Redesigning Work: AI, Grads, and the New Career Path
👋 Hi and welcome to Brighteye Bulletin - your fortnightly take on all things in Edtech, HRTech and Talent Empowerment, both from a Startup & VC perspectives.
Articles and Resources of the week
Humans must remain at the heart of the AI story
In a timely reflection on the future of work, Marc Benioff argues that the real power of AI lies in partnership, not replacement. As AI transforms productivity across sectors from customer service to software engineering, the core challenge is to design systems that enhance human creativity, connection, and meaning.
Key takeaways:
AI has no empathy, no lived experience - humans bring the insight, compassion, and innovation that matter most.
At Salesforce, AI-generated code made up 25% of new development last quarter, and 85% of customer queries were handled by agent-assist bots.
The company is actively redeploying workers, with 51% of new hires in Q1 coming from internal mobility.
Rather than fearing displacement, the focus should be on breaking jobs into skills, mapping them to emerging roles, and designing with intention.
Benioff’s message: This is a moment not just to integrate AI, but to rethink what makes work meaningful—and ensure humans remain the authors of the future.
Young People Face a Hiring Crisis. AI Is Making It Worse.
The entry-level hiring landscape is undergoing a structural shift. Despite media panic, jobs aren’t disappearing wholesale, but many traditional graduate roles are being delayed, redefined, or condensed. A combination of AI automation, employer expectations, and economic caution is forcing a rethink of what “early career” even means.
Key points:
Professional services firms (law, consulting, accounting) are automating junior tasks, reducing demand for new grads.
Start dates are being postponed and class sizes trimmed, not as a blip, but a sign of deeper restructuring.
Entry-level jobs now demand more experience, faster onboarding, and AI fluency - essentially shrinking the runway for recent grads.
The long-standing “ladder” from university to corporate career is being flattened, especially in knowledge-based industries.
For higher ed and edtech, this shift calls for a retooling of programs to build work-based learning, employer relevance, and job-readiness from day one.
Investment news
Madrid based TuringDream has raised a €6m seed round co-led by Adara Ventures and HWK, with participation from Next Tier Ventures.
French Solarock has raised €7m in seed funding with participation from Pale Blue Dot, Noa, Ring Capital, and Kima Ventures.
Munich-based Edurino has raised a €17 million Series B round, led by Ravensburger Next Ventures, with participation from Summiteer, DN Capital, Tengelmann Ventures, b2venture, Emerge, FJ Labs, G-FUND and Jens Begemann.
German Yuno has raised a €7 million Series A round led by Blast Club, with additional participation from New Renaissance Ventures, IBB Ventures, Fairway Partners and Fair VC.
UK-headquartered Elyndra has raised £1.1m led by Outward VC.
Jobs
Jack & Jill are hiring a Founding Engineer (London, UK).
Wikifarmer is hiring a Product Manager (Spain).
Sdui is looking for a Senior Account Manager (Remote/Germany).
Edurino is hiring a Game Product Manager (Munich, Germany).
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, please share with friends and colleagues interested in European Edtech, HRTech and Workforce Empowerment. We also explore the AI space - stay tuned for more updates!
Onward & upward!