How Gen Z is navigating a competitive job market in the age of AI - marketplace.org

How Gen Z is navigating a competitive job market in the age of AI

Recent college graduates are navigating a job market shaped by AI on both sides of the hiring process.

This story was first published on WUSF on July 2.

Gen Z is inheriting a tough job market.

The candidate pool is flooded with graduates seeking similar work. Artificial intelligence is changing the game for employers and job seekers alike. And in some places, like Florida, unemployment is outpacing the national average.

Brenda Abreus, 22, said those factors combined are making it difficult to find work as a recent college graduate.

“I haven’t found anything in particular for myself just yet, so for right now, I have been volunteering,” she said.

She graduated in the spring with a bachelor’s degree in media production and management from the University of Central Florida — and a distaste for AI.

In a moment that went viral on social media during her graduation ceremony in May, Gloria Caulfield, a commencement speaker, was loudly booed for praising AI as “the next Industrial Revolution.”

Jacksonville-based labor analyst Ron Hetrick with firm Lightcast said this moment reflects the strong reaction some Gen Z job seekers have to a labor market that’s growing more reliant on AI.

Things can feel especially bad for college graduates who are noticing companies invest money into tokens, or how AI companies bill their usage, over new hires, Hetrick said. “The money I would have hired you with I'm buying, you know, more tokens, so that I can see if AI can do something for my company.”

Research from fintech company Ramp found that one in three businesses it tracks is spending more than $10,000 a month on AI.

AI use is also impacting the way job seekers apply for work.

For 26-year-old Isolina Llaguno, who was recently laid off and searching for work, her frustration came from trying to get her resume to reach a human reviewer. After four months and submitting close to 100 applications, near-immediate rejections via automated emails had convinced her that employers were turning to AI to screen candidates.

"It's kind of unfair, because you're doing your due diligence by applying, by searching, tweaking your resume, but then nobody ever sees it,” she said.

Eventually, Llaguno said she thought to “use AI against AI,” asking ChatGPT to tailor her resume to surpass employers’ initial screenings.

For other Gen Z job seekers, like Abreus, companies using AI begs the question: “Are you looking for somebody who can just get things out quickly, so you can make more money, or are you actually here to create quality content?”

As an aspiring digital creator, she said she would rather remain unemployed than work for a company whose values about AI she doesn’t share.