Episode 3: Good grades, good degree, good job: does the old promise still hold up in an AI world?

For decades, we've told students in school that the formula to a good future is relatively simple: work hard, get good grades, study, get a good job. It's the sequence that most schools, parents and the media anchor their narratives about the future in. But with AI reshaping how people enter and grow in a profession, is that promise even true anymore? But we're here to ask: was that promise ever even true to begin with?  In their first ever episode with a guest appearance, Marian and Liv are joined by UK career consultant Chris Webb, creator of *The Week in Careers* newsletter, to pull apart the headlines about AI and entry-level jobs. Chris explains why the "entry level jobs are down a third" story got misread, what it actually means for a job or industry to be "exposed" to AI, and why the 'good-grades-degree-good-job promise' was never the guarantee it was made out to be. Liv and Marian zoom out to the wider labour market with Chris, then zoom back into what it means for teachers standing in front of a disengaged classroom right now and the conversations we should be having with students about uncertainty.  You'll leave with a simple way to separate the myths from what we actually know, and a reminder that curiosity and agency are still the two things worth protecting in every conversation we have with young people. Plus: this episode's "I Didn't Know That Was a Thing" is a job that we reckon even football fans have never heard of, courtesy of Chris. **Research and resources mentioned in this episode.**  *Chris mentioned these people and reports:* Anthropic Economic Index — quarterly data on how businesses use Claude across industries → anthropic.com/economic-index Sarah O'Connor, Financial Times — on what "AI exposure" actually means for a job → ft.com/sarah-o-connor Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre — Creative Industries Skills Audits, across 11 creative sub-sectors → pec.ac.uk Chris's skills dashboard, built from the Creative PEC data → creative-skill-map.lovable.app *Chris recommended these sources/people for balanced reporting on AI:* Charlie Ball and Jisc  → jisc.ac.uk Lightcast for labour market analytics on AI's impact across occupations → lightcast.io *Sign up to Chris newsletter!* *#TheWeekInCareers* by Chris Webb → theweekincareers.substack.com *Marian mentioned these:* Audrey Watters, "'Robots Are Coming For Your Children'" (hackeducation.com, 2017) — where the "jobs that don't exist yet" claim tracing started → hackeducation.com/2017/12/20/top-ed-tech-trends-robots-kids Benjamin Doxtdator, "A Field Guide to 'Jobs that Don't Exist Yet'" (2017) — traces the claim back through Clinton (1996) to Devereux C. Josephs (1957) → edtechbooks.org Professor Joel Pearson — "the world's first neuro-futurist," on cortisol and uncertainty → The Imperfects – "I Think, Therefore AI" Professor Jane McGonigal — *Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything* → janemcgonigal.com UNESCO — futures thinking resources → unesdoc.unesco.org OECD Career Readiness Project  — the "porous walls" line about connecting classroom and workplace → oecd.org/career-readiness *Liv mentioned:* The Rest Is Politics Podcast — series on Gen Z, link to one episode in the series → Lucky or Left Behind? The Gen Z Money Story Plus, don't forget to head to the Substack for this episode's "Take This To The Meeting" resource where you can unpack the concepts of this episode with your school team.  **Get in touch** Find us on Instagram @thegreatcareersprogram and on Substack at thegreatcareersprogram.substack.com for episode recaps, research links, and the conversation between episodes. Got a question, a story, or something you want us to talk about? Email us at [hi@thegreatcareersprogram.com](mailto:hi@thegreatcareersprogram.com). **Credits** The Great Careers Program is a collaboration between BECOME Education and Coherence Co-Lab, and is hosted and produced by Liv Pennie and Marian Wright, with production support from Bev Laing. Music by Chad Crouch.