Forget Big Tech: Small businesses will hire nearly 1 million grads in 2026—and some of the hottest roles are gloriously AI-proof

While fresh-faced grads are throwing their hats in the ring for a job at the world’s biggest companies, they could have a good shot at small businesses ramping up hiring. And some of the jobs that they’re recruiting the most for could stand the test of time in the AI revolution. About 974,000 recent graduates aged 20 to 24 will be hired at small businesses (firms with one to 49 employees) during the 2026 hiring season, from April through September, according to a recent report from payroll and benefits platform Gusto. It’s a small bump from last year’s onboarding of 962,000 early-career workers, but the market has still not fully returned to the COVID years of 2020 to 2022, when employers went on a hiring blitz. Still, there’s also been improvement with net new grad job creation; it’s crept up from a low of 60,000 in 2023 to over 100,000 in 2026. Mom-and-pop businesses seem to be enthusiastically hiring young workers, while titans of industry pull entry-level listings from their sites. Big companies argue that AI can now do the work of junior staffers, but some smaller owners are pushing back on that notion, actively recruiting recent grads for their tech-savvy and relationship-building skills. Mark Cuban even picked up on the trend, advising fresh-faced grads to eye up small companies for opportunities. “Large companies are playing defense. Small businesses are playing offense,” Aaron Terrazas, an economist at Gusto, tells Fortune. “When big employers pull back on entry-level hiring, small businesses see an opening…Small business owners are also taking advantage of this, being the first graduating class that grew up with AI as a native tool, not a new skill to learn, and that makes them uniquely valuable for businesses looking to modernize fast.” While these employers are steadily pulling stronger hiring numbers, the talent they’re looking to snag has changed entirely. Career tracks that once guaranteed bountiful six-figure jobs post-g