What Employers Think About AI in the Workforce

At a Glance

• Expectations Are Changing: Employers increasingly see AI skills as part of early-career work.
• The Outlook Is Mixed: Hiring managers see opportunities for new jobs, alongside changes that could reduce some roles.
• Your Judgment Matters: Build practical experience, explain your decisions, and ask how an employer’s approach fits your values.

When you picture your first job after college, you may wonder how much of it will look different because of AI. Will you be expected to use tools you have never tried? Will technology open a door for you, or make it harder to get a start? Employers are making decisions that will shape those answers, even as they work through uncertainties of their own.

Recent research offers a useful starting point. Employers increasingly expect AI to become part of early-career work, but their enthusiasm for its possibilities sits alongside questions about staffing and the future of particular roles. For students, the challenge is to understand that changing landscape well enough to prepare—and to decide where you want to fit within it.

AI Is Becoming Part of the Work

One way to understand the shift is to look at what happens before a graduate’s first full-time job. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update, about 58% of employers answering the internship question said they assigned interns projects using AI tools and skills. That places AI within an experience where students are already learning how a workplace operates, contributing to a team, and discovering what they can do. [1]

The same report found that employers reported AI skills were required in 35% of their entry-level jobs. Looking ahead, 70% of hiring managers in Handshake’s Workforce Outlook: The Class of 2026 in the AI Economy expected generative AI skills to become more important for entry-level hires over the next few years. Together, these findings suggest that familiarity with AI can be useful even when you are pursuing a career outside a dedicated technology role. They also give you a reason to ask what “AI skills” means to a particular employer: which tasks, which tools, and what level of independence? [1, 2]

A job description may only tell part of that story. Handshake’s AI and the Workforce Ahead found that 4.2% of active full-time postings on its platform mentioned AI in March 2026, nearly double the share a year earlier. This measures wording in postings, rather than employers’ reported skill requirements, so it answers a different question from NACE’s survey. Use the posting as a starting point, then explore how the team actually works through conversations with recruiters, alumni, or future colleagues. [3]

Pay information offers another signal, although it requires care. In its October 2026 hiring outlook, Handshake reported a median listed salary of $85,000 for business analyst postings mentioning AI, compared with $75,000 for those without AI mentions. This is a comparison across postings, not evidence that learning AI causes a $10,000 raise. Differences in location, experience requirements, and employers may also contribute. Use the finding as a reason to examine the responsibilities and skills attached to a role, rather than as a salary promise. [5]

Optimism Comes With Uncertainty

Changing skill expectations are only one part of the picture. Students also want to know whether opportunities will be there. Here, Handshake’s research reveals a striking gap in outlook: 55% of hiring managers surveyed in July 2025 believed generative AI would create jobs, compared with 24% of rising seniors. That difference helps explain why an employer’s excitement about AI may not feel reassuring to someone preparing to enter the workforce. These are expectations about the future; they cannot tell us how many jobs will ultimately be created or lost. [2]

Even within one company, growth and reductions can be part of the same conversation. In his message to Amazon employees about generative AI, Andy Jassy anticipated fewer people doing some existing jobs and more people doing other kinds of work, while expecting the company’s total corporate workforce to shrink over the next few years. His message describes Amazon’s anticipated direction, rather than an outcome for every employer. It illustrates why a broad promise of new opportunities deserves a closer question: opportunities to do what, and for whom? [4]

As you explore employers, bring the conversation closer to the role you are considering. Ask how responsibilities are changing for new hires, what training is available, and how people will develop experience as some tasks become automated. Specific answers can help you judge an opportunity more clearly than a company’s general enthusiasm—or caution—about AI.

Build Experience You Can Explain

You can begin preparing with a small project connected to your interests. For example, use an approved AI tool to help organize public information for a presentation, then check the evidence, revise the structure, and decide what your audience needs to understand. Keep track of your choices along the way. In an interview, that gives you a concrete story about the task, the tool’s contribution, and the judgment you brought to the result.

That judgment remains valuable. NACE’s spring survey placed communication, teamwork, and critical thinking at the top of its career-readiness skill ratings. Practice explaining why you accepted one suggestion, rejected another, or changed your approach after checking a source. These habits connect your experience with AI to the broader abilities employers value. [1]

Your preparation can also help you become a more thoughtful evaluator of employers. Ask who reviews AI-assisted work, how private information is protected, and how the organization addresses environmental impacts or supports employees whose responsibilities change. You can learn how AI works while being selective about how you want it used. Explore Rutgers’ AI and the Workforce resources and Handshake AI Skills Studio to begin building experience—and bring your own priorities into the career conversations that follow.

Sources and Research Notes

These sources describe different populations, dates, and measures. Survey expectations do not establish future outcomes, and platform findings do not represent every job opening. Sources checked October 16, 2026.

1. NACE. Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update (PDF), PDF pages 10, 14, 24, and 40. Survey: February 12–March 17, 2026; 185 employers overall. Question-level samples vary; the internship finding had 159 respondents. The exact internship figure is 57.8%. The 35% figure is an employer-reported share of entry-level jobs, not a percentage of employers. Also see Mary Gatta’s NACE analysis of AI skill demand (April 20, 2026).
2. Handshake. Workforce Outlook: The Class of 2026 in the AI Economy (PDF), pages 14, 17, and 19. July 2025 surveys: 1,042 hiring managers involved in recent entry-level hiring at organizations with at least 50 employees; 2,440 rising seniors, with student responses weighted. The 55% combines somewhat agree (30%) and strongly agree (25%).
3. Handshake. AI and the Workforce Ahead (PDF) (April 2026), pages 8 and 15. The 4.2% measures active full-time postings mentioning AI-related terms in their title or description as of March 2026; a mention does not necessarily indicate a skill requirement.
4. Andy Jassy, Amazon. Message from CEO Andy Jassy: Some Thoughts on Generative AI. Primary-source employee message discussing anticipated changes in work and corporate staffing.
5. Handshake. 2027 Hiring Outlook: What the data says about talent, skills, and AI (October 2026), 8:30. Business analyst median listed salaries: $85,000 with AI mentions and $75,000 without. This observational comparison does not isolate an AI skill effect or guarantee an individual salary. See also the AI capabilities framework.

About This Article: Developed by Rutgers Career Exploration and Success with support from artificial intelligence (AI) tools.