While other CEOs freeze entry-level roles, this AI founder is hiring Gen Z with zero experience
**Entry-level jobs are vanishing. But a growing wave of CEOs is doing the exact opposite: hiring young talent with zero experience. Here’s why, and how to actually walk through the open door.**
Let’s not sugarcoat it: Gen Z is navigating one of the toughest entry-level job markets in decades. AI is automating routine tasks, companies are tightening grad hiring budgets, and recent surveys show roughly 40% of bosses plan to bring on even fewer new graduates this year. The message from traditional hiring managers has been loud and clear: *experience wins*.
But while half the corporate world is narrowing the funnel, another half is quietly throwing it wide open. And at the forefront of this shift? AI companies that don’t just want Gen Z—they *need* them.
The “Old Playbook” Is Officially Obsolete
Alon Chen, founder and CEO of Tastewise (a generative AI platform trusted by PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Mars), isn’t just open to hiring entry-level talent. He’s actively seeking candidates with zero experience and no degree. His reasoning cuts straight to the heart of the AI era:
> “There are some positions where you actually want people that do not have the prejudice or the old way of working, because it’s just not relevant anymore.”
Chen’s logic flips traditional hiring on its head. When tools, workflows, and entire job functions are being rewritten in real time, years of industry experience can sometimes be a liability, not an asset.
> “The playbook is irrelevant today,” Chen explains. “The more deeply someone has learned the old way of doing something, the harder it is to get them to see past it. When you come as someone who just sees the problem and finds the best way to solve it, it’s sometimes better than someone who has been doing the same job for so long and may just try to redo what’s been working for them in the past.”
Enter Gen Z: the first true “AI natives.” Raised in a world of rapid digital iteration, they don’t carry the baggage of legacy processes. They see problems, not traditions. And for roles like customer insights, AI workflow design, and cross-functional strategy, that unfiltered perspective is exactly what companies are paying for.
It’s Not One CEO. It’s a Movement.
Chen’s approach isn’t an outlier. It’s part of a growing leadership trend that values first-principles thinking over pedigree:
* **Ricardo Amper**, CEO of $1.25B AI company Incode Technologies, puts it bluntly: *“I think too much knowledge is actually bad in tech: you’re biased.”*
* **Sally Massey**, CHRO at Colgate-Palmolive, champions young digital natives for bringing *“new ideas, new perspectives, curiosity… They’re pushing us to get better.”*
* **Steven Bartlett** once hired a candidate whose resume was literally two lines long because she took the time to thank the security guard by name. Six months later, she was one of his strongest performers.
* **Matt Huang**, cofounder of crypto firm Paradigm, promoted a 19-year-old MIT dropout to general partner by age 25. *“They create an absurd amount of chaos sometimes, and you want to pull your hair out,”* Huang admits. *“But then you see what they can do, and it’s like, holy crap, nobody else in the world could do that.”*
Experience Isn’t Dead. It’s Just Being Redefined.
To be clear: Chen isn’t gutting his veteran teams. For deep technical work, R&D, and scaling infrastructure, seasoned expertise remains essential. But in roles that require agility, rapid iteration, and cross-functional thinking, experience is no longer the primary currency.
What matters now is **execution**.
> “I would come to a job interview with a portfolio of what I’m able to do and show for,” Chen says. “Execution is everything. I think there is actually an opportunity for younger people, if they are resourceful and can actually flag in some way that they’re better than others, and more determined to succeed than others.”
How Gen Z Can Actually Walk Through That Open Door
The opportunity is real, but it’s not handed out. It’s earned through proof of work. If you’re navigating this shifting landscape, here’s how to position yourself for the new rules of hiring:
1. **Build in public.** Employers don’t want to see a degree; they want to see proof. Ship projects, publish case studies, and document your process. A live portfolio beats a polished resume.
2. **Master AI, don’t just use it.** Fluency is now table stakes. Show how you strategically leverage AI to solve real problems, automate workflows, or generate actionable insights.
3. **Lead with resourcefulness.** Chen’s ideal candidates are relentlessly self-driven. Demonstrate hustle through self-taught skills, freelance wins, hackathons, or side projects that moved a metric.
4. **Forget the “perfect” career path.** Focus on outcomes, not titles. What did you build? What friction did you remove? What did you learn fast enough to apply tomorrow?
The narrative that Gen Z is “unemployable” or “disengaged” is dying fast in the rooms that actually matter: the companies rewriting the rules of work. Experience will always have its place, but in an era where the playbook changes monthly, adaptability beats seniority.
The door is open. But it’s only wide enough for those who can show exactly what they’ll do once they step through.