Looking for Your First Job in Tech? How to Ride the AI Wave and Get Hired
Entering the job market, it seems, has never been more challenging. For those looking today for their first job in tech, it is enough to open the newspaper and read each morning about layoffs at another company, or five, to understand that the challenge now is doubled and redoubled. The arrival of AI, alongside a slowdown in the economy and a weakening dollar that hurts tech especially hard, has reduced the number of entry-level positions, naturally raising the bar. Organizations today expect new employees to create real value from day one and are no longer satisfied with potential alone. They are looking for people who can get up to speed on the fly and contribute to the organization from the start. How fierce is the competition? According to Maor Shpitzer, Head of Talent Acquisition at fintech company Earnix, for every student job opening they receive hundreds of resumes within just a few hours of publication. “The biggest challenge for students is first of all to stand out, and think about what can push them to the top of the list,” he says. A new report by investment bank Deutsche Bank on the effects of AI on the U.S. labor market shows that the main victims of AI’s entry are young people, specifically academics. According to the report, the number of open positions in some professions vulnerable to AI, such as software development or research and development, has declined faster than in the broader market in recent years. However, the figures have stabilized in recent months. But among young people with a bachelor’s degree, up to age 27, the unemployment rate is at a relatively high level compared with 2000 to 2019, while other groups are less affected. In other words, according to the report, those most hurt are young graduates for whom a degree is no longer a guaranteed ticket into the world of work.
But there are also some bright spots. For example, there is still no broad evidence of AI affecting layoffs, the vast majority of organizations have not yet changed their headcount because of the technology, and companies that use AI are doing so mainly to complement or improve employees’ work, not to replace them. There is no doubt that AI is affecting and reshaping the labor market, but the story is more complex than the idea that intelligence will simply take all our jobs. Incidentally, opportunities may דווקא come from companies that have laid off workers because they are in transition and change due to AI. So what does all this mean for juniors looking for work today? First of all, their biggest disadvantage and their biggest advantage are both tied to artificial intelligence. “Contrary to the prevailing perception in the industry today, AI does not make juniors obsolete, but can actually help them a great deal,” says Oren Lewicki, VP of R&D at Fiverr. According to him, this is an unprecedented tool that brings developers closer to senior-level capabilities at a speed that did not exist before. “The ability to use AI tools allows an entry-level developer to skip two to three years of learning and experience that used to be required to reach the abilities of experienced developers.” He says the criteria for entry-level hiring have changed. “We are not looking at people only by the title of junior or senior. A developer who knows how to work very well with AI, masters the different tools and understands how to make them a real part of the development process can get an opportunity regardless of the exact number of years of experience.”
At Salesforce, they have drafted a guide for recruiting and training juniors in three stages, attracting talent through new experiences, assessment focused on adaptability, problem solving and AI fluency over experience, and finally activation through continuous learning and fast-growth tracks. The company also believes in reverse mentoring, in which younger employees teach veteran managers how to use AI tools. “In the new world of work, the competitive advantage of early-career employees lies not only in the knowledge they have accumulated, but in their natural ability to collaborate with artificial intelligence,” says Einat Frish, Director of Recruiting at Salesforce. “The AI-native generation not only adopts new tools, it is reshaping the way work is done, turning technology into a strategic partner that makes it possible to focus on creativity, complex problem solving and unique human value from day one.” This is exactly why, despite a period full of complexity and uncertainty, some organizations are choosing to continue hiring juniors. “They can bring the organization a new perspective and mental flexibility that can sometimes be hard to find in more senior employees,” says Aya Lachmi, head of organizational consulting at KPMG Israel. She describes a client who hired a junior employee and said she brought the team a “breath of fresh air” and creative thinking thanks to constant curiosity and experimentation with new tools.
Resumes still matter, despite the technology. Today, every job search, especially for an entry-level role, starts with sending a resume. The experts’ advice here is to show what you did, not just what you studied. “What organizations and recruiters will check is not necessarily where you studied, but more what you have already done in practice with what you learned,” says Lachmi. “A junior who notes that they built an automation tool using ChatGPT to streamline a process, or completed an independent project that integrates AI for data analysis, is perceived as someone who brings applied ability and not just theoretical knowledge.” According to Shpitzer, in a technological world that is changing at a rapid pace, people who can think outside the box and learn new tools, understand their uniqueness and limitations, and know how to work with them have a significant advantage. “If until recently people mainly looked at the academic institution and the grade sheet, today candidates must highlight two key areas in their resumes, curiosity and hands on, practical work.” Therefore, he suggests including in the resume what you researched independently, what you deepened your knowledge in, and which projects you initiated beyond the required coursework, such as building apps or experimenting with AI tools. “Candidates who demonstrate understanding of the AI world, along with the ability to learn processes and generate solutions on their own, are the ones who will jump to the top of the list.” More than that, AI knowledge is already a basic expectation. “I’ve gone through hundreds of resumes, and in many of them there is no real mention of AI knowledge, or the mention is too general,” says Lewicki of Fiverr. “Just as it is customary to detail programming languages, today I expect to see a breakdown of the AI tools the candidate masters and the projects completed using them. A link to a real project developed with AI can say much more than another generic line of experience on the resume.”
