In my ongoing series of blogs on AI, I have been dissecting how this tech is moving from a shiny new toy to the actual infrastructure of our businesses. Lately, the conversation has shifted. Whether I am at the front of a lecture hall at the University, mentoring a student at the Community College, or sitting across from a broker looking to scale their staffing, the question is the same:
Who is actually going to have a job in three years?
The AI revolution is creating what we called in the Army a Pincer Movement. This is a multi pronged maneuver that is effectively trapping the traditional workforce in the middle. On one side, AI is squeezing the life out of entry level knowledge work. On the other, the physical trades are advancing and capturing more market value than ever.
Here is how this maneuver is hitting our industry and the workforce of tomorrow.
1. The Hollowing Out of Middle Management
In my staffing business, the trend is undeniable: the entry level assistant role is fundamentally changing. AI agents now handle the research, the initial lead scrubbing, and the basic document drafting that used to be the training ground for new hires.
- For Brokers and Owners: Your broken rung is the talent pipeline. If AI is doing the junior work, how do we train the next generation of senior leaders? We have moved from hiring doers to hiring AI Orchestrators — people who can audit and refine what the machine produces.
- For Agents and LOs: If a machine can give a client an interest rate or a property value, your value isn’t the data — it is the interpretation. In 2026, the Experience Premium is the only thing that justifies your commission. Your clients are paying for your gut instinct and negotiation grit, not your ability to pull a report.
2. The Great Academic Pivot: University vs. Community College
Teaching at both levels gives me a unique vantage point on where the smart money is going for education.
- The University Crisis: We are seeing a decline in traditional 4 year majors that focus on codifiable skills like basic accounting or entry level Computer Science. Students are realizing that a $100k degree in a field that AI can do for $20 a month is a bad investment. The University is being forced to pivot toward high level strategy, ethics, and complex leadership.
- The Community College Renaissance: This is where the real agility is. Community colleges are the Special Ops of education right now. They are launching 6 month AI literacy certificates and New Collar training faster than a University can approve a syllabus. For my staffing clients, these agile graduates are often more plug and play than a 4 year grad who spent four years learning theory.
3. The Human Hand Advantage (Why Trades are Winning)
While we are focused on screens, there is a massive boom in the trades. I tell my real estate students this all the time: AI can prepare a contract, not negotiate one. It can check a contract for compliance but it cannot crawl into a crawlspace to fix a burst pipe.
- Infrastructure is King: Every AI brain needs a physical home. The demand for electricians and HVAC technicians to build and maintain the data centers powering our industry is at an all time high.
- The Wealth Shift: High performing agents should keep an eye on these Blue Collar clients. The plumber who owns a fleet or the specialized welder is the one buying the $2M property tomorrow. Their income is protected by the one thing AI has not mastered: physical dexterity in an unpredictable world.
The Bottom Line for 2026
Whether our team is recruiting for your firm or grading a midterm, my advice is the same: Do not compete with the machine on speed; outpace it on empathy and complexity. The future belongs to those who use AI to handle the mundane so they can spend 100 percent of their time on the human to human work that actually closes the deal.
Is your team currently AI heavy or Human heavy? I am currently helping firms run a Skills Gap Audit to see which roles are at risk and which are primed for growth. Would you like me to send you the template I use with my staffing clients?
