When Dhruv came to America for graduate studies, tech companies were hiring aggressively, offering increasingly high salaries. He was confident he'd earn at least $200,000 annually.
After months of job hunting, don't even mention full-time positions — he couldn't get a single internship. He lowered his target to $120,000.
"AI has become a barrier for people without work experience," Dhruv believes. "Before, landing an entry-level job just required knowing one programming language and a couple of tools. Now? Even entry-level positions want three to five years of experience."
"Nobody wants to hire me — where am I supposed to get experience?" he asks. "It's a catch-22."
Many graduates have given up on their dream jobs. Haram Kang studied Computer Science at Rutgers, originally aspiring to be a project manager.
"Everyone used to say studying computers would be fine," she says. "Maybe that was true ten years ago, even five years ago. But by the time we graduated, the market was already saturated."
Haram Kang sent 200 applications during her senior year, then at least 500 more after graduation over two years. Though she gained some experience through internships, none converted to full-time offers.
"By then I'd stopped thinking about ideal jobs," she says. "I just needed some work." She eventually found a technical sales position.