Nearly 70% of software development job postings are now for senior level positions. In 2019, that number was 55%.
The change is striking, but it isn't just a technology story. It's a hiring story. AI can now handle some of the routine work that once gave junior employees a way into a profession, and employers are responding by asking new hires to contribute at a higher level sooner.
That creates a problem.
If everyone wants experienced employees, someone still has to give people their first five years of experience.
It would be easy to say AI is eliminating entry level jobs and leave it there. The actual picture is more complicated. Strada's 2026 research found that 2.7 times as many senior talent leaders expect AI to increase entry level hiring this year as expect it to decrease it. IBM has also said it plans to triple its U.S. entry level hiring in 2026, with new roles designed around an AI enabled workplace.
So entry level work isn't disappearing.
It's changing.
PwC's 2026 AI Jobs Barometer shows just how much. After analyzing 2.4 million U.S. entry level jobs, PwC found that positions most exposed to AI are now seven times more likely to require skills traditionally associated with senior employees, including leadership, creativity and judgment. Job openings for these types of entry level roles have grown 35% since 2019, while other entry level positions declined 10%.
In other words, employers aren't necessarily getting rid of the first rung of the career ladder.
They're moving it higher.
A company may still be willing to hire someone fresh out of school. It just may expect that person to arrive with stronger technical skills, better judgment and the ability to work with AI from day one.
That's understandable. Leaner teams need people who can contribute quickly. AI can handle tasks that once required more employees. Companies are under pressure to get more out of every hire.
But experience still has to come from somewhere.
Think about what people used to get from a first job. They learned how the industry worked. They sat in meetings with experienced colleagues. They made mistakes with relatively low stakes. They watched how managers handled customers, projects and problems. Over time, they became the experienced employees everyone wanted to hire.
If companies stop creating those early opportunities, the supply of experienced talent doesn't magically replenish itself.
It gets smaller.
There is another way to look at AI, though. Instead of eliminating the entry level employee, it could help that employee become productive faster.
A junior employee who can use AI to handle routine work may have more time to learn the parts of the job that actually require experience. They can spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time working with customers, solving problems and learning from people who have been doing the job for years.
Some companies are already testing that approach. IBM says it is tripling U.S. entry level hiring in 2026 and redesigning roles around the changing nature of work. The company has specifically pointed to the need to keep developing early career talent so the pipeline of experienced employees doesn't dry up.
That creates a very different recruitment marketing opportunity.
An experienced candidate may be looking closely at compensation, flexibility, responsibilities and the scope of a position. Someone starting a career is making a different calculation.
What will I learn here?
Who will I learn from?
Will I work on projects that matter?
What happens after this job?
Will this company help me build a career, or does it expect me to arrive with one already built?
Those questions shouldn't be buried on a careers page.
They should be part of the recruitment message.
"Great opportunities for growth" doesn't tell a candidate much. Show them the training program. Introduce them to the manager they'll learn from. Put an employee in front of a camera and let them explain how they moved from an entry level role into something bigger. Show candidates what the first year actually looks like and where the next few years could take them.
Give them something they can picture.
That's where recruitment marketing becomes more than advertising an open position.
If an organization wants to build its own experienced workforce, it has to start by giving people a reason to choose the organization before they have years of experience to sell.
That takes more than a job posting.
It takes an employer brand that can explain why someone should start a career there. It takes content that shows what development actually looks like. It takes campaigns that reach people before they're actively searching. And it takes a recruitment strategy that keeps the organization in front of the right talent even when there isn't an immediate opening to fill.
This matters even more when hiring slows down.
When there are fewer requisitions, it's tempting to pull back on recruitment marketing until the next hiring push begins. But that creates a different problem. If nobody is hearing from you while you're quiet, someone else is getting the attention of the people you'll eventually need.
The companies that build early career pipelines well won't wait for a requisition to start telling their story.
They'll build awareness before the job exists.
That's the work Harger Howe does. We help organizations turn the things that make a career worth choosing into recruitment marketing that reaches the right audiences, builds familiarity and gives prospective employees a reason to pay attention before they're ready to apply.
Because the job isn't always the thing you're selling.
Sometimes you're selling the next five years.
And if an employer can show a candidate not only what they'll do on day one, but what they could become by year three, that employer has given itself something much more valuable than another application.
It has given someone a reason to start their career there.