The Class of 2026 is entering a job market that is completely different than when they entered college, and AI is playing a role in that.
As of March 2026, 10.3% of internships on early career employment platform Handshake mentioned AI keywords, such as the use of specific AI tools to enhance their work. Meanwhile, Handshake’s 2026 Graduation Report found that 4.2% of full-time early career jobs mention them, nearly double the percentage from a year ago.
According to the report, roles that require AI skills range from engineering roles, where candidates are expected to have “exposure to (natural language processing), knowledge representation, inference systems, and front-end visualization,” to creative roles like digital designers, which “combine classic design craftsmanship with the ability to leverage AI technology and provide innovative solutions to design requests.”
The need for AI skills is more common in some sectors, appearing in 32% of job descriptions in technology, 7.4% in financial services, and 5.4% of media and marketing jobs. According to Handshake, roles in government, healthcare, and education are “currently experiencing the fastest growth”, after having almost zero demand for AI skills before 2024.
1 in 10 internships requires AI skills, but students want more support to learn them
The proportion of internships that require AI skills exceeds the proportion of full-time jobs, indicating that employers are “smartly recognizing the fact that this new generation of workers brings specific skills and agility that are interesting to AI” and are learning how to adapt to AI, said Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer.
“They’re looking for early-stage talent to really help them build the processes and workflows they need within their organizations,” she says.
This year’s graduates are the first group to immediately take advantage of ChatGPT and other AI platforms, which launched in November 2022, for almost the entirety of their four years at university. According to a Handshake survey of more than 1,200 recent graduates, the majority of college seniors report using AI tools. 36% say they use AI daily and 49% weekly. 15% of new graduates say they don’t use AI at all.
By and large, these students are learning about AI on their own, Cruzvergara said.
According to Handshake, students said they did not receive adequate training in AI skills while in school. According to Handshake, only 28% of new graduates say their schools are “meaningfully incorporating” AI into their programs, and 58% say they need stronger AI skills to succeed at work.
Ali Crawford, senior research analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, said educational institutions and employers need to catch up in training young professionals in AI skills.
For example, starting with the fall 2026 freshman class, Purdue University students will be required to complete an “AI Work Proficiency” requirement in order to graduate. Still, “we are not fully prepared for this continued disruption,” Crawford said.
He says federal policy needs to play a role by prioritizing AI support in government-funded upskilling and reskilling efforts. For example, the Department of Labor recently launched an initiative aimed at “expanding AI-related training, modernizing apprenticeship programs, and strengthening the nation’s talent pipeline across emerging and critical industries.”
An increasing proportion of college seniors are pessimistic about their careers but think things will improve
Overall, the job market for young professionals is tight. Posts on Handshake from July 2025 to March 2026 were down 2% compared to the same period in 2024-2025, and 12% compared to 2019-2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, when this year’s graduates enter university, employers will have twice as many job openings on their sites as they do now.
62% of current college seniors say they are pessimistic about their careers, and 46% of new graduates will say the same in 2024.
With a tough job market, more students are looking at alternative ways to start their careers. According to the Handshake survey, 58% of seniors say they are interested in starting a business. Additionally, nearly three in four recent graduates entering the job market in 2025 say they are actively considering alternative forms of employment, such as entrepreneurship, freelancing, and gig work, alongside or in place of traditional 9-to-5 jobs, according to ZipRecruiter data.
That said, approximately 70% of college seniors surveyed by Handshake believe they will eventually be able to “build the career they want” in the long term, and 59% said they expect to be able to achieve their financial goals.
While Cruzvergara believes the view of the Class of 2026 is pessimistic in the short term but optimistic in the long term, she says previous graduates have been “generally more pessimistic across the board.” “It speaks to the belief that this particular class has in themselves, that they can figure it out. They’re finding ways to learn and adapt to AI on their own.”
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