Coursera CEO’s prime suggestions 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 suggestions 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 instructed CNBC Make It that within the age of AI, it is necessary for younger individuals to pursue further studying alongside a level.

“The recommendation that I give to my sons… is without doubt one of the greatest issues that you are able to do is to enhance your college diploma with micro credentials particularly,” he mentioned within the interview.

Micro credentials are quick programs that present a certification for a selected ability or information and so they take much less time to finish than a conventional diploma or diploma. It is turn into more and more necessary to complement levels with further certifications, as graduate jobs are susceptible to being changed by AI, Hart mentioned.

Main companies 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 assist 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 line with a current survey of two,019 senior HR professionals and determination makers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Improvement (CIPD.)

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

“They [micro credentials] display to employers that not solely did you get no matter college diploma you are learning, however you augmented that with one thing that’s typically way more workforce centered,” Coursera’s Hart added.

As AI dominates, many employees are pursuing upskilling alternatives with LinkedIn’s Abilities on the Rise report, earlier this 12 months discovering that AI literacy was the most well-liked 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 typically going to get employed into your first job based mostly totally on the traits that they see in you,” Hart mentioned.

“They’ll 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 necessary traits” that employers wish to rent for are “people who find themselves proactive and exhausting working and take initiative, who show to be prepared, learners.”

One of the simplest ways to indicate these traits is having micro credentials alongside your diploma, particularly ones which might be tailor-made to your area. For instance, Hart inspired his son, who’s a finance main, to take an extra course on AI for finance.