Employers Reduce Entry Roles Amid Rising AI

The IrishJobs Hiring Trends Update found that 47% of employers have reduced the number of entry and graduate-level roles available, according to the report. The update reports 66% of employers say the skills needed in their industry are rapidly evolving and 83% of recruiters say hiring is now more strategic and focused on specific roles. The survey gathered insights from over 500 HR leaders and nearly 1,000 jobseekers in March and April, per the report. The update also states that 46% of employers plan to increase hiring in the coming months and that more than a quarter of firms are hiring for specialised roles in AI and machine learning. The report notes 56% of employers in the IT and telecoms sector increased hiring over the last six months.

Christopher Paye, Country Director of The Stepstone Group Ireland with responsibility for IrishJobs, said: "It's clear from the findings that despite ongoing economic uncertainty, Ireland's labour market remains fundamentally resilient." He added, "Rising labour costs and advances in AI are also reshaping workforce planning, prompting many employers to rebalance their hiring mix and focus on experienced talent with in-demand skills." These sentences appear verbatim in the report coverage.

Industry-pattern observations: Employers reallocating hiring toward specialised technical roles while trimming entry-level intake is consistent with broader trends where automation and AI raise the value of domain-specific skills. Companies that prioritize immediate productivity gains commonly favour experienced hires for complex roles, which reduces early-career onramps and shifts the types of training pipelines organisations require.

For data science and machine learning practitioners, the reported shift increases demand for mid-to-senior technical skillsets and applied expertise in areas like cybersecurity and engineering, both of which the report highlights as in-demand. For talent strategy professionals, these findings indicate pressure to develop alternative entry routes such as apprenticeships, reskilling programs, or stronger university-industry links to replenish talent pools over time.

Indicators to monitor include follow-up survey waves for changes in the proportion of entry-level roles, employer investments in internal reskilling, and the mix of hiring across sectors - particularly manufacturing, construction, and IT where the report shows divergent hiring momentum. Observers should also track whether the share of firms recruiting for AI and machine-learning roles continues to rise beyond the "more than a quarter" reported in this update.