Only 22% of company leaders believe entry-level employees are very or completely prepared to do their jobs, up from 12% in 2024, a new General Assembly report found. Among working adults, perceptions of entry-level employee readiness remained unchanged, with 38% saying they are well-prepared.
While their perception of entry-level employees improved significantly, 47% of leaders still say they are only somewhat prepared and 31% say they are hardly or not at all prepared. Only 15% believe entry-level employees are more prepared to do their jobs than those of five years ago, compared to 53% who say they are less prepared. More than a quarter of leaders (29%) would not hire today’s entry-level employees.
“Today’s entry-level employees systematically struggle with soft skills and job preparedness, while employers continue to blame employees themselves,” said Daniele Grassi, CEO of General Assembly. “As AI increasingly impacts the entry-level pipeline, employers have a responsibility to invest in training and upskilling the next generation. If not, we’ll face a critical skills shortage in just a few years.”
More than half of leaders (56%) blamed a lack of soft skills as the reason today’s entry-level employees are unprepared, up from 50% in 2024. Employed adults also pointed to soft skills as the top culprit (42% vs. 37% in 2024). United States-based leaders were more likely to report a lack of soft skills (58%) compared to the United Kingdom (41%). The biggest gaps in soft skills were perceived at large employers with over 1,000 employees (64%).
The lack of soft skills could be why 83% of employed adults say it’s at least somewhat likely that AI can perform most entry-level roles as well as humans–with 48% saying it’s very or completely likely.
However, leaders continue to place responsibility on employees themselves to acquire skills. More than three-quarters (78%) said employees themselves were responsible, up slightly from 74% in 2024, while fewer believe the responsibility lies with employers (61% in 2025 vs. 66% in 2024). Amongst employed adults, 62% believe the responsibility should be on employers while the same portion believes employees themselves bear responsibility.
Despite these beliefs, leaders do report improvements in new employee training, with 80% saying their employers provide adequate training to new employees–up from 67% in 2024. Leaders who said entry-level employees were well-prepared for their jobs were 30% more likely to say their employer provides adequate training to new employees, implying that corporate training makes a real impact on employee preparedness.
General Assembly surveyed 651 company leaders (vice presidents in the US and directors and vice presidents in the UK) on October 10, 2024 and most recently on September 4, 2025. General Assembly also surveyed 2,361 employed adults in the US and UK on October 9, 2024 and most recently on August 29, 2025.
To learn more about the research, click here.
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