GOING back to class to learn something new after years spent at university does not deter Persephone Teng’s resolve to make it big in the workforce.
The 24-year-old business graduate from Kuching is currently attending a two-week course on using artificial intelligence (AI) at work, including creating bots to aid tasks such as ledger maintenance, daily financial transactions and report editing.
“I am applying for a job as a junior executive at an accounting firm in the Klang Valley. While it did not explicitly say that I need to know how to use AI, hirers say knowing how to do so will be an advantage for me. I want to be an efficient worker who is adept at using available modern tools.”
Teng’s efforts to improve herself reflect the growing adoption of AI in the workplace, which is influencing the nature of entry- level jobs for companies around the world.
According to a report by the World Economic Forum this year, entry-level work is being redefined.
“As more junior-level employees enter the workforce with AI skills honed at educational institutions, the technology is altering what entry-level work looks like and where in the talent pyramid it’s performed.”
For example, the report states that instead of spending their first years on repetitive tasks, newcomers will start with judgment- based work such as reviewing AI outputs and escalating complex cases to human experts; using AI to explore ideas and spot emerging trends; and helping connect AI tools with human workflows by monitoring processes, fixing inefficiencies and ensuring quality.
This development is far from the contention that AI use will simply diminish entry-level vocations in the future, says Malaysian Industrial Commercial Service Employers Association (MICSEA) president YK Lai.
“AI is likely to reshape entry- level roles significantly, but I would not necessarily say that entry-level jobs will simply disappear.
“What is more likely is that the nature of entry-level work will change.”
Delving into the entry level
According to an analysis by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) in its “2026 Global AI Jobs Baro-meter” for Malaysia, the share of AI job postings has continued rising, from 1.9% in 2024 to 4% in 2025. It finds that AI is “driving productivity, accelerating skills change and starting to create a redesign of entry level work”.
AI job postings also peaked at 33,000 in 2023, dipped and then rose again by 2,000 in 2025.
“AI-exposed junior roles are seven times more likely (than the least AI-exposed junior roles) to demand traditionally senior skills like leadership and strategic thinking.
“Rather than replacing jobs at scale, leading organisations are using AI to amplify human performance and create value,” the analysis states.
Malaysian Employers Fede-ration (MEF) president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman says AI is creating demand for entry- level employees who can work effectively with AI rather than compete against it.
“New recruits will increasingly be expected to analyse information, validate AI-generated outputs, solve problems, communicate with customers and colleagues, exercise judgement and apply their technical knowledge to real workplace situations.”
Lai says traditionally, junior employees are often assigned repetitive, administrative and process-driven tasks.
“These include preparing reports, data entry, drafting routine correspondence, conducting basic research, scheduling and producing standard presentations. These are precisely the areas where generative AI and automation can now provide substantial support.”
He points out that, as a result, some organisations may need fewer employees to perform purely transactional work. At the same time, employers may increasingly expect junior employees to arrive with stronger digital, analytical and AI-related capabilities.
“In other words, the definition of an ‘entry-level employee’ may evolve.
“We could see a situation where a fresh graduate is expected to perform tasks that previously required several years of experience, not because the individual has suddenly become more experienced, but because AI allows them to work faster and with greater access to information and tools.”
Junior roles have traditionally served as the training ground where employees learn the fundamentals, gain institutional knowledge and develop professional judgment, says Lai.
Reducing them may eventually create a talent pipeline problem.
“Therefore, I believe the solution is not to eliminate junior roles, but to redesign them. Entry-level employees may spend less time on routine work and more time developing critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, stakeholder management and decision-making skills.
“The future junior employee may not necessarily do less work, but they will need to do different and potentially more sophisticated work.”
Qualification alignment
If junior roles now demand higher-level skills, does this widen the gap between formal qualifications and available jobs?
Khazanah Research Institute applied economist Dr Mikhail Rosli says Malaysia already faces a mismatch between graduates’ qualifications and the jobs available to them, with 32.2%, or 1.6 million, considered underemployed, including 66% of graduates aged 24 and below.
The prospect of entry-level jobs being “seniorised” could add another layer to that mismatch, particularly if employers increasingly expect fresh graduates to arrive with skills traditionally acquired through workplace experience.
“For the graduates right now who are facing higher walls to scale, yes, this does widen the gap between formal qualifications and available jobs.
“But we should call it what it is. Effectively, firms now demand, at entry, skills that can only be learned in the workplace, and they get away with it because they’re spoiled for choice.
“This is a common feature in economies where hiring is easy for the employer due to the oversupply of graduates and undersupply of employment.”
Asked about PwC’s data showing that AI-exposed entry-level roles are seven times more likely to require traditionally senior-level skills, with 35% growth since 2019, and whether this signals a possible permanent redefinition of “entry-level”, Mikhail says he would be cautious about attributing recent changes in the labour market to AI.
“Humlum & Vestergaard [2025] found zero effect on earnings and hours worked from the use of AI at the workplace. And another influential paper, by Lambert & Schindler [2026], pointed out how ‘AI-exposed’ jobs are also jobs that are very easy to do from home.
“So economists are unsure if we’re seeing the impact of AI or the impact of working from home. An interesting point is to note how these changes started to happen in 2019, as you noted, while ChatGPT was introduced in 2022. Trends that start before the supposed cause cannot be attributed to said cause.”
However, Mikhail says this does not change the fact that jobs are indeed “seniorising”.
“It could be due to the hiring cycle. There is evidence that in slack markets, employers demand more experience in hires and drop those demands when markets tighten. In this case, it would be temporary. But there is also a good chance that this is structural. If it really is AI, then it’s likely to be permanent.
“Even if it’s due to remote work, then this is likely to be permanent. Both because this represents structural changes in labour market demand.”
Balancing gains and pathways for jobseekers
Companies should avoid viewing the change as a choice between productivity and employment opportunities, says Lai.
He says the real challenge is how to use AI to improve productivity while redesigning entry-level opportunities so that young people can still enter, learn and progress within an organisation.
“Clerical and administrative work has traditionally been an important entry point into the workforce.
“These roles gave young employees the opportunity to understand how an organisation operates, develop workplace
discipline, build professional relationships and gradually take on more complex responsibilities. If AI removes these roles entirely, companies may unintentionally remove the first rung of the career ladder.”
He points out that one approach is to redesign, rather than simply eliminate, these positions.
“Instead of hiring a junior employee purely to perform data entry, prepare routine reports or handle repetitive administrative tasks, companies can create roles where AI manages part of the transactional work while the employee focuses on interpreting information, solving problems, communicating with stakeholders and supporting decision-making.”
He says employers can also consider structured entry programmes, apprenticeships, internships and job rotations.
“These programmes allow young jobseekers to gain practical exposure and build experience even if the traditional administrative roles are becoming smaller in number.”
Another important consideration is recruitment expectations.
“Companies should be careful not to use AI as a reason to demand increasingly advanced skills from fresh graduates while simultaneously reducing opportunities for them to gain experience. There is a risk ofbcreating a ‘no experience, no job; no job, no experience’ cycle.
“Employers should continue to hire for potential, learning agility and adaptability and then provide structured development opportunities.
“There may also be an opportunity to rethink productivity gains. If AI allows an organisation to complete routine work with fewer hours, some of that productivity should be reinvested into training, mentoring and capability development.”
