Although there is not necessarily a collapse in graduate hiring in Ireland, there is certainly a “tightening of the market” due to the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI), according to recruitment professionals.
Today’s graduates are entering a workforce “shaped by AI”, they say, with employers increasingly turning to automation for tasks traditionally fulfilled by entry-level recruits.
This is resulting in fewer traditional, “larger” graduate intakes and stronger competition, meaning those entering the workforce must adapt.
That is according to Breda Dooley, head of recruitment at Matrix Recruitment, who says employers are using AI and automation for “repetitive and time-consuming” tasks, though they are not “eliminating entire roles”.
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“Employers are raising the bar for entry-level hires, and this means graduate roles are becoming more diverse,” she says.
Competition for jobs is “undoubtedly increasing”, Dooley says, with today’s graduates requiring stronger commercial awareness, better communication skills and the ability to interpret data, “not just process it”.
This is particularly the case in accounting, human resources (HR) and administrative roles, Dooley says, where some tasks traditionally assigned to interns or graduates are now “partially automated”.
“Yes, there are fewer opportunities to learn solely through routine on-the-job tasks, but AI is designed to work alongside employees and improve efficiency, not replace them entirely,” she says.
Noting a definite “tightening of the market”, rather than a “collapse in graduate hiring”, Dooley says her firm is seeing fewer large-scale graduate intake programmes in favour of more “targeted hiring”.
“Graduate opportunities still exist, but as companies focus on controlling costs, these roles are increasingly linked to immediate business needs rather than long-term talent pipeline building,” she says.
Trayc Keevans, global foreign direct investment director and head of research at Morgan McKinley, says the recruitment agency is not seeing fewer graduate opportunities “as a whole” but rather a “redistribution of them”.
“AI is certainly making some traditional graduate employers more selective, but it’s also creating opportunities for a much wider range of businesses to compete for graduate talent,” she says.
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Graduate recruitment in Ireland has historically been heavily concentrated among a relatively small number of employers, she says, particularly the “Big Four” – PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY- and large multinational graduate programmes.
“While some of those employers have become more selective, the opportunities for graduates we are now seeing as of 2026 span a much wider range of sectors,” she says.
The greatest impact of AI is being seen within organisations that have invested most heavily in automation, Keevans says, which is most evident in “parts of the Big Four and professional services, particularly audit”.
However, that trend has not yet been replicated across the “wider industry ecosystem”, she says.
“Most organisations are still at a much earlier stage of AI adoption and are continuing to recruit graduates to build capability while introducing AI into their businesses.”
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Technology remains one of the strongest areas of graduate demand, she says, while retail is another sector undergoing “significant transformation” as companies continue to invest in a range of areas, including digital commerce and customer insight.
AI is also creating new career opportunities for graduates, Keevans says, noting that roles such as “prompt engineering” are beginning to emerge.
“For graduates, the message is encouraging. The market is becoming more competitive, but it is also becoming broader,” she says.
While there is “certainly a risk” associated with the effects of AI on graduate and entry-level opportunities, Keevans does not believe they will struggle to enter the workforce.
“The greater challenge is ensuring that organisations continue to provide meaningful early career development as AI changes the nature of entry-level work,” she says.
Although AI brings clear productivity benefits, employers should ensure learning opportunities are “replaced rather than removed”, she says.
“We expect to see graduate programmes evolving with this change.
“The organisations that will benefit most from AI will be those that use it to reduce repetitive work while allowing it to augment graduates’ work, enabling them to become involved in more meaningful projects earlier in their careers.”
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Keevans argues there is also an important role for Ireland’s education system, saying AI literacy should be introduced “much earlier” at both second and third level, while also placing an even greater emphasis on critical thinking and communication skills as well as adaptability.
“These are the capabilities that will continue to differentiate people in an AI-enabled workplace.”
Keevans believes employers that significantly reduce investment in early-career hiring today risk creating a shortage of experienced professionals in the years ahead.
“We saw an element of that after the post-Celtic Tiger crash when professional services firms reduced their intake in response to the global economic downturn and were caught wanting for these skills when the market bounced back.”
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