AI-native staffers are highly sought after—and at a premium

When it comes to companies hiring IT talent for AI adoption and integration, a native approach might be best.

That’s according to the latest findings from jobs platform Indeed, which partnered with YouGov to survey over 1,000 job-seekers and hiring managers at organizations with 500+ employees about their need for AI-native employees.

While there’s a hunger for those who’ve deeply integrated AI into their thinking and workflows, there’s also a gap in how many potential employees actually fit that bill.

“There’s a training desert out there—a lot of employers do have some programs, but definitely not a majority of them,” Kyle M.K., senior talent strategy advisor at Indeed, told IT Brew. “So, there’s a lack of internal upskilling that’s occurring, and, honestly, I don’t think that there’s enough external supply to fill the gap that employers are seeking to fill.”

Checks out. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data on August 7 backs that up. According to CompTIA’s analysis of July’s BLS jobs numbers, there were close to 14,000 postings seeking AI specialization.

Bekir Atahan, VP of data at Experis, said in a statement shared with IT Brew that the market remains strong: “AI-related skills now appear in about one in 40 US job postings, up 55% from a year ago.”

In what will be a familiar refrain to readers of IT Brew, the disconnect between what executives expect from AI and their organizational capabilities can be quite different. Indeed’s survey confirms that employer expectations and staff comfort with AI solutions are mismatched, especially with building and managing AI agents (41% of managers expect their employees to use it, while 14% of employees say they’re comfortable with it) and developing and customizing AI tools (41% of employers expect employees to use it, versus 13% of employees saying they’re comfortable with it).

As M.K. noted, the term “AI native” doesn’t necessarily mean younger, just more open to using the technology aggressively.

“When we think about AI native, this is someone who, when they receive a task, they’re not necessarily thinking about what software they would use or each individual task that comes with it, like a subtask,” M.K. said. “They’re thinking more from a structural standpoint, like where conditional logic would be something that they would jump to, or what an autonomous workflow would look like.”