How Employers are Thinking About Entry-Level Hiring, Today, and in the Future
The Situation
One of the biggest questions for higher education to answer is this: Are we preparing the next generation of workers for the jobs that actually exist? Strada Education Foundation has made answering that question its mission by working to clear the path between education and employment, with particular focus on those facing the greatest obstacles along the way.
To do that effectively, Strada needed a rigorous, ongoing window into how employers are thinking about hiring — data that is surprisingly rare.
Our Approach
Artemis Strategy Group partnered with Strada to design a research approach that distills what the people making daily decisions about who to hire believe about education, career readiness, and a rapidly changing job market. The challenge was verifying authenticity and representativeness of this hard-to-reach audience and sustaining it over time, creating a longitudinal view of employer sentiment that grows more valuable with each wave.
We began with a pilot study in late 2025, fielded among more than 1,000 human resource professionals to sharpen our understanding of the landscape. Paired with rich qualitative research, this groundwork revealed which topics talent leaders find most pressing: the challenges they face in hiring, the competencies they prize, and the role of work-based learning in their decisions.
With that foundation in place, we conducted a robust quantitative survey in early 2026. The study includes 1,498 participants who hold direct, supervisory, or ultimate responsibility for entry-level hiring and carry an HR professional, CEO, or equivalent title. The dataset therefore reflects those who make or shape real hiring decisions. We built the study for consistent, longitudinal monitoring so Strada can track how employer perspectives shift as the job market evolves. Strada plans to conduct this survey twice a year
The Outcome
Strada’s first release from this research, Entry-Level Hiring in the AI Era: What Employers Are Thinking (and Doing) published in May 2026, arrived at a pivotal moment. The findings on AI and the workforce are timely and provide insights to inform students, educators and policymakers as they prepare for a rapidly changing job market.
Headline findings from the first wave of this study included the following:
- Employers expect AI tools to increase in the next year, not reduce, entry-level hiring in their organizations.
- Greater AI adoption is the most frequently cited driver of positive hiring growth.
- AI is shifting entry-level roles away from simple, routine tasks — and toward more complex responsibilities.
- Employers place higher value on critical thinking and communication in their entry level hires than AI literacy.
- Work experience remains the single most important signal of career readiness.
These findings challenge assumptions that have shaped education and workforce policy — and they come directly from the experts doing the hiring.
But the AI findings are just the beginning. The depth of this study will give Strada a rich, continual source of employer insights to inform their work connecting education to opportunity. As the job market continues to shift, this research will help ensure that students, educators, and policymakers are equipped with the employer perspective they need to make education work for everyone.
