Gen Z, AI and the Future of Work: Let’s Not Give Up on Early Careers

A recent article in The Times highlighted a blunt view: that hiring Gen Z is “too much effort”, and AI may well be a better option. The piece captures real frustrations many employers feel — from challenging candidate behaviour to the rising cost and risk of hiring. But it’s only half the story.

At Acrobat, we spend every day helping organisations recruit graduates and apprentices. We’ve seen first-hand what happens when you invest in early careers recruitment properly — and what happens when you don’t.

This isn’t just about a “bad attitude” or “woke culture”. It’s about fixing a broken system that doesn’t make it easy for either side to succeed.

The early careers challenge is real — but it’s solvable

The reality is that early careers hiring is hard. Whether you're a global brand or hiring your very first apprentice, you’re making decisions about candidates who don’t yet have a proven track record. That takes insight, judgement — and a lot of work.

Many organisations struggle with:

• Reaching high-potential candidates, especially without a big employer brand.
• Screening large volumes of CVs to uncover hidden talent beyond academic results.
• Supporting candidates all the way through to offer — and beyond.
• Managing a seasonal workload that can spike dramatically from February to July.

That’s exactly the gap Acrobat fills

We support companies at every stage of their early careers journey:

Designing the right scheme – Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining your process, we help create something fit for your organisation.

Delivering it, end-to-end – Attraction, screening, candidate prep, assessment centre design and delivery, offer management – we can run it all, seamlessly, acting as an extension of your team.

Adding real value – From university outreach and employer brand building to hiring manager training and onboarding support, we’re here to make sure the hires you make succeed and stay.

It works — and we’ve got the evidence

Clients have told us repeatedly that the quality, commitment, and diversity of candidates we deliver is consistently higher than they’ve seen before. One client put it simply: “With other agencies, we were seeing 60% attendance at assessment centres. With Acrobat, it’s 100%.” That’s no wasted time for hiring managers. That’s real ROI.

And it doesn’t stop there. Our candidates are “sticky” — they stay longer, settle quicker, and go on to thrive. That gives our clients the chance to build real leadership pipelines from within. Which, in today’s market, is more valuable than ever.

AI is useful — but it’s not a substitute for potential

Of course AI is changing how we work. Tools like ChatGPT can do some things faster. But they don’t learn, grow, collaborate, or lead. Young people do — if they’re given the right environment.

The Times article is right about one thing: we need a stronger commitment, across the board, to helping early talent succeed. That means employers offering more structure and support, and young people approaching work with realism and resilience.

But let’s not give up on an entire generation. Let’s not pretend AI can replace the value of developing your own future leaders. Instead, let’s build something better.

If you’re looking to get more from your early careers recruitment — or just need a bit of help getting started — we’d love to chat.