• As unemployment climbs and AI wipes out white-collar jobs, Walmart is dangling six-figure salaries and luxury perks to lure tech workers. The Fortune 500 retail giant is actively hiring software engineers, data scientists, and product managers. A senior director in data science can expect to earn up to $320,000.

Landing a lucrative tech job has never been easy—but this year in particular has presented unique challenges thanks to AI’s revolution of the job market and a worsening labor market.

Some companies are using AI to boost productivity. Others are using it as a reason to slash headcount. Firms like Intel, Google, and Microsoft have cut jobs in recent months, but while their leaders haven’t solely blamed the technology, others haven’t minced words.

“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a recent internal memo. “In the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”

But there are still opportunities for workers to find success in today’s job market. Walmart, the No. 1 company on the Fortune 500 list, is on the hunt for experienced software engineers, data scientists, IT product managers, and more—with dozens of open job postings making six-figures, with some roles extending to over $300,000.

The perks and paychecks on offer at Walmart 

Pickleball classes, hydromassages, and rooftop lounges.

Those are the perks you could be enjoying if you’re willing to pack your bags and move to Bentonville, Arkansas, and take a job at Walmart’s new 350-acre luxury campus.

And while the office alone might not convince you to relocate to small-town America, the retail giant is still willing to shell out high-paying salaries for competitive tech talent. Walmart is on the hunt for experienced software engineers, data scientists, IT product managers, and more.

Here’s what each can expect to earn: 

• Software engineer
  • Staff, software engineer: $132,000-$264,000
  • Principal, software engineer: $110,000-$220,000
  • Senior, software engineer: $90,000-$180,000
  • Distinguished, software engineer: $156,000-$338,000

• IT product managers
  • Staff, product manager: $110,000-$220,000
  • Senior, product manager: $90,000-$180,000
  • Principal, product manager: $110,000-$220,000

• Data scientists
  • Staff, data scientist: $143,000-$286,000
  • Senior, data scientist: $90,000-$180,000
  • Distinguished, data scientist: $130,000-$312,000
  • Principal, data scientist: $143,000-$286,000

• UX designers
  • Senior UX designer: $90,000-$180,000
  • Senior manager, UX design: $110,000-$220,000
  • Senior, design researcher: $90,000-$180,000

• Tech directors
  • Director, software engineering: $130,000-$260,000
  • Group director, software engineering: $195,000-$370,000
  • Director, data science: $169,000-$338,000
  • Senior director, data science: $160,000-$320,000

These numbers were sourced based on Fortune analysis of active job postings, but the exact compensation package, including salary, bonus opportunities, and stock award, will likely vary by role and depend heavily on a candidate’s experience. Location, too, is a factor, with Walmart also recruiting for its satellite locations like in California and Washington.

Fortune reached out to Walmart for comment.

The secrets to landing a job in today’s rocky market

Despite this revolution, some best practices still hold true for landing a high-paying gig. But because careers are changing faster than ever, Jassy encourages Gen Z to stop worrying about what their job will look like in 10 years—and focus on finding a passion.

“I have a 21-year-old son and a 24-year-old daughter, and one of the things I see with them and their peers is they all feel like they have to know what they want to do for their life at that age,” Jassy said on the podcast, How Leaders Lead with David Novak. “And I really don’t believe that’s true.”

And it’s a practice he learned from personally; Jassy experimented in sportscasting, soccer coaching, and investment banking before landing at Amazon.

“I tried a lot of things, and I think that early on, it’s just as important to learn what you don’t want to do as what you want to do, because it actually helps you figure out what you want to do.”

For Walmart CEO Doug McMillion, one of the secrets for success is simple: raising your hand and being a team player.
“Nothing happens through the work of just an individual,” McMillon told Stanford’s Graduate School of Business this May. “We all do this together.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Getty Images—Luis Alvarez

• Microsoft’s list of 40 jobs that have high crossover with AI is going viral—and professionals are warning that it highlights the careers “most at risk,” with historians, translators, and sales reps high on the list. While Microsoft says high applicability doesn’t automatically mean those roles will be killed by AI, employers have been putting a pause on hiring and cutting roles to make way for enhanced productivity.

