The Next Generation of Talent Is Already Moving — Are Small Businesses Ready?

Luna Rae
23 hours ago
3 min read

tl;dr: Millions of students are traveling home for the holidays, and they represent a massive, overlooked pipeline of early talent. But with large companies automating entry-level roles and small businesses overwhelmed by hiring barriers, access is shrinking. enterN is building a new path forward.

Cute cartoon cat with a fanny pack pulling a cart stacked with colorful suitcases adorned with travel stickers, looking cheerful.

A Holiday Travel Surge That Tells a Bigger Story

Every year, Thanksgiving week triggers one of the largest migrations of young people in the country. This year, AAA estimated that over 55.4 million Americans would travel for the holiday—the highest number since 2005, with air travel seeing especially sharp increases among people under 30.

Walk into any airport right now and you’ll see it firsthand:Students lining up at security gates.Backpacks, duffels, and laptops everywhere.Gate holds full of young people heading home for break.

And while this looks like a seasonal ritual, it’s actually a massive signal that often gets overlooked.

These students aren’t just “travelers.”They are the next wave of early-career talent—motivated, ambitious, and actively thinking about where they’ll work next.

Yet the opportunity for them to step into meaningful early-career roles is shrinking.

Robots examine a glowing job ad on a stone in a ruined city at dusk. Resumes are scattered around, with a somber, dystopian mood.

The Vanishing Entry-Level Job

Over the last five years, large employers have been quietly eliminating or automating early-career positions. A 2024 McKinsey report projected that automation could impact up to 30% of entry-level tasks across industries by 2030.

And some companies aren’t waiting.

Customer service? Now routed through AI agents. Data entry? Automated. Junior analyst roles? Merged upward. Administrative support? Downsized.

In short: The classic "foot in the door" job is disappearing. And Gen Z - currently the youngest and most diverse generation in American history - is feeling the squeeze. According to Handshake’s Early Talent report, 32% of Gen Z jobseekers have applied to 50+ jobs without hearing back. Ghosting and automated rejections have become standard.

This isn't just an inconvenience, it's a structural problem.

People stand by a fence in a sunset-lit, ruined city. A giant robot looms. A hole labeled "Entry-Level Void" with "College" plunges below.

Why Small Businesses Haven’t Stepped In

In theory, this shift should create a perfect opening for small businesses.After all, SMBs account for 44% of U.S. economic activity and create two-thirds of new jobs.

But historically, small businesses have stayed out of early-talent hiring for a few clear reasons:

Campus recruiting is resource-heavy

Career fairs, university partnerships, job boards, and interview pipelines require hours—or full teams—to manage.

Internship programs feel intimidating

Most founders think they need formal structures, HR compliance knowledge, or onboarding scripts to host interns.

Resume-based hiring doesn’t work for small teams

SMBs don’t have time to sort through stacks of resumes, most of which say nothing about personality, work style, or actual fit.

No one has time for “maybe candidates”

The risk of hiring wrong is higher when your team is five people. The margin for error is tiny.

So while students are eager for real-world experience, and small businesses are desperate for talent… the two groups rarely meet.

That’s not a hiring gap.That's a structural disconnect.

Group of people with backpacks stand on a street in a post-apocalyptic city. Drones fly above, and shopkeepers stand nearby. Barbed wire in foreground.

Early Talent Is There. The Access Isn’t.

Imagine you’re a small business owner watching the holiday travel rush. You’re staring at thousands of potential interns, analysts, designers, marketers, builders—all passing through the concourse.

You don’t see them because they’re not in your pipeline.Not because you don’t need them.Not because they wouldn’t be a fit.But because the system wasn’t built to connect you.

Recruiting has been optimized for enterprise HR teams, not for the businesses that actually make America run.

And students know it.A 2025 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 76% of students prefer small teams, mentorship, and hands-on work—yet most don’t know how to find those opportunities.

The desire is there.The opportunities aren’t.

The New Era of Early-Talent Hiring

Here’s the shift:Young people are actively seeking workplaces where they can grow, contribute, and feel valued.Small businesses are uniquely positioned to give them exactly that.The only missing piece is a way to match them—intentionally, transparently, and without all the legacy friction.

This is where enterN comes in.

Bottom Line

Millions of young people traveling home this week aren’t just passengers—they’re the future workforce. But as large companies automate entry-level jobs and small businesses struggle to break into early-talent hiring, the bridge between the two has collapsed.

enterN is rebuilding that bridge.

We’re making early-talent hiring fast, fair, and human.No resumes. No ghosting. No gatekeeping.Just meaningful connections based on real preferences, values, and fit.

Want to work with employers who actually care about fairness?Join the waitlist at: https://www.enter-n.com and be the first to access a hiring platform that eliminates tokenism, ghosting, and bias.

Want to read more on this topic? Check out these recommended articles:

McKinsey & Co. — Generative AI and the Future of Work (2024)
AAA Newsroom — Thanksgiving Travel Forecast: 55.4 Million Americans to Travel (2025)
Handshake — Early Talent Report: The State of Gen Z Job Seekers (2024)
U.S. Small Business Administration — Small Business Economic Impact Data (2023)
National Association of Colleges and Employers — Student Preferences in Early Career Employment (2025)