Native AI graduates can have a key advantage in the workplace, says startup founder.

Clay Bavor, co-founder of Sierra in 2023, said some of the company’s most effective employees are in their early 20s because they are more comfortable using AI than many experienced workers.

“I can’t remember a time where a young person with no work experience, but with the right mindset and experience using some of these tools, was so valued,” Bavor said during a recent interview on the “20VC” podcast.

The former Google executive said that has seen firsthand how AI is bridging the gap between junior and senior employees.

“Some of our most effective employees across the company are 22 or 23 years old and have been fully equipped with AI and have a comfort and ease with these tools that many of our more experienced people don’t have,” he said.

Bavor’s comments come as AI is reshaping the work that recent graduates do, with some employers looking for candidates who can use AI effectively without sacrificing judgment, while also raising the bar for entry-level employees and changing what companies look for in early-career talent.

At Sierra, the shift toward AI has led the company to Revise your engineering interview process to make it more AI-focused, Bavor said.

Instead of relying on traditional coding exercises, candidates are now asked to create an app. using the AI ​​coding tools of their choice.

“We’re going to pay for your tokens and then build them. Tell us how you built it,” Bavor said.

He hopes that approach extends to the company’s entire interview process.

“I will be disappointed if in the next two months not all of our interviews have some strong native AI component,” he said.

AI has become a sore point for some recent graduates. At this year’s graduation season, speakers were booed for praising the technology, while some graduates told Business Insider they have struggled to find full-time jobs as companies increasingly cite AI when discussing layoffs and workforce changes.

But Bavor He said students who have spent years experimenting with generative AI while in college have a practical advantage over other mid-level employees.

“Coming out of college as a master of these AI tools,” he said, “let me point you to thousands of companies that would love for you to infuse what you know into how they do things.”

Whether that optimism is reflected in the AI ​​industry as a whole remains an open question.

While several tech leaders have been optimistic about the job prospects of native AI graduates, a recent working paper from researchers at Harvard Business School and INSEAD found that native AI startups it examined from 2020 to 2024 hire about 15% fewer entry-level workers than their non-AI peers, while hiring proportionately more technical and high-level talent.