Most students feel anxious about their job prospects after graduating college, but the class of 2025 is downright dour. Around 57% of the class of 2025 feels pessimistic about starting their careers, a notable increase from 49% of the previous class last year, according to a new Handshake survey of 2,687 undergraduate students who plan to graduate in 2025.

Their top concerns are ones that HR pros are all too familiar with, including stress over a tight labor market and apprehensions about using AI in the workplace. Addressing them can help give students a softer landing into their careers.

No job opportunities, but a whole lotta debt. Students named four primary concerns contributing to their poor outlook. Intense competition for jobs was at the top of the list, cited by 63% of respondents. It’s not hard to see why they’re concerned about landing a job: Many members of the class of 2024 have struggled to find employment in today’s cooling labor market, and some have even applied to as many as 100 jobs without netting any offers.

While HR leaders can’t control how many applications they receive, they can try to improve the candidate experience, Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, told HR Brew.

Keep reading here.—PM

When faced with disruption—especially the kind that can impact revenue and economic viability—the first thought for most organizations may be to cut costs. And with the workforce being a big component of these costs, it can sometimes feel like an easier way to curb spending might be to implement across-the-board cuts or hiring freezes.

But these oversimplified strategies can hurt more than they help. A holistic, data-driven strategy using reliable workforce benchmarks can help drive a thoughtful cost-cutting plan that is more precise and enables businesses to create a more productive and resilient workforce.

Read PwC’s Cutting Workforce Costs Wisely to learn three approaches for strategic, data-driven cost-cutting that improve resilience during times of disruption.

Download the e-book.

These last few years have been a doozy for HR pros. A parade of personnel crises caused by the pandemic, increased scrutiny of DE&I, the Great Resignation, and now, the Big Stay have made HR leaders key strategic business players as CEOs and boards pay more attention to workforce issues than ever before.

David Reed, global head of talent acquisition at claims administrator Sedgwick, told HR Brew that his background as a Certified Public Accountant and MBA in finance helped him navigate these significant changes.

“The vast majority of my career has been within HR. But anyone who’s ever worked with me or for me has always noticed that there’s an emphasis on the commercial side and the data and the profitability,” he said. “Because you can take the accountant out of accounting, but you can’t take the accountant out of me.”

Reed oversees a recruiting team that hires some 10,000 candidates around the world annually. He joined Sedgwick, which employs more than 33,000 workers globally, in June 2021, a few months after the firm appointed Michelle Hay as its new chief people officer. Reed was drawn to Sedgwick by Hay’s vision to elevate the HR function to one that tackles strategic people initiatives.

Keep reading here.—PM

Generative AI is becoming about as ubiquitous in the modern office as Slack pings and sad desk salads.

That’s according to a new survey from McKinsey, in which 91% of nearly 600 respondents told the firm they use generative AI for work, a big jump from half a year ago, when a similar poll pegged that figure at 30%. McKinsey said this upswing represents “an inflection point” for employee use of AI, but that for all their seeming enthusiasm about the tech, companies aren’t keeping up with their workforces in this respect.

The findings match those of a Microsoft and LinkedIn report from a few months ago, which found that three-quarters of workers used AI at work without their bosses’ OK. While companies like Microsoft, SAP, and Salesforce have embedded AI tools in their workplace products, some businesses report running into growing pains when it comes to large-scale adoption of the tech.

The majority of workers who use AI believe it will help them with communication, critical thinking, and creativity, according to the McKinsey report. Around 70% of these AI enthusiasts consider themselves “light users,” while a 21% slice self-identifies as “heavy users. In contrast, just 13% of companies have implemented six or more use cases of AI in the office.

Keep reading on Tech Brew.—PK

Mental health matters. Anyone can benefit from therapy, especially your teams. Did you know BetterHelp Business lets companies offer access to therapy as a workplace benefit? Yep, the world’s largest 100% online therapy service, conveniently provided to your employees. Strong minds = strong lives. Give your employees the care they deserve.