Kanika Mohan thought she’d have a job after graduation — and hopefully it will include three meals and laundry service.
The 21-year-old studied laptop science, had a slate of summer season internships at prime tech corporations, and repeatedly attended campus profession festivals. A primary-generation school pupil, the 2025 grad felt STEM was the surefire path to company success.
“I like constructing issues and laptop science was a fairly sizzling subject over social media,” Mohan mentioned. The roles had been comfortable, with all types of perks. “It was simply insane to consider,” she added. “I by no means noticed my mother and father have any of these jobs. My mother and father labored common, non-corporate, blue-collar jobs.”
Annoyed by a monthslong job hunt, Mohan started wanting outdoors Big Tech. She mentioned she utilized for enterprise analyst and advertising and marketing roles at airways, banks, and client corporations, and every other alternative she may discover in her skillset. She was finally employed by a significant tech firm, however she’s glad that she broadened her search.
Mohan’s expertise is more and more frequent. Jobs in laptop science and tech have lengthy been marketed as a path to lucrative salaries and luxurious office perks. However, with AI and widespread company cost-cutting contributing to a white-collar hiring slowdown, the business is hemorrhaging entry-level alternatives.
The tech job market isn’t just tough for newcomers. Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, wrote in a brand new weblog submit that the US tech business appears to be in an employment recession as a result of it mirrors the Nice Recession. US job postings for tech staff on job-search platform Certainly have cooled greater than total postings from Nice Resignation peaks. Nonetheless, some extra skilled job seekers might fare higher if they’ve the talents wanted within the rising AI talent war.
As doorways shut throughout the business, tech grads are having to rethink their dream roles. BI spoke with Gen Zers and labor market consultants to know the challenges younger tech aspirants are dealing with — and potential options.
‘Likelihood is you will not get a job at Microsoft’
After touchdown her position, Mohan now teaches different 20-somethings on TikTok about the way to break into the tech business.
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“One factor I spotted is that lots of people have a dream firm or a dream position,” she mentioned. “However it’s actually powerful to try this anymore. You’ll be able to’t simply be like, ‘I need to work at Microsoft, so I am solely going to use to Microsoft.’ Likelihood is you will not get a job at Microsoft.”
Economists mentioned it is a sensible technique. The variety of laptop and knowledge sciences grads has elevated in recent times, so holders of these levels face extra competitors for a shrinking variety of openings. AI can be shifting what entry-level work seems to be like in these fields, and corporations are on the lookout for methods to chop prices and streamline their workforce.
Zhao, the Glassdoor economist, advised Enterprise Insider that many tech employers have been sluggish to rent entry-level staff. A Burning Glass Institute report confirmed that the unemployment rate for Gen Zers and youthful millennials in laptop and math occupations has lately elevated from earlier than the pandemic, which means latest graduates may very well be up in opposition to others competing for related roles.
“It is no shock that new graduates in laptop science and engineering have had a tricky time getting their foot within the door,” Zhao mentioned.
It is a part of why Gen Zers like Timothy Innamorato are considering pivoting. He needed to work in tech, however he is additionally been making use of for grocery retailer and janitorial jobs.
Since finishing a certification program in laptop science and knowledge know-how final 12 months, 27-year-old Innamorato has despatched out just a few hundred job purposes, he mentioned, and has landed round eight interviews in his subject.
“I have been shifting my views on whether or not or not I even need to proceed wanting in the intervening time, particularly with the AI factor that is taking place now,” he mentioned.
He is additionally gotten just a few interviews for grocery retailer jobs, which he is been making use of to as a result of he wants one thing to maintain him afloat. He is had some success getting callbacks when he applies to custodial positions in his native faculty district.
“Everyone now’s shifting over to the thought of going to do trades, so being a plumber or doing HVAC or being an electrician. Truthfully, that does not sound like a foul factor, it is simply that you just received to be in your toes much more and you bought to go to folks’s homes and crawl in attics,” he mentioned. “It is not the identical as IT. However I imply, I do not know.”
Easy methods to stand out within the utility ‘numbers recreation’
Charley Kim, 23, lately landed a software program engineering position at a Large Tech firm. He mentioned he is fortunate — he graduated in 2024 with a computer science degree and is aware of a number of associates who’re nonetheless on the lookout for work.
“There are simply so many individuals making use of to the roles, and there is solely a restricted variety of jobs on the market,” Kim mentioned, including, “Getting an interview might be tougher than the interviews themselves.”
Although Kim mentioned that the job hunt can really feel like a random “numbers recreation,” he thinks the trouble he put into networking paid off. Not solely did speaking to folks already within the tech business assist him hone his utility, he mentioned it allowed him to get the referrals he wanted to make his résumé stand out from the pile.
Christine Cruzvergara, chief schooling technique officer at Handshake, mentioned it is necessary to construct a neighborhood as a result of job looking out will be time-consuming and emotionally taxing. As Mohan put it, the post-grad job search can really feel “actually scary, actually harsh, and actually painful.”
Cruzvergara mentioned your neighborhood can embody associates, advisors, or whoever can assist you are feeling higher and provide you with actual suggestions throughout job searching.
Cruzvergara additionally recommended not filling out a whole bunch of purposes and as a substitute ensuring you are placing sufficient time into testing the corporate, together with whether or not it looks like a great match.
“Mass applying is definitely hurting folks as a result of they’re placing in lower-quality purposes that are not going to face up in a aggressive applicant pool,” Bonnie Dilber, a recruiter at a software program firm, beforehand advised Enterprise Insider.
Natasha Pillay-Bemath, vp of world expertise acquisition and govt search at IBM, mentioned there’ll proceed to be demand for entry-level expertise, particularly in “extra important, advanced areas of tech like AI and cloud.” Robust candidates ought to present that they’ll each grasp utilizing AI and likewise lean on tender abilities like creativity and efficient communication, she mentioned, as AI takes away the “rote work” of an entry-level rent.
Mohan mentioned she had just a few completely different variations of her résumé and canopy letter relying on the varieties of roles she was making use of for. Placing her expertise and pursuits on paper — and sometimes utilizing AI to optimize for particular positions — helped her construct confidence.
“Constructing my résumé early on helped me additionally notice that I do know I can change industries,” she mentioned. “I spotted what business I like and what roles I like as a result of there’s so, so many various issues you are able to do. You will not know that except you really attempt.”
