Ella graduated top of her class with a marketing degree and a solid internship track record. But after four months of job applications and almost no replies, she realized something had shifted. The entry-level roles she had trained for were now handled by AI, which was faster, cheaper and required no onboarding.

So she stopped applying. Instead, Ella tried something else. She built a market trends dashboard using Clay and Bardeen, automated competitor tracking with Hex Technologies, and launched a curated newsletter using Beehiiv. Within three months, she had 2,000 subscribers and inbound interest from multiple companies — not because of her résumé, but because of the value she had already created.

Ella’s story is becoming increasingly common. AI can easily handle many junior-level tasks, but replacing young talent with AI is a strategic risk.

Here’s why.

No juniors, no leaders

Skipping junior hires today means starving your leadership pipeline tomorrow. AI doesn’t absorb company culture, doesn’t sit in customer calls, and doesn’t develop the judgment that comes from lived experience.

Talented juniors grow into operators who understand your business inside out. Without them, you’ll eventually need to hire from the outside, at a premium, and often without the same level of context or loyalty. Investing in junior talent is investing in your future bench.

Juniors are closer to your future customers

Younger professionals live in the behavior patterns, platforms and consumption habits that are shaping the next generation of buyers. They’re immersed in emerging communities, cultural trends and digital movements.

Senior leadership, no matter how experienced, rarely has the same intuitive pulse. Eliminating juniors increases the risk of losing touch with where your market is actually headed.

You lose the full potential of AI itself

Ironically, it’s often younger employees who are best positioned to push AI forward. They tend to experiment more, adopt faster and find creative use cases beyond the obvious. When you eliminate them, you don’t just replace task execution, you eliminate the very people who could help you get more from AI than you ever expected. Overreliance on automation limits your company’s ability to innovate with the tools themselves.

A message to the Ellas: Create value, don’t wait for permission

If you’re early in your career and being overlooked, don’t wait for a job title to start contributing. Use your skills to build something useful and visible. Whether it’s a side project, research product or content platform, showing traction is far more powerful than a polished CV. Companies notice momentum, not intent. When you prove value upfront, the right roles will find you, and on better terms.

It is important to note this is not an “anti-AI” article. On the contrary, I strongly recommend all companies should adopt AI — not as a replacement for people, but rather as a power multiplier for the people you employ and for those you will hire.

Itay Sagie is a strategic adviser to tech companies and investors, specializing in strategy, growth and M&A, a guest contributor to Crunchbase News, and a seasoned lecturer. Learn more about his advisory services, lectures and courses at SagieCapital.com. Connect with him on LinkedIn for further insights and discussions.

Illustration: Dom Guzman