As companies like Amazon publicly announce AI-driven workforce reductions, workers are scrambling to understand which careers might soon disappear and be outsourced to technology.

A new report from Microsoft researchers studying the occupational implications of generative AI offers some clarity.

Translators, historians, and writers are among the roles with the highest AI applicability score, meaning the job’s tasks are most closely aligned with AI’s current abilities, according to the report released this month that ranked professions. Customer service and sales representatives—which make up about 5 million jobs in the U.S.—will also have to compete with AI. 

Overall, the jobs most exposed are ones that involve knowledge work—like people doing computer, math, or administrative work in an office, the researchers wrote. Sales jobs are also high on the list, since they often involve sharing and explaining information.

While Microsoft said high applicability doesn’t automatically mean those jobs will necessarily be replaced by AI, the list of roles quickly went viral—with professionals deeming them “most at risk.” It comes as companies like IBM have been freezing thousands of would-be new roles that it expects AI will take over in the next 5 years, and graduates in the U.K. are facing the worst job market since 2018 as employers pause hiring and use AI to cut costs, says Indeed.

Of course, there are some jobs that are unlikely to be touched by AI: Dredge operators; bridge and lock tenders; and water treatment plant and system operators are among the jobs with virtually no generative AI exposure, thanks in part to their hands-on equipment requirements.

Still, business leaders like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have said that every job will be touched by AI in some way, and so it’s best to embrace it. 

“Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable,” Huang said at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in May. “You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.”

A degree won’t save you from AI’s jobs revolution

Many of the jobs with high chances of getting upended by AI soon, like political scientists, journalists, and management analysts, are all ones that typically require a four-year degree to land a job. And as the researchers point out, having a degree—which was once considered a surefire path to career advancement—is no longer a safeguard against the changing tides. 

“In terms of education requirements, we find higher AI applicability for occupations requiring a Bachelor’s degree than occupations with lower requirements,” wrote the researchers, who studied 200,000 real-world conversations of Copilot users and cross-compared the AI’s performance with occupational data.

On the flip side, there are some career paths with low AI exposure, that are growing in demand. The healthcare sector, in particular, is an area that is experiencing this heavily. The home health and personal care aid industry is expected to create the greatest number of new jobs over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor.

At the same time, the researchers recognized that even their findings don’t capture the full scope of the AI revolution—and there could be further automation caused by more than just generative technology: “Our measurement is purely about LLMs: other applications of AI could certainly affect occupations involving operating and monitoring machinery, such as truck driving.”

Kiran Tomlinson, a senior Microsoft researcher, tells Fortune the study focused on highlighting where AI might change how work is done, not take away or replace jobs.

“Our research shows that AI supports many tasks, particularly those involving research, writing, and communication, but does not indicate it can fully perform any single occupation. As AI adoption accelerates, it’s important that we continue to study and better understand its societal and economic impact,” Tomlinson says.

Gen Z’s big bet on education might not be all glam

After seeing the rollercoaster of layoffs across the tech industry over the past few years, many Gen Zers have turned to seemingly steadier fields like education.

The sector was the fastest-growing industry among recent U.K. graduates last year, and it was similarly a top career choice for American graduates. And while the profession can provide further work-life balance and decent benefits, the ability for AI to do the work may cause further headache. The report singles out farm and home management educators—as well as postsecondary economics, business, and library science teachers—as roles with relatively high AI applicability.

While it’s unlikely that schools will roll out AI teachers en masse, the report’s findings underscore how quickly the technology could reshape the education profession—and many others.

