For decades, professional development and career preparation have been at the heart of campus recreation. It’s one of the defining strengths of the field, and for many campus rec professionals, a core reason they choose to work in the industry. Through mentoring, skill-building and formative student employment, campus rec has launched generations of students into their careers — equipping them with leadership skills, confidence and practical workplace experience.
But as industries and the workforce continue rapidly changing in response to AI, the knowledge and skill expectations placed on new graduates are shifting.
And campus rec needs to catch up.
AI is Changing What It Means to Be “Career-Ready”
Earlier this year when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that half of all entry-level white-collar roles could vanish within five years thanks to AI, it generated a lot of attention. The labor market is showing strong indications that may be exactly where we’re heading.
The evidence is mounting that AI is already reshaping the entry-level job market. A 2025 labor market report from The Independent found that hiring for new college graduates dropped 16% from the previous year and is now 44% lower than in 2022. Many traditional entry-level white-collar roles are being restructured or eliminated outright as employers lean on automation, AI-driven workflows and leaner team models. Research from SignalFire echoed this trend, reporting that Big Tech companies cut new graduate hiring by 25% in 2024 compared to 2023.
The ripple effects are clear: the unemployment rate for new graduates has climbed to 5.8% — the highest since 2021 — and 41% of graduates are underemployed in jobs that don’t require a college degree.
New studies are reinforcing this picture. A 2025 study from Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab found employment among young adults ages 22 to 25 in AI-exposed roles has already dropped by about 16% since 2022, and documented a steep decline in job postings for new graduates in precisely those fields most disrupted by AI.
The result is that even when graduates want to enter these careers, fewer opportunities exist. Indeed, a Cengage Group survey showed that just 30% of 2025 graduates and 41% of 2024 graduates secured jobs in their chosen field. At the same time, some employers are charting a different path: McKinsey & Company told Business Insider that entry-level hiring is actually increasing inside the firm, but only for candidates who come equipped with AI literacy from day one.
Employers are being explicit about it. Across industries, CEOs are sending memos to their workforces underscoring that AI literacy is no longer optional. Shopify’s Tobi Lütke set the tone early in March 2025, releasing a memo to his workforce on how adopting AI was no longer optional but central to the company’s strategy. More companies continue to follow suit: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna called AI skills a baseline requirement for employment, and Amazon’s Andy Jassy told employees every role at Amazon will be expected to integrate AI fluency moving forward.
In other words, keeping up with AI isn’t a bonus skill anymore — it’s the cost of entry.
For graduates with AI fluency, opportunities are stronger. But for the job pool is shrinking for those those who haven’t been exposed to these tools. That creates a serious challenge for campus rec if it hopes to continue delivering on its mission of preparing students for the workforce.
Opportunity and Evolution Go Hand-in-Hand
Compared to the speed of change elsewhere, campus rec has been slower to adapt to AI. Most departments still fail to incorporate AI into business plans, staff training and student employment pathways. Department leadership and full-time staff largely still lack adequate literacy on how to use AI responsibly and effectively, which makes it difficult to coach students on it. The need to evolve is urgent, but that’s exactly where the opportunity lives.
The necessity of evolving with AI is the opportunity.
Campus rec departments already operate in ways that support growth. They offer tiered employment models, scaffolded responsibilities, and a culture of coaching and utilizing setbacks as learning opportunities. With a few intentional changes, those same systems could also become pathways for AI readiness.
Existing software and platforms used in campus rec are already rolling out AI features. Introducing students to widely available tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or Claude can spark new problem-solving skills and creativity. Embedding core skills such as prompt engineering, ethical use, and data management into training and workflows would provide foundational literacy that is universally applicable in any job.
To get there, campus rec departments need to:
- Create intentional AI plans and strategies and build them into business plans, operating paradigms and standard operating procedures.
- Build literacy into staff training and student development programs.
- Upskill professional staff and graduate assistants and give them space to experiment with AI in their own work.
- Incorporate conversations and learning opportunities into the student employment experience.
Curiosity, a good plan and experimentation are often all it takes to make significant progress.
Staying True to the Mission
Campus rec has always stood for student growth, leadership and opportunity. This mission hasn’t changed, but the landscape and nature of work as we know it are especially for students graduating into this new era.
If campus rec wants to continue shaping graduates who are ready for the world they’re entering, it must embrace AI literacy as a new dimension of career preparation. The workforce of tomorrow will expect it, and our students deserve nothing less.
