# Tech Hiring Trends 2025: AI Roles, Job Tips & Market Shifts

## Key Highlights
- **Phone screens are down:** Only 2% of applications lead to phone interviews—a 58% drop from the previous year.
- **Application volume is up:** 500% more job applications in 2024; many experienced engineers are applying to junior roles.
- **Remote competition rises:** LATAM countries like Brazil and Mexico are producing high volumes of remote-ready engineers.
- **AI reshapes roles:** Companies increasingly seek early-career engineers with AI/ML skills.
- **Ghost roles & ATS barriers:** Fake job posts and keyword-based ATS filters make job hunting harder.
- **Technical strength wins:** Codesmith grads have a higher conversion rate from tech assessments to final interviews and offers.
- **Easy Apply = low ROI:** Huge competition for Easy Apply roles—referrals and personalized follow-ups work better.
- **Referrals matter:** 26.9% of job offers came from alumni and personal network referrals.

## Hiring Insights

Hiring in the tech industry, especially for tech roles across all industries, is picking up after widespread layoffs in 2022-23. Data from Codesmith 2024 graduates highlights significant changes in the job market, affecting how candidates should approach job hunting.

### Phone Screen Drop
- Only 2% of applications lead to a phone screen—a significant fall from 3.8% the previous year.
- The market poses new challenges that obstruct aspiring candidates’ visibility to employers.

### Job Market Surge
- From October 2023 to November 2024 in the USA, software engineering jobs for those with 0–3 years of experience increased by 47%, translating to over 71,000 job posts.
- There was a 500% increase in applications compared to 2023, partly due to three years of layoffs.

### LATAM as a New Talent Hub
- Latin America has emerged as a hub producing software engineers, competing for remote roles in the USA and Europe.
- Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia lead in producing senior engineers, with Mexico and Brazil contributing around 600,000 software engineers annually.
- Demand from USA companies for LATAM professionals has increased by 156% in 2024.

### Changing Role Expectations
- Demand for traditional software engineers has shifted towards those skilled in AI infrastructure and machine learning.
- AI-related roles are expanding 3.6x faster than the average job, according to PwC’s AI Jobs Barometer.

### Ghost Roles
- Ghost roles are postings unlikely to lead to phone screens, often used to signal growth to investors or gather résumés for future positions.
- Indicators of ghost roles include long posting durations with no updates, vague descriptions, and lack of company activity.

## Application Tracking Systems (ATS)
- ATS can streamline hiring but also hinder suitable candidates through keyword filtering.
- The overreliance on keywords can disadvantage genuinely qualified candidates.

## Converting Applications
- Despite the decline in phone screens, the conversion rate from phone screens to technical interviews has increased from 32.11% in 2023 to 39.14% in 2024, reflecting a preparation advantage for Codesmith grads.
- Various assessment types are popular, including live coding challenges (73.72%), take-home assignments (64.10%), and verbal technical questions (54.49%).

## Easy Apply Applications
- Easy Apply accounted for 698.16 of Codesmith graduates' applications, marking an 83.71% increase from 2023.
- With higher competition, many applications through Easy Apply may receive little attention, but personalization can improve chances.

## Impact of Networking
- Referrals are crucial, with 26.9% of job offers coming from alumni and personal networks.
- Engaging with alumni can provide insights and preparation for interviews.

### Changing Industries
- In 2024, the most common roles offered to grads included Software Engineer (37.59%), Full Stack Engineer (11.28%), and Senior Software Engineer (9.40%).
- The primary industries hiring grads remain Software/Tech, with Fintech and Healthcare gaining ground.

### Conclusion
- As industries increasingly adopt software engineering and expand AI/ML roles, Codesmith continues to adapt its programs to meet the evolving demands of the job market.