‘I Don’t Think It’s Lasting,’ Cisco Exec Says Entry-Level Hiring Slowdown Is Nothing To Worry About <\/p>\n
The number of entry-level job postings has been shrinking, according to student career platform Handshake. As of August, the number of first-rung postings it received had declined by 16% year-over-year, according to its Workforce Outlook report<\/a>.<\/p>\n For many current and soon-to-be graduates, this news is alarming<\/a>. However, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO<\/a>) Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer Francine Katsoudas<\/strong> says there’s nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n “I think it\u2019s a total blip,\u201d she told Business Insider<\/a>. “I don\u2019t think it\u2019s lasting.\u201d<\/p>\n Don’t Miss:<\/strong><\/p>\n Still, Katsoudas acknowledges that those looking for entry-level jobs are in a fairly challenging position.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what\u2019s happening at the moment is that there are places at the entry-level where AI is impacting the work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She offered up Cisco’s contact center, where her career first began nearly three decades ago, as an example. The division has grown from a traditional call center, staffed by human agents, to a platform that allows customers to interact as they choose, with either human agents or AI bots.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have about 1.5 million cases that used to be handled by people that are now being handled by AI quite effectively,\u201d she said. Human workers, she added, now have a more important “second-level role” solving more complex cases that AI agents can’t handle.<\/p>\n Trending: Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund Just Backed This Farmland Manager \u2014 Accredited Investors Can Join the Same Fund<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhat you\u2019re going to see is companies like Cisco work really hard to ensure that talent coming in is now prepared for level two,\u201d Katsoudas said.<\/p>\n The exec said that, generally speaking, many companies are “studying” how AI will fit into the workplace and how roles will adapt around it, which has led to some caution in hiring. “But I think it\u2019s absolutely short-term,\u201d she told Business Insider.<\/p>\n Not everyone agrees with Kastoudas, however. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei<\/strong> told Axios<\/a> that he thinks AI could wipe out half of entry-level jobs over the next five years. Meanwhile, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton<\/strong>, the “Godfather of AI,” said that “for mundane intellectual labor, AI is just going to replace everybody,” on an episode<\/a> of the podcast “Diary of a CEO.”<\/p>\n See Also: Become a futures trading pro, without spending any money \u2013 why Plus500 is the top choice for beginner investors<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n