- Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says the company will “go heavy” on hiring new college graduates.
- Huffman argues new grads are “AI native” because they learned to program with AI tools from the start.
- The US unemployment rate hit 4.4% in February 2026, up from 4.1% a year earlier, with companies slowing hiring amid AI adoption.
- Reddit is hiring across engineering, sales, and product, including intern roles the company calls “Snooterns.”
New Grads Are “Too Valuable to Ever Let Them Be on the Job Market”
Most tech leaders talk about AI replacing entry-level workers. Steve Huffman is betting the other way. The Reddit CEO told the “Sourcery with Molly O’Shea” podcast that his company plans to aggressively recruit new college graduates specifically because they grew up building with AI.
“The kids coming out of college right now learned how to program with AI. They’re really good at it, so I think we will go heavy on new grads because they’re so much more AI native,” Huffman said. He added that the best new graduates, if not hired immediately, “will never be on the job market again. They’re too valuable.”
The stance contrasts sharply with the broader industry mood. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has cautioned that AI could render half of entry-level white-collar jobs obsolete within five years. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 7.6 million unemployed Americans in February 2026, with the unemployment rate climbing to 4.4% from 4.1% a year earlier.
Reddit Will “Build More Stuff, Not Do the Same With Less”
Huffman’s logic is straightforward: more productive engineers means more products built, not fewer engineers needed. “Let’s say AI makes our engineers 50%, 100% or even 10x more productive. We’ll just build more stuff. Not do the same amount with less,” he said.
Reddit has an Emerging Talent team dedicated to recruiting young professionals. The company is currently hiring full-time roles across engineering, sales, and product, along with machine learning engineering internships it brands as “Snooterns.” In a job market where new graduates face rising competition and fewer openings, Huffman’s approach stands as a rare counterpoint to the AI-driven hiring freeze gripping much of the tech industry.
