In the age of AI, much of the focus has been on not losing sight of the power of creative thinking. But running in parallel to that is something just as important. Because as AI reshapes how we deliver work, it’s also reshaping how people enter – and experience – our industry. In this article, we explain how, if we’re not careful, we’re going to create a very real problem for ourselves.
The missing middle is coming
There’s a growing body of evidence that suggests the widespread use of artificial intelligence is having a massive impact on the job market – in particular for entry level roles, where some reports have shown a drop of almost a third since late 2022.
In marketing, AI is increasingly taking on the types of tasks that are used to cut the teeth of junior marketers. And business leaders are being warned that such a reduction in inexperienced roles will create a ‘talent drought’ by 2030.
It’s not just a future problem either – recent reports show graduates facing one of the toughest entry-level job markets in years, with over 40% underemployment and employers increasingly expecting experience for roles that previously didn’t have such criteria.
The result? We’re quietly eroding the pathway into our industry. And even for the more experienced of us, this will have a major impact in three to five years.
Because that missing wave of juniors will result in a dearth of mid-level talent – the people who think strategically, lead clients, and bring creativity and commerciality together at the heart of the agency structure.
It won’t be because the talent isn’t out there. It’ll be because we didn’t nurture it.
AI isn’t the problem – our response is
As AI becomes commonplace across industries and roles, it’s easy to doom-monger about its impact. But most credible perspectives don’t actually point to a wholesale replacement of jobs. Instead, the more informed opinion is that 50-55% of roles will be reshaped, rather than removed.
That puts the responsibility for the future firmly on us as leaders. And right now, too many businesses are taking a short-term view, automating those typical junior level tasks, reducing entry-level hiring, and expecting ‘ready-made’ talent to be out there and willing to accept roles they may be overqualified for.
A contributing factor is the way that AI has been introduced to the workplace; it’s largely seen as a ‘tactical’ tool to aid with content, research and ideation. That means many aren’t adjusting for its impact strategically, looking at how it affects career paths and operations more broadly.
In the short term, it works; after all, the efficiency benefits are clear, and not utilising AI while others do is a sure-fire way to fall behind.
But it breaks the long-term model.
Because entry-level roles have never just been about output. They’re where people fundamentally learn how to think, collaborate, challenge, and create. Remove that layer, and the foundation for great marketers is lost.
Entry level: just the beginning
One of the biggest misconceptions with the AI-fuelled talent drought is that it’s purely an entry-level issue. It’s not.
In fact, it affects our industry as a whole. People changing careers, re-entering the workforce and those without traditional pathways trying to break into the industry will all suffer because of it.
And those looking for roles are still only one piece of the puzzle. There’s growing cases of senior executives and C-suite roles being replaced by a mixture of AI-native talent and AI agents, fundamentally changing the structure of organizations.
Traditional triangular models (more junior roles that narrow as seniority increases) are becoming diamond shaped, as entry-level positions are entrusted to AI systems. And, if we’re not careful, an unsustainable ‘T’ model will become more common, where a raft of senior resources will operate with a thin middle-management and entry-level support structure.
If those entry points continue to narrow, and the shape of agencies continue to change, we don’t just reduce the volume and development of our peers – we reduce the vital diversity of thought, experience, and perspective. And in B2B, that’s never mattered more.
Rethinking our approach
This isn’t a call to push back on AI and its applications. It’s a call to think about how we evolve alongside its use – responsibly.
At its core, it’s about rethinking what entry-level roles look like. In my eyes, it’s about building hybrid talent for our new reality: training those who are confident using large language models and AI tools, while continuing to nurture strategy, creative disciplines and client leadership skills at the same time. Because the future marketer needs both.
We’ve seen some early signs of change. A shift towards skills-based hiring, alternative pathways being opened up into the industry, and different, future-ready training models are increasing in their use.
But it’s not yet happening at the pace or scale that we need.
A call to action for leaders
This is a leadership issue.
The decisions we make now, about hiring, structure and investment, will define the shape of our industry as we move forward.
We’ve already had the pleasure of joining roundtable discussions with other B2B agencies to discuss exactly this – more recently hosted and supported by B2B Marketing. It was powerful to hear agency leaders speak about what they’re seeing, how to challenge our own thinking, and – most importantly – how we can make real, tangible commitments to investing in early-career talent.
These kinds of events are vital, as if we don’t act now, we’ll all feel the impact later.
In capability gaps, mid-level and leadership shortages, and ultimately, the quality of what we deliver.
Speaking at the Roundtable Richard O’Connor, CEO at B2B Marketing sees exactly the same problem:
“The talent crisis in B2B marketing is already happening and in plain sight. AI is replacing many of the entry-level tasks that we once gave young marketers as their first step into the profession. It’s an uncomfortable truth that, as business leaders, we have to innovate and use AI to stay competitive — but we also have a duty to look beyond the numbers. As citizens, parents and professionals, we must protect opportunities for young people to enter and progress in our industry. If we don’t, where will our future leaders come from?”
We talk a lot about the future of marketing. About AI. Innovation. Transformation.
But just as we’re protecting the role of creativity in that future, we need to also protect the pathways and development available for people. The stakes are high, and the time to act is right now.
