I mean, speaking as someone who lives (and is on hiring committees) in a city in the middle of pretty much nowhere, asking if you really want to move to Little Rock seems a reasonable question to ask, honestly.
(Or Des Moines, or Cheyenne, or whichever of the other out of the way largest city capitals out there.)
Agreed. We are very wary of people who want to move where I live for the job. We almost always get burned especially by younger people when they realize this isn’t what they envisioned and move on a year later. At this point we almost won’t consider anyone without ties to the area or who at the very least least grew up or lived previously in a similar area.
IBM is tripling the number of Gen Z entry-level jobs after finding the limits of AI adoption
“The companies three to five years from now that are going to be the most successful are those companies that doubled down on entry-level hiring in this environment,” Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s chief human resources officer, said this week.
“We are tripling our entry-level hiring, and yes, that is for software developers and all these jobs we’re being told AI can do.”
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has already heard LaMoreaux’s plea and rejected the idea that AI should translate into fewer opportunities for graduates.
“People are talking about either layoffs or freezing hiring, but I actually want to say that we are the opposite,” Krishna told CNN in October. “I expect we are probably going to hire more people out of college over the next 12 months than we have in the past few years, so you’re going to see that.”
This is a positive move and shows how a company is preparing to adapt and pivot in the right direction:
IBM has since rewritten its roles across sectors to account for AI fluency.
Also foresighted is the fact that:
Reducing junior headcount risks creating an eventual shortage of mid-level managers. Attempting to poach talent from competitors is likely to be costlier, and outside hires tend to take longer to adapt to internal systems and culture.
A bit ironic, though, because IBM has been in ageism litigation over systematic termination of older employees as it brings in younger replacements. Hopefully, this new push for entry-level hires is not linked to the boot on the opposite end. (I have a dim view of IBM having been an employee and my husband a partner in the consulting practice, though neither of us was let go.)
But, on a positive note, this bodes well for new grads who bring demonstrated communication and critical thinking skills to the AI workplace. I believe AI will bring a shift in the focus of what skills new hires need to succeed in these new jobs.
Asking once or twice should have been enough–especially since I submitted my resume seeking an interview slot with this firm. Nevertheless, I agree that asking such a question is reasonable.
I also had the opposite occur. In another state, I was selected for a fly-in interview with the largest firm in that state which had multiple offices. My interest was only in the oceanfront location which was the main office, yet the firm assumed that I would accept a position in another office a couple of hours away from the ocean. No one asked about my preference; I declined the offer from the other office.
Although I am not writing about Miami, at that time firms were giving substantial signing bonuses for those who would accept a position in Miami.
Ooops, I just realized that the somewhat ambiguous thread title might be referring to 2024 & 2025. My mistake.
I think your experience is still relevant given that people here are giving advice to just take a job in a less desirable location to get some experience and then move on. The problem is those of us who live in theoretically less desirable locations are onto that and we are not really interested in hiring young people who will be unhappy here and leave as soon as we’ve sunk a bunch of money into their training.
Earlier in my life, I worked in LA. When there was an opening in Atlanta, Dallas or Chicago, the young kids all raised their hand.
Today those places are expensive - but Pittsburgh, Rochester, Ft. Wayne, etc. are not - relatively.
So what seems a bad place may not be. My son is 2.5 years out of school, makes six figures but lives in Irvine - where a condo is $1 mil + monthly fees.
What may seem undesirable may actually be desirable. My nephew is in Austin, MN - his six figure income goes lot farther than my son’s…..so he’s fine being in the middle of nowhere.
Or play bait and switch (same game, different flavor).
I used to worked for a company which had dozens of locations which could house a new hire, and early in the interview process we’d ask for a ranked list of the top three locations. Students would trade on their “knowledge” based on previous years and advise how to beat the system. So a student who wanted SF, Boston and DC would list Minneapolis, Cleveland and Dallas and then try to switch halfway through the process.
Most of the time it didn’t work. Occasionally when it did, it was because the candidate brought something highly desirable and rare to the table…. fluency in 6 different, hard to find languages. That sort of thing. At one point we were opening offices in the Gulf and Eastern Europe simultaneously…. so a new hire who was fluent in both Arabic and Russian– write your own ticket. Ditto for the years that Beijing and Shanghai were expanding. Yes, we were hiring locally for native speakers. But having a roster of fluent speakers who could be transferred or seconded or just flexed temporarily was really helpful.
But the kids who just couldn’t stand the thought of living in Cleveland? Best way to shoot yourself in the foot is to ask between the first and second round “how do I go about switching my office preferences?”
Early in my career, when I was living in Boston and interviewing for a heavy travel training position, I was asked if I had any objection to working stints in Detroit. My eyes lit up, and I said, “I’m from that area, my family is all in Michigan, I’ll take all those assignments!” I was hired on the spot. Once I started working there, I found out that no wanted to go to Detroit, so I was immediately popular for taking those weeks off the schedule.
Especially early in one’s career, the opportunity to make bank living in a lower COL area is an excellent way to start building wealth and should be emphasized as a shrewd financial piece of career planning.
I volunteered early in my career to take on an account in Detroit that no one else wanted because my boyfriend (now husband) worked there and I could go on paid business trips to visit him!
I like to sit on the porch stoop while whittling and reminiscing about the good old days as much as anyone else. But if the rest of you want to do so, open a thread in the cafe. For this thread, please return to topic.