The top 10 least affected occupations by generative AI:

1. Dredge Operators
2. Bridge and Lock Tenders
3. Water Treatment Plant and System Operators
4. Foundry Mold and Coremakers
5. Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
6. Pile Driver Operators
7. Floor Sanders and Finishers
8. Orderlies
9. Motorboat Operators
10. Logging Equipment Operators

The top 40 most affected occupations by generative AI:

1. Interpreters and Translators
2. Historians
3. Passenger Attendants
4. Sales Representatives of Services
5. Writers and Authors
6. Customer Service Representatives
7. CNC Tool Programmers
8. Telephone Operators
9. Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
10. Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs
11. Brokerage Clerks
12. Farm and Home Management Educators
13. Telemarketers
14. Concierges
15. Political Scientists
16. News Analysts, Reporters, Journalists
17. Mathematicians
18. Technical Writers
19. Proofreaders and Copy Markers
20. Hosts and Hostesses
21. Editors
22. Business Teachers, Postsecondary
23. Public Relations Specialists
24. Demonstrators and Product Promoters
25. Advertising Sales Agents
26. New Accounts Clerks
27. Statistical Assistants
28. Counter and Rental Clerks
29. Data Scientists
30. Personal Financial Advisors
31. Archivists
32. Economics Teachers, Postsecondary
33. Web Developers
34. Management Analysts
35. Geographers
36. Models
37. Market Research Analysts
38. Public Safety Telecommunicators
39. Switchboard Operators
40. Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Getty Images—demaerre

• Gen Z can get a one-way ticket to the millionaires’ club sooner than they may think, according to multimillionaire venture capitalist and Shark Tank star Rashaun Williams. It all comes down to three simple steps: establishing an emergency fund, maxing out retirement accounts, and keeping investments simple, he exclusively tells Fortune.

Dreams of a comfortable retirement feel increasingly out of reach for young people—especially as even boomers, who spent decades saving, are now being forced back into the workforce. For Gen Z, it’s easy to feel hopeless and turn to bad financial habits like doom spending as a coping mechanism.

But the possibility of Gen Z retiring as millionaires may not be as complicated as the generation thinks it is. With proper financial planning, Gen Z can easily have seven figures to their name, according to Rashaun Williams, a multimillionaire venture capitalist returning as a guest judge on Shark Tank this upcoming season. 

The secret, he tells Fortune, relies on just following three simple steps: establishing an emergency fund, maxing out retirement accounts, and keeping investments simple.

The ‘Shark Tank’ investor’s 3 steps for Gen Z wanting to become millionaires: 1. Create an emergency fund

The path toward million-dollar wealth can’t begin without planning for the unexpected, such as a job loss or medical emergency. Williams says an emergency fund should start with saving up three months worth of expenses into your savings account.

“Make sure you have enough cash for a rainy day, so you’re not pulling from your 401(k) prematurely,” Williams tells Fortune.

For those who want to be a little extra careful—or are unlucky enough to have  life throw wrenches their way—many financial institutions, like Wells Fargo, suggest that up to six months’ worth of expenses could be worth it.

2. Maxing out your 401(k) and Roth IRA

Saving money using tax-advantaged accounts, like a 401(k) or Roth IRA, remains one of the most efficient ways to grow your wealth. Williams says Gen Z  should try to put as much money within their budgets into retirement accounts.

“If you just do that from 25 to 50 years old, you’re going to retire a millionaire,” Williams says. “…Just by maxing out your 401(k), it grows tax deferred, and it goes in tax-free. There’s no better return than to get your returns without taxes.”

The standard 401(k) limit for employee salary deferrals is about $23,500 in 2025. The maximum amount you can contribute each year to a Roth IRA is $7,000 for those under 50 (though your income must be below a certain adjusted income threshold).

Fidelity recommends individuals save at least 15% of their annual income for retirement—something that can be a tough ask for those Gen Z early in their career. 

But, it’s a number that fellow Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has echoed: “Take 15% of your salary each week, or every two weeks when you get paid, and put it into an investment account, and never touch it until you turn 65,” O’Leary told Us Weekly in 2023. “That’s how you will retire a multimillionaire.”

In reality, the average savings rate is about 14.1%, according to Fidelity. Taking advantage of any employer match program is also important.

3. Keep investments simple

While there are many ways to invest money—including seemingly fun opportunities like individual stocks or cryptocurrencies—Williams encourages people to keep their choices simple. He specifically called out S&P 500 indexes as one of the best places to invest, with a long history of sustained growth. After all, it delivered an average return of about 10% over the last century, helping usher an unprecedented level of millionaires and billionaires.

