Fresh-faced college graduates are watching the American Dream be swept out from underneath them, and entering a gloomy entry-level job market pillaged by AI automation. However, not every company is reeling back hiring young professionals in favor of the tech tools; Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says his business is actually ramping up its recruiting of the digitally-savvy generation.
“The kids coming out of college right now learned how to program with AI,” Huffman said recently during the Sourcery with Molly O’Shea podcast. “They’re really good at it, and so I think we will go heavy on new grads, because they’re so much more AI native.”
While some CEOs marvel over the abilities of chatbots and AI agents, recent graduates are actually ripe for the new tech-driven world of work: the digital natives grew up with the internet, and spent most of their higher education in the ChatGPT era. They’re deeply familiar with the technology and are much more apt to leverage it in their work. And the cofounder of the $26.7 billion social media empire says that propensity is actually a gift: older generations are more resistant to automating their craft, even if it’s for the better.
“It’s the old people like me, it’s like I didn’t want to give [coding] up. I finally did,” the 42-year-old millennial CEO explained. “The younger people don’t have that baggage. They just write with AI.”
And while Huffman approves of new Gen Z hires, Reddit says it values employees of all age groups, and is still dedicated to hiring older employees in continuing its success.
Reddit CEO says not hiring Gen Z grads is a costly mistake
Tech workers may be nervous that their AI use will lead to their inevitable displacement—but Huffman was resolute that the tech won’t reduce the company’s engineering headcount.
A Reddit spokesperson also underscored to Fortune that its emerging talent team focuses on recruiting young professionals, also offering new grad opportunities and internships developing essential skills like machine learning, data science, and computer science.
While the tide seems to have shifted away from tech companies recruiting college talent before graduation, Huffman warned that could be a costly mistake. The billionaire says employers need to hire graduates “right out of the gate,” or risk having to pay them 100 times more down the line.
“There are so many reasons to hire new grads,” Huffman continued. “If you don’t hire them as new grads, you will never see them. They will never be on the job market again. They’re too valuable to ever let them be on the job market.”
CEOs say Gen Z workers are essential to innovation and succession
As companies enforce sweeping layoffs and reel back hiring, entry-level graduates are contending with a fierce labor market.
The proportion of unemployed Americans who are first-time workers hit a 37-year high in 2025, hitting a peak of 13.3% in July before tapering down to 10.6% last month. And some CEOs even believe the percent of unemployed college graduates could skyrocket within just a couple of years.
However, there’s a vocal cohort of leaders who won’t leave Gen Z out in the cold—and in fact, their inexperience is sometimes seen as an asset. Echoing Huffman’s point that Gen Z doesn’t come with “baggage,” Ricardo Amper, the founder and CEO of $1.25 billion software company Incode Technologies, believes Gen Z’s naivety is exactly what businesses need to innovate. They aren’t held back by preconceived notions of work or a professional mindset shaped by decades of career experience.
“My belief [is] that coming out with a fresh mind, first principles, is important. That’s why young people are particularly helpful in tech, because they’re less biased,” Amper told Fortune earlier this year. “I think too much knowledge is actually bad in tech: you’re biased.”
Even if employers believe that AI agents can take over the jobs of their young employees, automating their roles could do long-term damage.
Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky, has warned against shutting Gen Z professionals out of the workforce because the consequences are stifled innovation and a lack of talent ready to step into millennial’s and Gen Xer’s positions.
“[AI] can do a lot of lower-level, more entry-level position jobs. But if no young people can get jobs, then you have no one in the future to do the highly strategic leadership positions,” Chesky told ABC News in a 2025 interview. “So we need to make room for people early in their careers, even if AI can do the interns’ work.”
Plus, some CEOs like Mark Cuban even argue that it’s an opportune time for Gen Z to seize the moment. Older generations less skilled with AI will need to learn how to implement the tools effectively—and that’s where young digitally-savvy workers step in.
“Learn all you can about AI, but learn more on how to implement them in companies,” Cuban advised young workers during the TBPN podcast in 2025. “Learn to customize a model, walk into a company, show the benefits. That is every single job that’s going to be available for kids coming out of school.”
