If you're applying for engineering or product management roles in the AI sector today, you're up against intense competition. The job market has never been more competitive. On average, candidates are competing against perhaps 500 or more other applicants for a single role. If you're relying solely on traditional methods, your odds of landing the job are shockingly low—around 0.2% if you're doing the bare minimum.
The latest data shows AI-related job postings have grown by 38% between 2020 and 2024 Orangedox, making this one of the fastest-growing job categories globally. However, this growth has attracted massive competition. In just the first few months of 2025, AI-specific roles jumped from 0.32% of all roles in 2024 to 2.17% Ravio, indicating companies are accelerating their investment in AI skillsets.
Why the dramatic difficulty? Ironically, AI is part of the problem. Many candidates are using AI tools to optimize their applications, meaning that "every savvy candidate is tailoring their resume to the job description," and subsequently, many applications look almost identical. Even sophisticated AI screening tools struggle to differentiate a top-tier candidate from a merely qualified one when everyone is leveraging the same keyword matching strategies.
Entry-level jobs are especially vulnerable, with nearly 50 million U.S. jobs at risk in coming years World Economic Forum. Junior roles in People, Marketing, and Engineering have seen hiring rates plummet by 75-84% in just one year Ravio, raising critical questions about talent pipelines and career development.
To break free from this competitive "deep dark bucket of applications", you need an unlock. According to recruiting expert Chase Johnson, a recruiting operator from Writer who previously helped build Replet, the key to standing out is shifting focus from passive descriptions to active demonstration.
The Ultimate Unlock: Proof of Work Over Bullet Points
The single biggest differentiator for candidates in today's market is taking advantage of proof of work over bullet points. Proof of work examples provide opportunities to show recruiters and hiring teams how you work.
Proof of work can include a variety of formats:
- Portfolios
- Blogs
- Projects
- Videos demonstrating your work
In 2025, 72% of hiring managers said they prefer candidates with a portfolio, whether it's a personal website, an interactive presentation, or a social media page Canva. This represents a fundamental shift in how hiring decisions are made.
When a recruiter encounters an application with visible proof-of-work examples, they are often able to dig three layers deeper than they can with a résumé that only contains bullet points. This evidence helps recruiters connect the dots, showing them exactly how you will make an impact. These examples can be game-changers, allowing candidates who might not be the most experienced to demonstrate their momentum toward the required work.
Crucially, good recruiters will spend the extra time reviewing an applicant's portfolio if the applicant has been thoughtful about what they put forward.
Practical Advice for Product Managers (PMs)
While engineers often rely on GitHub and projects to show what they built, PMs are encouraged to do the exact same thing.
PMs should build a portfolio and maintain a blog about how they work and what they do.
This material shows "eagerness" and helps hiring teams understand how you execute the work, preventing you from looking like "the same PM as everybody else in the pile".
A portfolio doesn't have to be elaborate; it's considered an expanded résumé. A simple blog site is often enough, or even a low-lift option like an organized Google Doc with public access can be just as effective.
Showcasing AI Experience and Specific Focus Areas
When describing AI experience, job seekers should think broader and focus on outcomes.
Instead of listing technical specifics, articulate what problem you solved with AI and why it is cool.
It's valuable to show that you are tinkering with things to solve problems, even if the projects are not work-related (e.g., an equity calculator built for personal use).
If you are an engineer or PM looking to work specifically at an AI company, exploring Agents work is highly beneficial. Companies are "indexing heavy" on agent work, as it is seen as the future of many workflows.
The Agent Revolution in 2025
AI agents have emerged as a significant trend, with adoption expanding across industries due to their ability to tackle complex tasks and make independent decisions IntelegainProjectPro. The market is experiencing explosive growth across multiple sectors:
Healthcare AI agents can process patient data up to 1,000 times faster than manual methods, with the global AI in healthcare market expected to grow from USD 20.9 billion in 2024 to USD 148.4 billion by 2032 Intelegain
The restaurant AI agent market is rapidly expanding, with revenue expected to grow from USD 5.79 billion in 2024 to USD 14.70 billion by 2030 Intelegain
For portfolio projects, consider building:
- Multi-agent collaboration systems using frameworks like LangChain, CrewAI, or LangGraph
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems that can ingest various document types
- Autonomous agents that can perform complex workflows with minimal supervision
The Role of Certifications
Are AI certification programs worthwhile? Generally, Chase Johnson's "hot take" is no. While certifications level up your knowledge, they are not necessarily going to set you apart if you don't also show how you've applied that knowledge (i.e., with proof of work).
The exception is for roles requiring specific validation, such as security engineering, where certifications tend to have an impact.
Resume Mechanics: Formatting and Personalization
When it comes to formatting, either a PDF or a Word document is acceptable. However, PDF is often preferred because the visual layout is guaranteed to stay the same. It's crucial to make sure your LinkedIn matches your résumé to avoid slight red flags.