“You don’t have to get cute, you don’t need international, you don’t need bonds. You’re not 90 years old. Just do S&P,” Williams tells Fortune.

4. A bonus tip for Gen Z wanting to become millionaires before retirement

For many young people, becoming a millionaire is more than just a retirement dream—it’s an aspiration they want to hit as soon as possible. And while for some, hitting financial goals will mean temporarily saying goodbye to expensive lattes or a vacation to Europe, one of the best ways to build wealth is to simply create your own venture.

“Start something that you can invest in, that you can grow, and start your own business,” said multimillionaire Shark Tank investor Robert Herjavec. “It’s the only path to wealth.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Courtesy of Shark Tank

• As a newly minted billionaire, Google CEO Sundar Pichai says that embracing discomfort is key to personal and professional growth—a mantra that helped him advance from a little-known product manager to CEO of the $2.3 trillion tech giant. While climbing up the logical paths up that ladder may seem right, he tells Gen Z that listening to your heart will help you find your true calling. 

The path to success is never easy—even for the world’s top leaders. In fact, for Google CEO Sundar Pichai, there were times he felt that stinging feeling that other people in the room were better than him. But he assures Gen Z that feelings of discomfort are all part of the process.

“At various points in my life, I’ve worked with people who I felt were better than me,” Pichai recently told Lex Fridman’s podcast. “You want that feeling a few times, trying to get yourself in a position where you’re working with people who you feel are kind of like stretching your abilities is what helps you grow.”

“Putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, and I think often you’ll surprise yourself,” he added.

For Pichai, this mantra has helped him climb the ranks at the tech giant after starting out as just a product manager in 2004. Within a decade, he had caught the eye of cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin before being named CEO in 2015. And while he admits there is always an element of luck to success, he encourages Gen Z to do what they love—even if it seems irrational at first.

“You’re thinking about what you want to do, your brain is telling you something. But when you do things, I think it’s important to listen to your heart, and see whether you actually enjoy doing it.”

Success in the workplace centers around the people

Finding the right people to work with is not only important for personal growth, Pichai added, but also making sure work gets done, something he said has been part of his secret for maintaining Google’s growth into a multi-trillion-dollar giant.

“You find mission-oriented people who are in the shared journey, who have this inner drive to excellence, to do the best, and motivate people and, and you can achieve a lot that way.”

The drive for excellence at Google may also mean the willingness to work far beyond the 9-to-5, according to Sergey Brin. In an internal memo seen by The New York Times, the cofounder encouraged the company’s AI-focused workers to be in the office “at least every weekday”—with 60-hour workweeks being the “sweet spot of productivity.” And while Pichai has publicly said in the past that he anticipated the future of work to be focused around flexibility, the AI arms race has put pressure on tech giants to be ahead of the game.

Still, amid the high-stakes environment, Pichai told Fridman he prefers staying calm as a manager, believing that the best employees are usually the first to know when they’ve messed up—and overreacting can just make matters worse.

“At times, you’re working with people who are so committed to achieving, if they’ve done something wrong, they feel it more than you do, so you treat them differently,” Pichai said. “Occasionally, there are people who you need to clearly let them know like that wasn’t okay or whatever it is, but I’ve often found that not to be the case.”

Fortune reached out to Pichai for comment.

Striving toward the billionaires club

Though Pichai has been the leader of one of the biggest public companies in the world for just shy of a decade, he’s only now just joining the billionaires club—a far cry from that of Brin and Page, who are among the top 10 wealthiest people in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. Their net worths are about $163 billion and $174 billion, respectively. Compared to Pichai’s $1.1 billion net worth.

While there is no perfect path to emulating the success of Google, Page told college graduates in 2009 that they should think about solving problems that can ultimately allow them to be lazier: 

“Technology, and especially the internet, can really help you be lazy,” he said to University of Michigan students. “…Find the leverage in the world, so you can be more lazy.”

Much like those who graduated into the Great Recession, today’s young people are facing their own set of daunting challenges, thanks in part to AI reshaping the job market. However, Page isn’t a believer in giving up. 

