Coursera CEO’s prime ideas for grads to remain aggressive as AI takes jobs

With entry-level jobs declining as employers proceed to deploy AI, Coursera’s CEO has shared his prime ideas for graduates to remain aggressive within the job market and stand out in interviews.

Greg Hart, former technical advisor to Jeff Bezos at Amazon, turned president and CEO of on-line studying platform Coursera in February 2025. He advised CNBC Make It that within the age of AI, it is vital for younger folks to pursue extra studying alongside a level.

“The recommendation that I give to my sons… is among the greatest issues that you are able to do is to reinforce your college diploma with micro credentials particularly,” he stated within the interview.

Micro credentials are quick programs that present a certification for a selected ability or data they usually take much less time to finish than a standard diploma or diploma. It is develop into more and more vital to complement levels with extra certifications, as graduate jobs are liable to being changed by AI, Hart stated.

Main corporations have been shedding employees this 12 months and have cited AI as a part of the explanation, from Amazon making 14,000 employees redundant because it bets on AI to Salesforce slashing 4,000 buyer help roles saying AI can do 40% of the duties on the firm.

In the meantime, 62% of U.Okay. employers anticipate that junior, clerical, managerial and administrative roles would be the more than likely be misplaced to AI, in accordance with a current survey of two,019 senior HR professionals and resolution makers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Improvement (CIPD.)

Moreover, the U.Okay.’s Institute for Scholar Employers present in its annual Scholar Recruitment Survey that 1.2 million functions had been submitted for simply 17,000 graduate roles, highlighting the extraordinary competitors and the restricted positions out there to younger folks.

“They [micro credentials] show to employers that not solely did you get no matter college diploma you are finding out, however you augmented that with one thing that’s usually far more workforce centered,” Coursera’s Hart added.

As AI dominates, many employees are pursuing upskilling alternatives with LinkedIn’s Expertise on the Rise report, earlier this 12 months discovering that AI literacy was the preferred ability that folks had been including to their profiles.

Hart defined that contemporary graduates going into job interviews ought to spotlight their character and character traits alongside their expertise.

“Say you are an adolescent in college proper now, you’re usually going to get employed into your first job primarily based totally on the traits that they see in you,” Hart stated.

“They will be assessing your mindset and your traits as a human being greater than your expertise, as a result of by definition, you actually haven’t got a lot expertise and they also’re not likely hiring you to your expertise, they’re hiring you to your… character traits.”

Hart outlined that “some of the vital traits” that employers wish to rent for are “people who find themselves proactive and onerous working and take initiative, who show to be prepared, learners.”

One of the simplest ways to point out these traits is having micro credentials alongside your diploma, particularly ones which are tailor-made to your discipline. For instance, Hart inspired his son, who’s a finance main, to take a further course on AI for finance.