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With entry-level jobs declining as employers continue to deploy AI, Coursera’s CEO has shared his top tips for graduates to stay competitive in the job market and stand out in interviews.
Greg Hart, former technical advisor to Jeff Bezos at Amazon, became president and CEO of online learning platform Coursera in February 2025. He told CNBC Make It that in the age of AI, it’s important for young people to pursue additional learning alongside a degree.
“The advice that I give to my sons… is one of the best things that you can do is to augment your university degree with micro credentials specifically,” he said in the interview.
Micro credentials are short courses that provide a certification for a specific skill or knowledge and they take less time to complete than a traditional degree or diploma. It’s become increasingly important to supplement degrees with additional certifications, as graduate jobs are at risk of being replaced by AI, Hart said.
Major firms have been laying off staff this year and have cited AI as part of the reason, from Amazon making 14,000 workers redundant as it bets on AI to Salesforce slashing 4,000 customer support roles saying AI can do 40% of the tasks at the company.
“Say you’re a young person in university right now, you are generally going to get hired into your first job based primarily on the traits that they see in you.”
Greg Hart
President and CEO of Coursera
Meanwhile, 62% of U.K. employers anticipate that junior, clerical, managerial and administrative roles will be the most likely be lost to AI, according to a recent survey of 2,019 senior HR professionals and decision makers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD.)
Additionally, the U.K.’s Institute for Student Employers found in its annual Student Recruitment Survey that 1.2 million applications were submitted for just 17,000 graduate roles, highlighting the intense competition and the limited positions available to young people.
“They [micro credentials] demonstrate to employers that not only did you get whatever university degree you’re studying, but you augmented that with something that is generally much more workforce focused,” Coursera’s Hart added.
As AI dominates, many workers are pursuing upskilling opportunities with LinkedIn’s Skills on the Rise report, earlier this year finding that AI literacy was the most popular skill that people were adding to their profiles.
‘Hiring you for your traits’
Hart explained that fresh graduates going into job interviews should highlight their personality and character traits alongside their experience.
“Say you’re a young person in university right now, you are generally going to get hired into your first job based primarily on the traits that they see in you,” Hart said.
“They’re going to be assessing your mindset and your traits as a human being more than your experience, because by definition, you really don’t have much experience and so they’re not really hiring you for your experience, they’re hiring you for your… personality traits.”
Hart outlined that “one of the most important traits” that employers want to hire for are “people who are proactive and hard working and take initiative, who prove to be ready, learners.”
The best way to show these traits is having micro credentials alongside your degree, especially ones that are tailored to your field. For example, Hart encouraged his son, who is a finance major, to take an additional course on AI for finance.
You’ve just been laid off because of AI — here’s what to do next
In fact, experts previously told CNBC Make It that workers who have been laid off as a result of AI should train themselves up on new skills including increasing AI literacy via short courses, rather than pursuing a new degree which would be more costly and time consuming.
Having the dedication to pursue additional learning demonstrates that you will also bring those traits to the job, they told CNBC.
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The good news for rail travel between Manchester and London is that a morning train will continue to link England’s biggest cities in under two hours. The bad news: passengers will no longer be able to get onboard.
The rail regulator has axed one of Britain’s fastest and most lucrative intercity services, the 7am Avanti West Coast from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, as part of a timetable shake-up that will take effect in mid-December.
What will heap on frustration for passengers, as well as the operator, is that the exact same train service will continue to run between the stations from 7am each weekday: crewed, fast and empty.
The train and staff still need to travel from Manchester as they are rostered to operate subsequent services out of Euston on the new December timetable, under rail’s complex planning.
The bizarre situation is expected to continue for five months or more until the next timetable change in May, meaning the service could run empty more than 100 times. The move has left rail insiders fuming at the decision by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
Business travellers from the north may mourn the end of the express train, non-stop after Stockport in Greater Manchester and timed conveniently to arrive in the capital just before 9am. Revenue collectors even more so: current single fares on the peak-time service are priced at £193, rising to £290 for first class.
The industry expert and rail writer Tony Miles said: “It will be on the platform – people will be able to see it, touch it, watch it leave. But they won’t be able to get on. The taxpayer will be paying five days a week for empty trains.”
Passengers board an Avanti West Coast service at Manchester Piccadilly railway station. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
The service began in 2008 when Virgin Trains ran intercity trains on the west coast mainline but was suspended during the coronavirus pandemic and Avanti’s subsequent troubles, and reinstated when Avanti returned to a full timetable in 2024.
As the only service completing the journey so quickly, at one hour 59 minutes, it has long been a major marketing asset, allowing operators to advertise trains running between England’s capital and the northern city in less than two hours.
Network Rail, as well as Avanti, supported the continuation of the service with passengers, arguing the train would be “using capacity regardless” on the network.
A senior industry source said: “People paid a lot of money to get on that train. If we ever need justification for a guiding mind in the railway, this is the example.”
The train has been removed as the regulator tries to ensure the overall reliability of the railway in the new timetable on 15 December. The new schedule will mainly affect the UK’s other major rail artery, the east coast mainline, but the industry is wary of any potential disruption after the widespread cancellations and delays sparked by the last comparable overhaul, the May 2018 timetable fiasco.
The ORR said the service was no longer feasible in the new timetable as new open access train services, run by First Group’s Lumo to Stirling in Scotland, were due to start. Fare revenue will go to the private operator rather than the Department for Transport, as is the case under the Avanti contract.
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Avanti will be running more services to the north-west overall under the new timetable, the ORR said. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
An Avanti spokesperson confirmed that its fastest service would still run with crew, but no passengers. They said: “We are disappointed with the Office of Rail and Road’s decision not to grant access rights from December for four weekday services that we currently operate, including the 07.00 from Manchester to London fast service, as well as requiring a Sunday service which currently runs from Holyhead to London to terminate at Crewe. This will clearly impact those customers who already use these services.”
The ORR said: “Our decision on the Manchester-London service was based on robust evidence provided by Network Rail that adding services within firebreak paths on the west coast mainline would have a detrimental impact on performance. We identified that this service would run in one of those paths.
“If Avanti operates the service as empty coaching stock, [it] can be run more flexibly – delayed or rerouted – than a booked passenger service. This can assist with performance management and service recovery during disruption.”
Firebreak paths are planned gaps or unused time in the timetable to allow for disruption to services.
Avanti will be running more services to the north-west overall under the new timetable, and other applications from open access companies on the line had been declined, the ORR said.
The fastest trains linking Manchester and London will now take about 2 hours 15 minutes, with those wishing to arrive in the capital by 9am having to catch a 6.29am train.
Northern business leaders hit out at the decision. Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said the ORR in backing open access was “denying business people in Manchester access to London on a vital fast peak service” and sacrificing revenue, adding: “Great British Railways’ future finances are being undermined by a regulator disregarding the interests of taxpayers, who will pick up the bill for this poor decision in the name of competition.”
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