“Overall, I know it seems like the world is crumbling out there, but it is actually a great time in your life to get a little crazy, follow your curiosity, and be ambitious about it,” Page said. “Don’t give up on your dreams. The world needs you all.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

• Denny’s CEO Kelli Valade isn’t afraid to admit she’s always working to be better—and she values that same humility in job candidates. Recognizing your weaknesses and asking thoughtful questions, she says, can set you apart in an interview. It’s a mindset shared by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who got his start as a Denny’s dishwasher and credits the journey teaching him hard work and humility.

Landing a job in today’s market can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. Not only do you have to find a role that you’re interested in—and are qualified for—but you also have to craft an application, resume, and cover letter that’s interesting to both humans and AI. But once you land the coveted interview, that’s when the pressure is on. 

Luckily, even during an era of AI-assisted interviews, there remain ways to stick out from the crowd.

When asked what her red flags are in hiring, Kelli Valade, CEO of Denny’s Corporation, noted that she asks applicants a few critical questions.

One of the signs Valade looks for comes at the end of the interview, when she asks: what questions do you have for me?

“Have a thoughtful one or two. You don’t really even have to have more than that,” she tells Fortune. “Any more than that, actually, it’s too much.”

In fact, it often does not matter what the questions are, but the fact that you do ask shows you did your homework and are seriously interested, Valade adds. 

(However, Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran advises candidates to ask, “Is there anything standing in the way of you hiring me?”)

She also is sure to ask: what would they say makes you most effective at what you do? Typically, candidates are pretty well equipped to answer that question, Valade says.

“Then I ask them, what would make them more effective?” she explains. “Which basically is saying, what are your weaknesses? And there you’d be amazed at how many people can’t answer that, or would say, ‘I’ve not thought about it.’ And so really what you’re saying is, ‘I’ve not thought about my weaknesses.’”

The 55-year-old admits that she herself is a work in progress, but what’s helped her stand out throughout her career is not shying away from admitting her areas of improvement. It’s something she hopes to see in her employees, too.

From Denny’s dishwasher to leading the world’s biggest company

Now that you know tips for getting hired at Denny’s, you may ask, why work at the restaurant chain?

There may be no more notable member of Denny’s employee alumni than Jensen Huang. The now billionaire CEO of Nvidia started his career at the diner as a dishwasher at just 15 years old—and it’s experience he credits for teaching him about hard work.

“I planned my work. I was organized. I was mise en place,” Huang told students at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business last year. “I washed the living daylights out of those dishes.”

“No task is beneath me,” he added. “I used to be a dishwasher. I used to clean toilets. I cleaned a lot of toilets. I’ve cleaned more toilets than all of you combined. And some of them you just can’t unsee.”

And while his time at Denny’s came well before Valade’s tenure, she says they are now friends today—and the billionaire continues to pay homage to the diner. His LinkedIn notably only includes two employers: Denny’s and Nvidia. He also made an appearance last year at Denny’s franchise convention and partnered with the company to launch a special edition “Nvidia Breakfast Bytes.”

“Start your first job in the restaurant business,” Huang said in 2023. “It teaches you humility, it teaches you hard work, it teaches you hospitality.”

From hostess to CEO

Valade started her career in the restaurant space at just age 16, when she landed a hostess job at TJ’s Big Boy. Decades later, she began climbing up the corporate ladder in the human resources world—with the dream of one day becoming a chief people officer, not necessarily becoming a CEO. 

So when she was tapped to jump from head of HR to chief operations officer at Chili’s, self-doubt was her first instinct.

“I didn’t think I could do that at the time,” she recalls. “I thought, I think you’re looking for the wrong person here. I don’t know. My first instinct was, I’m not sure I know how to do that.”

While the feeling is natural, she adds leaders—and especially women—should self-reflect on whether you are holding yourself back from a greater potential.

“Push yourself and challenge yourself on why you may not feel like that,” she adds.

After later rising to brand president at Chili’s and CEO of Red Lobster, Valade was tapped to become Denny’s CEO in 2022, centering her career on two of her favorite things: people and pancakes.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Courtesy of Denny's Corporation