The Evolution of Entry Level Workers

Entry-level workers are no longer U.S. college grads—in fact, some aren't even human anymore.

The world of entry-level talent has completely changed in the past decade, particularly for startups. Not too long ago, startups raided colleges with an implicit understanding that among college grads, you could find someone who was smart (the college part), willing to work hard (lots of free time), and relatively cheap (first job).

I know this well because I was exactly that—young, relatively smart, insanely hungry, and freakishly cheap to hire. Since then, I've been trying to find my 19-year-old clone every single day of my Founder life. What has changed, though, is that the most fertile hunting grounds for those folks are no longer U.S. colleges—or the U.S. at all in some cases.

This is a particularly big deal for startups, as unlike big corporations that are hiring, we are relatively broke, we're starving for help in key roles, and we need people who are willing to take on risk. So the world of "entry level" is typically our exclusive domain for hiring for quite a long time. The good news, though, is this — entry level ain't what it used to be.

Rank #1 - AI

The biggest sea change is the rise of AI to replace an ungodly number of tasks and roles exponentially faster and cheaper. Now, like any entry-level talent, it may be affordable, but the current state of AI is also wildly prone to errors. It's more like hiring a college intern who in theory, could get loads of work done at a fraction of the cost, but in reality, you spend more time correcting their work than getting it done.

But as AI improves, that will certainly change. First, it will start with mundane tasks that were exclusively the domain of entry-level folks because, frankly, anyone could just show up and do them. That's a big issue for the rest of the entry-level world because, for a long time, many entry-level applicants' only qualification was "showing up and doing the work" until they learned beyond that.

Next, it will continue with more nuanced work, such as writing marketing copy or managing customer support. Many of these tasks employ legions of entry-level workers, but they also involve routine responses and outcomes that are very prone to automation. This automation will simply change the bar for what entry-level work is, like the doorman being replaced by an automatic door.

Rank #2 - Global Talent

For those tasks that can't be automated and require skill-based talent, the accessibility of a talented, global workforce has never been more viable. I give a lot of credit to platforms like UpWork, which have made connecting with and managing this talent pool significantly easier than in the past.

At Startups.com, we employ a fantastic customer success team from the Philippines, a marketing and design team from Serbia, and team members from nearly a dozen countries—and the integration is seamless. Since we're all on Slack and have become remote, the difference between communicating with a team member in Serbia, the Philippines, or Ohio is zero.

The big difference here is that our "entry-level budget" for staff isn't buying us recent grads with zero experience. For example, we'd normally pay a designer with zero experience coming out of college $60k+ in the U.S. For the same budget, we could get 3 designers in Serbia who have 5-10 years of real-world experience and can bring hard-won lessons to the table. If that's the new "entry-level," I'll take entry-level all day long.

Rank #3 - Young and Hungry

Aside from global talent, another group of entry-level folks is becoming noticeably more prominent—the "young and hungry." They may or may not have college degrees, but they separate themselves from the rest by being incredibly hungry.

They supplement their lack of formal education with side hustles, projects, and contracts that give them real-world experience that simply doesn't come from formal education. Our CTO at Startups.com is a great example of this. He had 2 startups and countless project clients long before he ever graduated college. Yes, he got a degree, but he was hungry way before that.

Most of our U.S. talent has come from this category, myself included. We didn't "wait for college" to start building our careers; we just rolled our sleeves up and dug in immediately. What's great about this entry-level talent pool is that we get to bet on what they've actually done in the market, not what they might do after they get a degree.

It's worth noting that among all 3 categories here, the talent is not only more experienced and cost-effective, but there is way more of it. We've simultaneously increased supply while significantly lowering costs, which means the workforce for aspiring startups just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

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