Blab AI
AI Career Coaching Surges as Job Market Tightens, Platforms Expand Services
For the past year, former OpenAI product strategist Andrew Quillen has turned his expertise into a coaching business, guiding job seekers through the maze of artificial‑intelligence hiring. While he remains a full‑time AI strategist at consulting firm And Maverick, Quillen charges between $2,220 and $2,600 per client, offering eight to fourteen hours of mentorship and interview prep via the online platform Leland.
Quillen’s roster stretches from recent Stanford graduates to mid‑career professionals eager to pivot into AI. He says inquiries have risen steadily since he started, and he now handles seventy‑five to eighty clients each month. The uptick aligns with a broader surge in demand for AI roles, fueled by layoffs in other tech sectors and the promise of high future earnings from potential IPOs.
Recruiters report that competition for AI talent has intensified. Jesse Dwyer of San Francisco‑based AI search engine Perplexity noted, “Every top AI company is flooded with applicants right now.” OpenAI’s former head of recruiting, Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, added that each new posting attracts a massive number of applications.
Indeed, searches for AI jobs have grown eleven‑fold since November 2022. Positions at frontier labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind are the most coveted, but AI roles in general are viewed as more secure and influential than traditional tech positions.
Many candidates now use chatbots to draft cover letters and rehearse interview questions. Tina Shah Paikeday, a responsible‑AI senior adviser at Findem, said, “Everyone’s coming in much more prepared, because they’ve used AI to be prepared.” Paikeday added that employers are shifting from knowledge workers to judgment workers.
Coaching has evolved into a distinct industry. Platforms like ADPList, Exponent, Leland, and Prepfully hire independent coaches from a range of companies. The most in‑demand coaches come from Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Some platforms link coaches’ LinkedIn profiles; others conceal names to avoid implying company endorsement or exposing confidential hiring practices. Rates vary from free to more than $1,000 an hour, and some coaches require clients to book multiple sessions.
ADPList, for example, hosts a large free‑to‑use mentorship community. Felix Lee, the platform’s CEO, said that in the past year 600,000 clients joined ADPList. Most coaches are based in the Bay Area, and ninety‑percent mentor for free. A vetted tier introduced in 2023 includes paid “advance” coaches, such as an OpenAI product designer.
Exponent, another San Francisco‑based platform, has seen a shift in the types of companies people want to work for. Bookings for legacy tech firms like Apple and Amazon have dropped, and Meta bookings fell 67% amid layoffs. Exponent charges $144 annually and additional fees for one‑on‑one coaching. Co‑founder Stephen Cognetta said, “If you don’t know how to use an AI agent, if you don’t know an MCP, if you don’t know how to think about agent orchestration, it’s not a good job market for you.”
Prepfully’s CEO Udit Batra noted that coaches from AI labs charge a premium over those from traditional tech companies. Some individuals have spent more than $6,000 across 25 sessions. Batra said that coaches sometimes refer standout candidates to openings at their own companies.
Perplexity’s Dwyer spends a quarter of his time recruiting. He looks for curious people, polymaths, and those “comfortable with trying things that have never been done before.” He added that less than one percent of candidates pass Perplexity’s engineering test, and some roles ask candidates to use Perplexity’s AI tool to explain why they’re a strong fit.
Leland’s CEO John Koelliker says demand has exploded as the mindset has shifted from learning AI to survive the economy. The platform offers online AI career training programs and has signed up businesses to train employees. Some tech companies that are laying off workers pay Leland to provide former employees with AI training as part of severance. Koelliker noted that companies sometimes insist candidates quit their jobs and work in‑house for a trial month.
The coaching industry reflects a broader trend of professional services adapting to the AI job market. As interview processes lengthen and technical tests become harder, paid practice interviews with current or former AI employees are becoming a common way for candidates to differentiate themselves.
