Young selling professionals are readying their caps and gowns, eager to join the B2B workforce. But recent data paints a sobering picture. According to Workplace Intelligence on behalf of Hult International business School, 37% of hiring managers would rather employ AI than hire a new graduate. The outlook gets even grimmer:
- 44% would prefer to assign the work to a seasoned freelancer
- 45% would recruit a retired worker
- 30% would rather leave the role vacant entirely
These numbers should stop every B2B executive in their tracks.
Our new generations are not incapable — but the business world increasingly doubts whether recent graduates are prepared to sell, compete and thrive in today’s high-stakes environment. At the same time, AI’s capabilities are surging forward faster than our human pipeline is evolving.
At Mereo, we believe the right question is not “Should AI replace our workforce?” — but rather, “How can we intentionally cultivate the next generation of human sellers to lead where AI cannot?”
As leaders, we owe it to our up-and-coming selling professionals to serve as guides and mentors. We must give our recent graduates a chance like we were given. Otherwise, the future could have talent gaps that will be hard to fill retroactively.
AI SHOULD ENRICH, NOT REPLACE
If you should not replace your up-and-coming workforce with AI, what should you use it for? AI can replicate tasks. It can respond with information. But it cannot build authentic trust, navigate human complexity or create long-term buyer value at the level elite sellers do.
As a selling leader, you have the opportunity to help recent graduates by:
- Investing in human sellers intentionally.
Equip your young talent with not only product knowledge but with the complex emotional intelligence, strategic thinking and value-based selling skills that differentiate humans from machines. - Redesigning your onboarding and enablement programs.
Graduates entering your organization should not simply be “trained.” They must be shaped into trusted advisors who can outmatch AI, not mimic it. - Leading with purpose.
Sellers who are connected to a clear, meaningful mission outperform those chasing only quotas. AI has no sense of purpose. Humans do. Build on that.
If the marketplace’s current sentiment holds, a future workforce may be composed more of algorithms than trusted advisors — but it does not have to be that way for your organization.
The leaders who act now and invest in nurturing and equipping their future human sellers will be the ones who win the long game.