Listen: Steve Hyde on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme
Push co-founder Steve Hyde joined Professor Gina Neff from Queen Mary University of London to discuss why UK businesses must prioritise AI-native graduates over traditional digital-native hiring models.
The discussion explores how AI is reshaping graduate recruitment, workforce expectations, and long-term business competitiveness.
Key topics covered:
- The rise of AI-native graduates
- How hiring expectations are changing
- What businesses risk by delaying adaptation
- The future of early-career recruitment
The Core Message: Hire AI-Native, Not Digital-Native
On BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Push co-founder Steve Hyde joined Professor Gina Neff from Queen Mary University of London to discuss why UK businesses must prioritise AI-native graduates over traditional hires if they want to stay competitive.
For companies hesitating on early-career talent, the window to adapt is already closing. Here's what the conversation revealed about the future of graduate hiring, and what it means for your recruitment strategy.
Graduate Jobs Aren't Disappearing, They're Evolving
Graduate vacancies are down, yes. But Steve Hyde made it clear on the programme: this isn't job elimination. It's role transformation.
According to Hyde, the pattern mirrors what happened when the internet reshaped business. Jobs didn't vanish, they morphed. The same applies to AI. Businesses now need fresh perspectives and fresh thinking more than ever, but only from graduates who are prepared to work with AI, not alongside it passively.
Professor Gina Neff, Professor of Responsible AI at Queen Mary University of London and Deputy CEO of Responsible AI UK, reinforced this. Stanford economists recently called young workers "canaries in the coal mine" when it comes to AI's impact on jobs. UK employers face slow growth, inflation concerns, and technological disruption. Early adopters of AI gain a structural advantage. Young workers who can jump into this environment have "the opportunity to jump on the fast elevator to the second floor of their careers."
The Today programme's discussion highlighted a fundamental tension: employers need to capture the gains from AI to improve their products and services, and that creates opportunities for graduates who understand how to work in that environment.
Why AI Natives Beat Digital Natives
Digital natives grew up with smartphones and cloud platforms. They adapt to interfaces quickly. AI natives do something fundamentally different.
They understand how to collaborate with intelligence, not just tools. They structure problems around what machines can automate and what humans must own. They know how to guide AI, spot when it's wrong, and use it as leverage instead of a threat.
Steve used a telling example from Push's recent hiring; the agency no longer looks at 28-year-olds with six or seven years of marketing experience. Instead, they recently hired a graduate from Exeter University with a degree in philosophy.
Ten years ago, Push would have targeted maths, business, or economics graduates. Not anymore.
What Makes a Graduate AI-Ready?
Curiosity. Adaptability. Willingness to learn. These aren't soft skills anymore, they're baseline requirements.
Steve explained that the Exeter graduate demonstrated AI fluency before the interview process even started. He used AI to identify companies that matched his interests, sent direct emails to founders, and showed he was already integrating AI into his personal and professional life. That kind of initiative signals the mindset businesses need.
Professor Neff added that creativity, flexibility, communication, and teamwork are largely AI-proof skills. What differentiates graduates now is whether they can combine those human skills with responsible AI use. "Being able to do those things, plus know how to use technology, use AI responsibly and well is really what's going to differentiate people," she told the Today programme.
At Push, we've embedded AI across campaign planning, creative testing, bid optimisation, and performance analysis. But the people running those systems aren't just following prompts. They're making judgment calls AI can't make: understanding brand nuance, interpreting client goals, navigating cultural context, deciding when to override the algorithm.
Why We Hired a Philosophy Graduate
The Today programme presenter asked Hyde directly: what does the philosopher bring that the maths graduate doesn't? His answer: curiosity and open-mindedness.
Philosophy students are trained to question assumptions, structure arguments, and think critically, all essential when working with probabilistic AI outputs. Add adaptability to that mix, and you have someone who can navigate uncertainty without needing a rigid playbook.
This shift in hiring criteria reflects a broader change. At Push, we've moved from recruiting for technical fluency to recruiting for cognitive flexibility. We look for people who can work through AI-first lenses, not just use AI as a tool.
As an award-winning UK AI marketing agency, winner of Best Use of AI at both the UK Agency Awards 2025 and UK Search Awards 2025, we've seen firsthand how the right talent unlocks AI's full potential.
Universities Must Rethink How They Prepare Students
Professor Neff flagged a critical tension, students are told not to use AI tools in school, then employers expect them to use those tools immediately upon hiring.
"Young people are being told, don't, absolutely do not use these products in school and training, but then they get into the workplace and they think their employers are being, I expect them to use them," Neff explained on the Today programme.
That disconnect creates a skills gap. Universities have a responsibility to prepare graduates for the careers they'll actually have, not the careers that existed five years ago. "We have to have a better conversation about up-skilling and re-skilling so that people can be ready for this transition," she added.
Steve acknowledged the polarisation. Some students are deeply anti-AI for various reasons. But his message to parents and graduates was unambiguous: embrace it. Get involved. Start learning now. "Universities have got a responsibility to really think about the future of their graduates' careers," he said.
UK businesses that hire AI-curious graduates will build the talent pipelines that drive growth. Those that don't will struggle to backfill senior roles in five years.
The Risk of Not Hiring Now
As Professor Neff pointed out on the Today programme, businesses need good job ladders. If you eliminate entry-level roles or stop hiring early-career talent, you leave yourself without a pipeline to senior positions.
The presenter raised this exact concern: "The risk for companies who don't hire in that manner and hire the kind of people who fit into this world, effectively, there's going to be no one left to be senior in the years to come."
Firms like law practices already face this problem: AI handles tasks that juniors once performed, but without juniors, who becomes the partner in ten years?
The solution isn't to stop hiring. It's to hire smarter. Bring in people who can do what AI can't: apply judgment, synthesise complex information, think strategically, and connect dots across domains. Those are the graduates who will lead your business forward.
The conversation on BBC Radio 4's Today programme made one thing clear: AI isn't replacing jobs. It's changing what those jobs require. For UK businesses, that means prioritising AI-native graduates over traditional hires, rethinking what skills matter, and building cultures where humans and machines work together.
At Push, we made that shift over three years ago. We don't just talk about AI in marketing, we've built our hiring strategy, our training programmes, and our entire service model around it. And as our recent industry recognition proves, that approach works.
