According to Fortune, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna made a public pledge last week to increase hiring of recent college graduates, positioning himself as “the opposite” of companies freezing hiring or conducting layoffs. Just days later, IBM announced it would cut thousands of workers by year’s end as part of a restructuring toward high-growth software and AI areas. The layoffs will impact a “low single-digit percentage” of IBM’s 270,000 global workforce, potentially affecting around 2,700 employees. An IBM spokesperson claimed the cuts combined with new hiring would leave U.S. headcount roughly flat, though the company didn’t specify which departments would be hit. This comes as job postings have been declining since their March 2022 peak, creating an increasingly difficult environment for workers trying to enter or re-enter the job market.
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Corporate Whiplash
Here’s the thing about corporate messaging: it changes faster than the weather. Krishna went from “we’re hiring more grads” to “we’re cutting thousands” in what, a week? That’s some serious whiplash for anyone trying to plan their career. And let’s be real – when companies say they’re “rebalancing” their workforce, they’re almost always cutting jobs in traditional areas while adding a smaller number in shiny new fields. The math rarely works out for the people being shown the door.
Gen Z Takes the Hit
This isn’t just about IBM. Harvard researchers found that junior employment declines sharply at companies adopting AI. Entry-level roles are basically cannon fodder in the automation wars. Companies love talking about “upskilling” and “reskilling,” but when the layoffs come, guess whose jobs disappear first? It’s the newest, cheapest, and most vulnerable workers. So much for that college degree being a ticket to stability.
Skills Gap or Excuse?
Krishna’s advice? Focus on developing AI and quantum skills. Sure, that sounds great in theory. But how exactly are recent graduates supposed to get “hands-on experience with particular tools” when companies won’t hire them without it? It’s the classic catch-22. Meanwhile, companies like IBM are cutting thousands while telling everyone else to skill up. Something doesn’t add up here.
The New Hiring Reality
Look, the data doesn’t lie. Microsoft and LinkedIn found that 71% of leaders would hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills over a more experienced one without them. That’s a massive shift in hiring priorities. But here’s what worries me: are we creating a generation of workers who can only operate specific tools rather than think critically? As one automation CEO noted, curiosity and adaptability matter more than just knowing the tools. But try telling that to HR departments filtering resumes by keywords. The brutal truth is that corporate restructuring around AI is creating winners and losers – and right now, young workers are losing.
