Having launched and scaled AI teams at Salesforce and Meta, Clara Shih said she has seen firsthand how artificial intelligence can be used to automate tasks that used to require entire departments — and she’s also seen how hiring needs are shifting to favor more experienced professionals, specific skillsets, and above all, AI fluency.
What Is the New Work Foundation?
The New Work Foundation is a nonprofit created by tech leader Clara Shih to help young people navigate an AI-driven job market through data, career tools and insights from industry leaders and recent graduates.
Now, Shih wants to share what she has learned — and explore where the job market is headed next — through a new nonprofit organization called the New Work Foundation. The organization’s website, “Dear [CC],” offers job market data, insights from industry experts and agentic search tools meant to help new college graduates navigate a world that is already being reshaped by AI.
“Dear [CC] is all about having honest conversations about what’s actually happening in the market — hearing real stories from real people who are figuring it out in real time,” she said in a video posted to the website.
What Does the New Work Foundation Provide?
The New Work Foundation’s Dear [CC] website aims to help young people by providing data about the ways in which AI is changing the labor market. It’s also providing a career research tool, a job search tool and podcasts featuring perspectives from industry experts and recent college graduates.
Job Market Data
Dear [CC] compiles data about which roles are most exposed to AI, which tasks AI is being used for and the number of entry-level job postings. The data shows that software developers, financial analysts and accountants in particular are among the most vulnerable roles in the age of AI, and that the number of entry-level job openings has dropped 17 percent since 2019.
Multi-Generational Industry Insights
Dear [CC] is also the name of a podcast in which Shih interviews leaders in a particular field alongside a young professional who may be struggling to break through. They recently released their first episode about AI’s impact on marketing, and they plan to release episodes about accounting and software engineering in the coming weeks. The podcast is available on the Dear [CC] website, YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Free AI Job Search Agent
JobClaw is a free AI job search agent for new grads. Job seekers start by filling out five questions about their skills, interests and goals. They can filter by location, workplace model (in-person, remote, hybrid etc.), seniority, salary and visa sponsorship. The tool, which is built as an OpenClaw skill, is designed to help new grads streamline their job search with AI.
Career Research Tools
The website’s Field Report helps young people determine the most in-demand careers associated with their college major. Once a user submits their major through the search bar, the site compiles data about each occupation’s entry-level salary, the number of job openings posted per year and the amount of competition in the market. It also gauges the level of AI risk associated with each career using a data visualization tool developed by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy.
An Uncertain Job Market for New Grads
College graduates are entering the worst entry-level job market since 1988, according to the New Work Foundation’s data analysis.
As of December 2025, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates was 5.6 percent, which was higher than the overall unemployment rate, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, employment among early-career workers in AI-exposed occupations has dropped 16 percent, according to a Stanford University study.
Only 20 percent of employees between 18 and 34 believe now is a good time to find a quality job, according to a Gallup poll conducted in Q4 of 2025. And while nearly half of Gen Z adults say they use AI daily or weekly, they have also grown more anxious and angry with the technology over the past year, according to another Gallup survey, which found that 48 percent of Gen Z workers believe the risks of artificial intelligence in the workplace outweigh the potential benefits.
It makes sense that college students and recent college graduates would be angry or anxious about their career prospects in the age of AI. In 2021, an incoming college freshman would have every reason in the world to believe a computer science degree would be a golden ticket to a lucrative, stable career in the tech world. But just four years later, that same student would be graduating into one of the most AI-exposed occupations in the economy. As Shih tells young people on Dear [CC]: “You did the work, you got the diploma and the economy moved while you were studying for your test.”
College students have been forced to predict what impact AI will have on the job market. For some, that has meant pivoting midstream. One in six college students say they have changed their major due to AI, according to another Gallup survey. The biggest exodus has been from software engineering, which saw enrollment drop 8.1 percent in the 2025-2026 school year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.
But despite the gravity of AI’s impact, colleges and universities have been slow to respond. More than 60 percent of college faculty think their schools’ 2025 graduates are not prepared to use AI at work, according to an American Association of Colleges and Universities survey. In the meantime, tech companies have provided K-12 resources, higher education programs and various training certifications to prepare the next generation of workers. But no comprehensive action — or even practical guidance — has been offered to help young professionals find their way in a job market that transforms with the release of each new AI model and tool.
Shih’s Advice to Gen Z
Shih describes the job market as a “tale of two job seekers.” Those who are using artificial intelligence are highly coveted and fought over by employers, she said. Those who aren’t using it, though, may be left behind. Instead of resisting AI, Shih urges young professionals to lean into the technology, as they are in a better position to learn it and influence it over time.
“A lot of Gen Z are concerned about AI, they’re angry about AI and many are just boycotting it altogether — which really isn’t doing them or society any favors,” she said at the Time100 Summit. “Because those are the exact people I want to be part of building the solution in a way that’s thoughtful and good for society.”
In February 2025, Shih also wrote an essay claiming AI’s impact on the job market could be on par with the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to China in the early 2000s. The average white-collar worker will no longer be able to depend on a stable job and high wages, she said. Those who get ahead will be the high-agency individuals who are able to use AI to learn, build and create.
“We need to reset expectations, especially with young people, about what a ‘career’ is. For many, the path forward looks less like climbing a corporate ladder and more like being an entrepreneurial free agent — freelance work, starting a small business, project-based consulting, and being a creator that uses AI, paired with continuous training and upskilling as AI evolves,” Shih wrote. “It doesn’t have to be the gig economy’s precarious version of freedom. Done right, with proper support and incentives, AI can unleash genuine widespread economic agency. But people need to be prepared, not blindsided or deluded.”
What is Dear [CC]?
Dear [CC] is the New Work Foundation’s media and data platform. It combines job market data, expert interviews, podcasts and AI-powered tools designed to help recent college graduates understand and adapt to changes in hiring driven by AI.
Is Dear [CC] free?
Yes, all of the data, reports, tools, podcast episodes and other resources are available for free on Dear [CC]’s website.