Grades and the academic institution you studied at no longer open doors to work automatically. “A grade from the Technion or a university has long not been the whole story,” says Mia Bunstein, VP of Human Resources at Applied Materials Israel. “Employers are looking for people who bring practical added value.” According to her, the company is currently hiring more than 200 open positions in Israel, more than 50 of them designated for juniors, against the backdrop of growth in the semiconductor industry driving the AI revolution. “Don’t settle for generic resumes. Come to the interview after thoroughly researching the industry and the company, present independent projects you developed, and emphasize your ability to learn quickly on your own and work as part of a team,” she says. In addition, it is recommended to highlight at the top of the resume personal achievements, athletic, social or otherwise, that reflect drive and excellence, recommends Shiri Nader, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Human Resources Officer at NICE. She recommends speaking in terms of outcome rather than process. “Instead of listing courses and training you completed, write what you achieved. Present projects you led in terms of problem and solution, ‘I improved a process by X percent,’ ‘I solved a complex bug using an automation tool.’ Speak in results and numbers.”
The interview and the take-home assignment are the next stages in the hiring process, and juniors also have an opportunity to stand out there. “Take-home assignments are where you can see who knows how to think independently and who comes with the approach of ‘how do I solve this better,’” says Lachmi. “So this is the place to invest as much effort as possible.” In the interview, the emphasis has shifted from the ability to work in a team to independence, creativity and a willingness to experiment. “In the interview, the discussion will focus on presenting the thinking process, the learning and the reasons for choosing such tools or others in the projects you carried out,” says Shpitzer. According to him, “learning development or getting a high grade is important, but what will get you the job is the ability to prove how you applied the knowledge, how much you looked around, researched and dared to get your hands dirty. There is no substitute for that.” One of the perceptual changes for candidates today, especially for junior roles, is that the ability to write code no longer sets them apart. “You need to let go of ‘code ego’ and understand that AI tools often know how to write better code. The developer’s value is increasingly shifting to strategic aspects, understanding what needs to be built, how to break down the problem, how to plan the process and how to check the quality of the output,” says Lewicki. According to him, most of a developer’s effort today should move from the execution stage to the planning stage, and the ability to tell AI exactly what is wanted, define context and constraints, and properly break down the task is one of the most important skills today. According to Lewicki, a candidate who talks about AI but does not know what MCP is, does not understand what Skills are and their importance for work quality and proper token usage, is “behind.” He also expects familiarity with tools such as Claude and Cursor, and an understanding of the world of agents, what they are, how they work, and how to manage several of them at once. “While one agent runs a complex task in the background, the expert is already planning the next step or guiding another agent. That is the ability that separates a true expert from someone who only knows how to use AI at a basic level.”
Boaz Nosbaum, Director of Engineering at Navina, says that people at the start of their professional path have an advantage, they are fresh, hungry and ready for a challenge. His tip for people entering their first roles now is, “Build projects with code agents, come to job interviews having built systems and know how to explain היטב what the system is supposed to do, why you chose to design the architecture the way you did and, of course, an equally critical part, how you chose to document the codebase so code agents can join you easily and accurately in future development.” Beyond AI skills, Nader also recommends being proactive in the interview. “Asking smart questions, showing systems-level understanding and sharp analysis of your products say a lot about you. A fresh perspective and familiarity with the hottest trends in the market will allow you not to be captive to old conceptions of how things should work,” she says. Another advantage for some candidates is “hybrid thinking,” for example marketers who understand data, programmers who understand customer product. Still, alongside all the expectations from candidates, employers also have a role. “You cannot on the one hand expect juniors to come with more experience and more independence, and on the other hand not adapt onboarding and training processes to the new reality,” says Lachmi. According to her, companies that do not find a way to hire and develop young employees effectively may discover in a few years a real gap in the future generation of their workforce. The door to tech is not as wide open as it once was, but still, despite the competition, there are opportunities. “The door is open to those who show curiosity, a high ability to learn and a willingness to run fast,” says Nader.