This is our son’s job search since August 2025. CS major at UIUC graduating this May, seeking a software engineering role.
Applied to over 100 jobs. Had to do technical assessment online first with just about all of them.
Interviewed with 23 companies - some ended just after the first interview, some ended after final interviews, four firms flew him out for face to face final interviews, one firm required a two day work trial, but most final interviews were done over Zoom.
Had 77 separate interviews with various teams/groups/individuals for the 23 companies - averaging about 3 interviews per company - each interview was about 30 to 45 minutes.
Some of the firms focused heavily on the technical interviews, some firms were more even between technical and behavioral. During technicals, he had to verbally walk through given problem sets. For some, he knew that the technical questions were more than he felt comfortable working through during an interview and knew immediately the interview would end shortly. At least for him, BS ing was not going to work.
As of this week, he received final offers from 5 companies - bank type firm in VA, tech firm in Seattle, startup in SF, one of the FAANG in NYC, and hedge fund in NYC.
He’s narrowed it down to two offers. He was given a couple of weeks for final decisions. One asked that he shares the other firm’s offer to consider matching.
This is just one student’s journey, but it has been a long and grueling grind. Along the way, there were disappointments but he learned from each experience. In terms of timing, he received 2 offers in December and 3 offers in the last week.
In terms of internships, he had 3. Summer after sophomore year - minor one that he didn’t enjoy. Fall semester of junior year on campus through Research Park and summer after junior year at a quant firm where he did not receive a return offer. Each role provided experiences to learn what he liked and didn’t like.
I don’t know if this is the new norm for SE roles in terms of the interview process. Others may be able to chime in on job search/interview process during pre-Covid years.
Lastly, son did all of the job search/interview prep himself. We are not in the tech fields. He also did not use the school’s career services or professors guidance. It’s possible using available resources may have helped. He didn’t think it would help him. He and his siblings are very independent individuals. I know many in our social circle where parents help with introductions to various people already in the fields, run interview preps, etc. These parents made me feel a bit anxious wondering if our children will be falling behind or not be employed because we were not so involved in their process. I’m just so glad that the journey is almost over and S will be doing exactly what he wants to do.
That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing the journey.
Not easy - but he applied to many (persistence), had great interview success (in acquiring them) and yes, each did their due diligence, which for him is overwhelming but they want to ensure they got the right person.
Glad it worked out for him and he’s got a field he’s excited about.
Congrats to him.
Congratulations to your son! Five offers is a fantastic outcome!
I can’t speak to software jobs but for engineering my D’s company started doing skill assessments two years ago as part of the interview process. They are also giving candidates 30 minutes to do a data analysis and pull together a short presentation on the spot.
I know there have been a couple of people who have had multiple interviews and did not receive an offer. They are definitely looking for the right fits.
What you’ve described is fairly typical at well-known and elite employers, which receive huge numbers of applications and therefore need a rigorous screening process to identify the right candidates.
It has changed significantly — in terms of both content and format — and there is far greater competition for a smaller number of roles, so past experience isn’t really relevant to current graduates.
Of interest to those on this thread: According to a 2024 (released nearly precisely one year ago) study done by the Burning Glass Institute and the Strada Institute for the Future of Work looking at bachelor’s degree holders without a postgraduate degree or certificate, 45% were underemployed (defined as holding a job that does not require a college degree, according to BLS classification) one decade after graduation.
But according to a study that just came out today done by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, underemployment (defined as holding a job where the employer does not state a preference for a college degree) is actually lower, at 37% several years out from graduation.
And the newer study is being presented as showing a more optimistic picture than the earlier one, but still, 37%? Yeah, it’s a few percentage points lower than 45%, but still—it’s 37%. More than 1 in 3.
So that’s unfun.
S did a 3+1 so he’s graduating with a MS in CS. He entered college with a good number of AP credits. He applied to the MS program after his sophomore year as a back up just in case the job market wasn’t good. We advised not to graduate in 3 years and just do extra 1 yr MS, esp since instate gradate program tuition was hardly different than undergraduate tuition. S does not believe the MS helped in anyway. He was not asked about MS in any of the interviews. Who knows for sure.
It’s interesting.
My job requires a Bachelor degree.
Most of us in the job have Masters.
But why is either required?
For an employer, I understand it’s a point of qualification - to ensure a certain level of person. But from an academic POV, neither my MBA nor Bachelor degree matters - and I think that’s the same for many and in a lot of places most.
I am not underemployed - but there really is no difference why I need a formal education but a furniture salesman doesn’t?
So I sort of roll my eyebrows at these things.
Maybe that barista who doesn’t feel their education is worthy of the job; maybe they were picked because they had a degree and another didn’t.
I don’t think anyone goes to college for hospitality to be a hotel front desk person…but yet there are many that get that job so they’d be underemployed. And yet they may have been chosen for that background.
So that stat always throws me off.
That’s why there are competing definitions!
But even if you just go with jobs where the majority of those holding it have a college degree—the most expansive definition, as it turns out—about a quarter of college graduates holding only an undergraduate degree are underemployed a few years out from graduation.
Congrats on the great outcomes! Glad he has a bit of time to make a final decision. S22 grappled with similar decisions - between tech and quant. Happy to compare notes if it helps.
The process you described is pretty typical except perhaps for the work trial which from our experience was confined to a really cool SF start-up. All in all pulling 5 offers in this market is an amazing accomplishment!