In 2025, 65% of hiring managers said they prefer resumes with interactive features, such as clickable links or embedded videos – up 10% from last year Canva. Additionally, 62% of hiring managers prefer colorful resumes over black-and-white ones Canva, reinforcing the importance of visual appeal.
Most importantly, you must make your proof of work unavoidable. Link your personal website or portfolio in the dedicated spot on the application form, on LinkedIn, and directly in your actual résumé. If your portfolio contains proprietary work and is password-protected, make sure to include the password; this basic step is missed 30% of the time.
Moving Beyond Keyword Soup
Instead of relying on keyword matching, use AI as a tool to refine your existing experience. You can throw the job description into your favorite AI tool and ask it to analyze your current résumé, identifying where your experience matches well and which projects you should speak to more directly. The goal is clarity of thought and direct action.
Using AI to craft applications is now easier than ever, but transparency is key – 73% of hiring managers believe candidates should disclose generative AI use in application materials Canva.
The ultimate takeaway is that personalization—highlighting things that are actually connected to the role you're applying to—is what's most important.
Addressing Employment Gaps
If you have a gap in your employment history, remember that honesty always wins. You need to know how to speak to your story, whether it involved a layoff, being fired, or stepping away for circumstantial reasons (like caring for family).
Hiring teams are generally looking for what you did in that gap to better yourself.
If you contributed to an open-source project, that is "huge".
If you tinkered and learned a new language, this "speaks volumes".
Regarding the résumé format, it is not recommended to add a "Career Break" as its own specific work experience block. Instead, put your last experience, and be ready to acknowledge the gap in the summary or recruiting call.
How to Skip the Application Pit
Since the odds are so low when relying only on the application process, reaching out directly to recruiters or hiring managers is an effective way to skip the line.
Target a maximum of two really solid outreach attempts (do not email the entire company).
When performing cold outreach, you must be very thoughtful about the messaging. Make it easy for the recruiter to endorse and push for you.
A highly effective message would look like this: "Hey Chase, I saw this opening. I think I'm a great fit because of A and B. Here's a document/portfolio to show you how I work. Would you be willing to share this with the hiring manager?".
LinkedIn messages and work emails are appropriate channels; sometimes even X/Twitter can work, depending on the audience.
Attend events (online or in person) hosted by the company you are excited about. This is an "underrated" way to get face time, allowing a recruiter to vouch for you personally.
Personal branding has become a key differentiator for success. Social media now plays a pivotal role in job searches, with 94% of hiring managers valuing candidates who've established a social media presence related to their careers Canva.
Navigating Experience Levels
Recruiters acknowledge that listed experience requirements are often flexible. If you are within a year or a year and a half of the required experience, there is likely some leniency, as managers often post high expectations but are open to strong candidates at a level lower.
For senior or staff engineers, while simple side projects are fine (tinkering intent has high value), a highly effective way to stand out is to have a blog and write about your work or interests. This demonstrates that you are capable of talking about and sharing why the technical work is interesting to you.
If you are over-experienced, the hiring side's concern often centers on whether you will jump ship as soon as a higher-level opportunity arises, or if the comp alignment is off. Candidates should address this concern directly and confidently. You must be true to yourself and dial in your "brand for your career," signaling clearly what you are looking for—for example, explicitly stating that you are a high-level Individual Contributor (IC) and not seeking a management track.
The Reality of AI's Impact on Employment
According to PwC's 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer, wages are rising for AI-powered workers even in the most highly automatable roles, with a wage premium of up to 25% for workers with AI skills compared to those without PwC. This suggests that AI skills are making workers more valuable, not less.
The median annual salary for AI roles in Q1 2025 rose to $156,998 Veritone, with AI/Machine Learning Engineer experiencing the fastest growth, with a 13.1% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 41.8% increase year-over-year Veritone.
However, the landscape varies by experience level. While AI and data science specialists are among the fastest-growing job categories in 2025, entry-level jobs are especially vulnerable National University. This creates a paradox: huge demand for AI talent, but fewer traditional entry points.
Your Next Steps
The AI job market in 2025 is a tale of two realities: unprecedented opportunity for those who can demonstrate real skills, and unprecedented competition for those relying on traditional approaches. Your superpower lies not in perfecting your resume, but in building a body of work that speaks for itself.
Start today by:
- Building one substantial AI project that solves a real problem
- Creating a simple portfolio website or organized document showcasing your work
- Writing about your learning journey and technical insights
- Engaging with the AI community through open-source contributions
- Reaching out strategically to companies you're excited about
Remember: In 2025, your degree isn't your resume. Your GitHub is Medium. The projects you build and the problems you solve will set you apart in ways a bullet-pointed resume never could.