Today’s landscape shows a rapidly expanding ecosystem of coaching platforms, a steepening competition for AI roles, and a growing acceptance of paid interview preparation as a legitimate career‑building investment. The industry remains dynamic, with new products and pricing models emerging as companies and candidates navigate the evolving AI talent landscape.
Quillen’s roster stretches from recent Stanford graduates to mid‑career professionals eager to pivot into AI. He says inquiries have risen steadily since he started, and he now handles seventy‑five to eighty clients each month. The uptick aligns with a broader surge in demand for AI roles, fueled by layoffs in other tech sectors and the promise of high future earnings from potential IPOs.
Recruiters report that competition for AI talent has intensified. Jesse Dwyer of San Francisco‑based AI search engine Perplexity noted, “Every top AI company is flooded with applicants right now.” OpenAI’s former head of recruiting, Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, added that each new posting attracts a massive number of applications.
Indeed, searches for AI jobs have grown eleven‑fold since November 2022. Positions at frontier labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind are the most coveted, but AI roles in general are viewed as more secure and influential than traditional tech positions.
Many candidates now use chatbots to draft cover letters and rehearse interview questions. Tina Shah Paikeday, a responsible‑AI senior adviser at Findem, said, “Everyone’s coming in much more prepared, because they’ve used AI to be prepared.” Paikeday added that employers are shifting from knowledge workers to judgment workers.
Coaching has evolved into a distinct industry. Platforms like ADPList, Exponent, Leland, and Prepfully hire independent coaches from a range of companies. The most in‑demand coaches come from Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Some platforms link coaches’ LinkedIn profiles; others conceal names to avoid implying company endorsement or exposing confidential hiring practices. Rates vary from free to more than $1,000 an hour, and some coaches require clients to book multiple sessions.
ADPList, for example, hosts a large free‑to‑use mentorship community. Felix Lee, the platform’s CEO, said that in the past year 600,000 clients joined ADPList. Most coaches are based in the Bay Area, and ninety‑percent mentor for free. A vetted tier introduced in 2023 includes paid “advance” coaches, such as an OpenAI product designer.
Exponent, another San Francisco‑based platform, has seen a shift in the types of companies people want to work for. Bookings for legacy tech firms like Apple and Amazon have dropped, and Meta bookings fell 67% amid layoffs. Exponent charges $144 annually and additional fees for one‑on‑one coaching. Co‑founder Stephen Cognetta said, “If you don’t know how to use an AI agent, if you don’t know an MCP, if you don’t know how to think about agent orchestration, it’s not a good job market for you.”
Prepfully’s CEO Udit Batra noted that coaches from AI labs charge a premium over those from traditional tech companies. Some individuals have spent more than $6,000 across 25 sessions. Batra said that coaches sometimes refer standout candidates to openings at their own companies.
Perplexity’s Dwyer spends a quarter of his time recruiting. He looks for curious people, polymaths, and those “comfortable with trying things that have never been done before.” He added that less than one percent of candidates pass Perplexity’s engineering test, and some roles ask candidates to use Perplexity’s AI tool to explain why they’re a strong fit.
Leland’s CEO John Koelliker says demand has exploded as the mindset has shifted from learning AI to survive the economy. The platform offers online AI career training programs and has signed up businesses to train employees. Some tech companies that are laying off workers pay Leland to provide former employees with AI training as part of severance. Koelliker noted that companies sometimes insist candidates quit their jobs and work in‑house for a trial month.
The coaching industry reflects a broader trend of professional services adapting to the AI job market. As interview processes lengthen and technical tests become harder, paid practice interviews with current or former AI employees are becoming a common way for candidates to differentiate themselves.
Today’s landscape shows a rapidly expanding ecosystem of coaching platforms, a steepening competition for AI roles, and a growing acceptance of paid interview preparation as a legitimate career‑building investment. The industry remains dynamic, with new products and pricing models emerging as companies and candidates navigate the evolving AI talent landscape.
