are projected to make up two-thirds of the labor force within the next few years, and it’s up to HR, in partnership with the C-suite and people leaders throughout the org, to ensure long-term workforce sustainability by creating workplaces ready to support this cohort.

We do this by recognizing that Gen Z workers are stuck between a rock and hard place and by changing the narrative around why that is.

The soft skills (r)evolution

Since the advent of AI, soft skills have taken on new meaning and importance. Sometimes referred to as “human” or “durable” skills, these are the AI-proof, distinctly human skills an individual needs to effectively work well in a hybrid human-tech environment, such as:

• Working responsibly alongside AI and automation
• Working smoothly and collaboratively with other humans

As digital natives, Gen Z is generally comfortable using AI tools. They’ve grown up with them. They expect them. But comfort isn’t the same as competence in the workplace—or compliance.

The modern workplace requires employees who can:

• Know when to trust AI and when to question it
• Use AI to support problem‑solving, not replace critical thinking
• Balance efficiency with thorough auditing of AI output
• Collaborate across teams while navigating increasingly digital workflows

Without structured training, there’s a real risk that early‑career workers will skip foundational skill‑building altogether.

Cynthia Doi, another HR business partner at BambooHR, compares the work of cultivating soft skills to physical exercise:

“In our modern era, we go to the gym to exercise, while back when everyone was a farmer, no one did that. Everything is so much easier than it used to be. We may have to evolve so we’re having set times to exercise our minds too.”

In other words, when daily life no longer puts a natural strain on our bodies, we have to create intentional spaces to build strength. The same is becoming true for critical thinking and discernment.

HR can create this intentional space within their own orgs by redefining onboarding, training, and early‑career development for the modern age, effectively blending tech fluency with competent human oversight.

A Gen Z empowerment playbook for HR

HR is uniquely positioned to rebuild the entry ramps that used to guide young employees into the workforce. It’s also in HR’s power to architect robust internal talent pipelines for their orgs.

If you’re wondering where to start, here are a few first steps:

Step one: Create better entry ramps

Make your workplace a supportive and welcoming place for Gen Z by implementing the following:

• Paid internships that lay the groundwork for ongoing development
• Entry‑level roles with realistic expectations
• Formal, comprehensive onboarding programs

Step two: Hire for potential, not perfection

When applicant tracking systems are over-indexed for efficiency, they often fail to reward true potential:

• Keyword matching and optimization over real capability
• Linear career paths over nontraditional ones
• Volume of experience over coaching potential

For early‑career candidates with internships, part‑time roles, freelance work, or project‑based experience, this can be disqualifying. Audit your ATS to make sure it’s not filtering out people who are perfectly capable of growing into a role with the right training.

Early‑career hiring should focus instead on:

• Curiosity
• Coachability
• Problem‑solving approach
• Willingness to learn

Step three: Pair Gen Z hires with senior mentors

Structured mentorship helps translate workplace norms that often go unspoken, reducing friction, miscommunication, and early attrition for new hires.

Mentorship programs also create an important opportunity for senior or more tenured workers to exemplify the organization’s values and pass along cues about the soft skills that will aid young workers through the course of their careers.

Step four: Use HR tech to track growth, not just performance

Reframe entry-level roles as investments, not risks. It pays off in retention, tenure, and a shared depth of institutional knowledge.

So instead of measuring only output for your early-career folk, track:

• Hard and soft skill development
• Career milestones
• Regular coaching and check-ins

Divesting from the rising generation is a mistake

Eight in 10 (86%) Gen Zers consider purpose-driven work essential to their job satisfaction, not to mention their overall wellbeing. And that’s a recipe for transformational employee engagement.

While there may be an opportunity gap when it comes to certain muscles, Gen Z also brings with them deep strengths:

• Digital fluency
• Adaptability
• Empathy
• A desire for meaningful work

To resonate with Gen Z, articulate your purpose with a meaningful mission and a precise complement of cultural values. And to support the rising generation, provide targeted soft-skills training and resources.

It’s an investment that will pay off not just in sustainability of your workforce and the longevity of your org, but in the success of a significant and ever-increasing segment of the labor force and economy.

How to help shape the future of work

Gen Z is coming of age during the rise of artificial intelligence, which means they’re the generation most entrenched in AI’s growing ubiquity as well as the generation most in competition with it.

More than half (58%) of Gen Z reportedly use AI 3 to 4 times a week, but that doesn’t mean they’re not anxious about it—68% see the writing on the wall.

AI automation is disappearing entry-level jobs, but it also allows savvy early-career workers to leapfrog some of the foundational work of yore. It’s an if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them approach that can backfire, however, when you consider the impact on soft-skill development.

Skipping foundational work early in your career can impact:

• Critical thinking
• Judgment
• Leadership readiness

But it doesn’t have to.

With intentional training, mentorship, and realistic role design, organizations can preserve depth of experience while embracing AI-powered efficiency. Prioritizing these strategies also addresses the reality that fewer and fewer Gen Z (6%) see leadership as a worthwhile goal.

“People entering the workforce now are not especially interested in moving into leadership roles,” says Kelsey Tarp, director of HR business partners at BambooHR. “The juice is not worth the squeeze.”

The only way to subvert that trend and strengthen the leadership pipeline at our organizations is to be deliberate about how we support the learning and development of early-career workers. The organizations that do will be the ones with resilient, adaptable, and engaged workforces for years to come.