Trina Jones is the co-founder of Cultivate, the recruitment consultancy behind newly released Artificial Intelligence research, says the findings should be a wake-up call - not just for new graduates, but for anyone looking to stay relevant in a fast-evolving world of work.

AI Is Reshaping Career Pathways

An Icehouse alumni, Trina says the research highlights growing tension between the pace of technological change and the ability of our education system to keep up.

“It’s confronting,” she says. “In some sectors, AI is already replacing tasks that once gave people a foot in the door. In law, for instance, where interns would traditionally get hands-on with discovery work, AI can now complete those tasks with pinpoint accuracy. So where does that essential grassroots learning begin? And how is education and workplace learning evolving to reflect that?”

But this shift isn’t limited to entry-level roles.

“It’s not that humans are out of the picture,” Trina explains. “But the volume of early-career roles is changing. If we don’t rethink development pathways, not just for graduates, but for all professionals, we risk losing the depth and adaptability that come from experience built over time.”

The message is clear, staying employable in an AI-integrated world means actively evolving alongside it.

“This isn’t just a challenge for young people entering the workforce, it’s for everyone. We all need to be thinking about how to work with AI, not against it.”

As a corporate member of industry body RCSA which advocates at government level on behalf of the recruitment sector, Cultivate plays a role in shaping conversations around how the world of work is evolving. Education is one area where Trina hopes those insights can help prompt greater awareness and adaptation.

“In reality, there are very few career paths that won’t be affected by AI.

We do need to look at what role we can play and ensure the next generation coming into our workforce are prepared for the changes.”

Creation of Cultivate

Trina and her co-founders set up Cultivate after 19 years in the corporate world.

Setting out to be different might sound cliché says Trina but benchmarking themselves to be the country’s most inclusive recruitment agency is set in measurable strategic pillars and close to home values.

“From the outset, we knew we wanted to build a recruitment agency that actively welcomed a wider range of thinking, perspectives and people, not just in words, but in how we operate every day.

As we built the business, it became clear this wasn’t just an aspiration, it was a shared experience. Across the Cultivate team, everyone had a personal connection to neurodiversity through whānau, friends or lived experience.

That gave real weight to our purpose. We saw an opportunity to reimagine recruitment in a way that better served neurodiverse talent and challenged traditional systems that often exclude them.”

To turn that into action, the team undertook workshops and became the first Brain Badge-accredited recruitment agency in Aotearoa. They unpacked their process, applied design thinking, and rebuilt their processes to be more inclusive from the ground up.

“What we’ve learned is that if it works well for someone who is neurodiverse, it usually works better for everyone. Inclusion makes things clearer, kinder, and more human and that’s great for both neurodivergent and neurotypical candidates.”

Trina adds Cultivate is also focused on elevating the Māori and Pasifika where they are under-represented in roles and aligning with customers prepared to pay a living wage.

“We’re seeing an increase in demand from companies wanting to tackle healthier representation in their organisations and deliver on their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals.”

The Value of the Owner Manager Programme 

Trina explains that getting into the Owner Manager Programme was thanks to her accountant at Bendall and Cant.

“I hadn’t owned a business before, and she told me it would be valuable to get clear on the principles it takes to lead a successful business while also developing camaraderie with others in the same position. It was fascinating to learn from such a wide range of business owners from across the country and while it was a time commitment, it was highly beneficial, allowing me the space to identify new learnings that I could implement back into the business.”

For a copy of the AI research please email Trina at Cultivate
trina@cultivate.co.nz