I met up with Liv, a Business Development Manager at Axiom Path, to get a pulse check on what she’s seeing across the hiring market.
Liv spends her days talking with hiring managers, technology leaders, and candidates across technology, data, cybersecurity, engineering, accounting & finance, and business operations. Naturally, I was curious about what she’s hearing firsthand from organizations and how those conversations compare to some of the headlines we see online.
We covered everything from AI adoption and hiring priorities to application volume, resume trends, and what’s happening in the Quality Engineering market.
Here are a few takeaways from our conversation.
What Skill Sets Are Companies Hiring For?
While AI seems to dominate every industry discussion these days, Liv shared that most organizations are still hiring for foundational technology skill sets.
Software engineering, cloud, cybersecurity, product management, and business analysis continue to be in demand across her client base.
One area she highlighted was the growing importance of professionals who can bridge the gap between technical teams and business stakeholders.
Organizations aren’t just looking for strong technical contributors. They’re looking for people who can communicate effectively, influence decisions, and connect technology investments to business outcomes. As Liv put it, the shift isn’t necessarily toward hiring exclusively for “AI jobs.” It’s toward hiring professionals who can use AI and other technologies to be more effective in their roles.
How Are Companies Thinking About AI?
According to Liv, most organizations aren’t trying to build massive AI teams overnight. Instead, they’re focused on understanding how AI can solve real business problems and where it can create measurable value.
One thing I found interesting was that Axiom Path recently brought in dedicated expertise to help assess and implement AI within their own organization. So like many other companies, they’re being intentional about adoption rather than rushing to automate everything in sight.
Many organizations are still trying to determine how to evaluate AI experience, identify practical applications, and decide which skills will matter long-term.
The conversation has largely shifted from:
“Do we need AI?”
to
“How do we implement it responsibly, get value from it and vet the right talent for the job?”
Is AI Replacing Recruiters?
No.
Liv shared that AI has become a valuable tool for identifying talent, analyzing markets, automating administrative tasks, and improving efficiency. However, she was quick to point out that recruiting remains a relationship-driven business.
Understanding motivations, communication style, career goals, cultural fit, and long-term potential still requires human interaction and judgment. The best outcomes, in her view, come from combining technology with human expertise rather than choosing one over the other.
What’s Happening With Application Volume?
Application volume remains high, especially for remote opportunities and highly visible positions.
It’s not uncommon for her team to receive hundreds of applications for a single opening.
The interesting challenge isn’t attracting applicants but identifying the right applicants.
As applying for jobs becomes easier, employers are often receiving more resumes while learning less about the candidates behind them. Liv also mentioned seeing an increase in fraudulent or misleading applications, particularly for remote roles. As a result, phone screens, video interviews, technical evaluations, references, and relationship-building continue to play an important role in helping employers make informed hiring decisions.
What Resume Trends Are Standing Out?
When I asked Liv what she sees most often on Quality Engineeering resumes today, two themes immediately came to mind.
The first is AI-generated resumes that all sound the same.
While many resumes are polished and well-written, they often lack specificity, personality, and measurable impact. When every bullet point follows the same formula, it becomes difficult for her to quickly understand what truly differentiates one candidate from another.
The second is candidates trying to be everything to everyone.
In an effort to maximize keyword visibility, many professionals load their resumes with broad skill sets and buzzwords. The unintended consequence is that hiring managers struggle to determine where that candidate’s strengths actually lie.
The strongest resumes still tell a focused story.
Liv’s Top Resume Advice
Her advice was straightforward.
1. Quantify Your Impact
Don’t just list responsibilities.
Talk about product and business outcomes.
Whether it’s revenue generated, costs reduced, efficiencies gained, risk mitigated, or projects delivered, measurable results help her understand the value you created.
2. Tailor Your Resume
Align your experience to the role you’re targeting and make it easy for hiring managers to understand why you’re a fit within the first few seconds of reviewing your resume. A focused resume often performs better than a comprehensive one.
What’s Happening In Quality Engineering?
Since many readers of InsitePeek come from the Quality Engineering community, I asked Liv specifically about what she’s seeing in that market.
According to Liv, organizations continue to move beyond traditional manual testing expectations.
Companies increasingly want QA professionals who can automate testing, work with APIs, understand CI/CD pipelines, and contribute throughout the software development lifecycle.
She also noted growing demand for engineers with experience in Python, API testing, cloud environments, and complex industries such as financial services, insurance, healthcare, enterprise SaaS, and trading platforms.
The strongest QA professionals today aren’t simply testing software. They’re helping improve software quality, reliability, delivery speed, and overall engineering effectiveness.
What Are Hiring Managers Struggling With Most?
The answer was simple: certainty.
Technology continues to evolve quickly, budgets remain under scrutiny, and hiring managers want confidence they’re making the right decisions.
Before organizations can hire efficiently, they need clarity on what they’re actually hiring for. How do we diagnose the need, define the role, and assess candidates against the skills and outcomes that matter most?
Organizations that can evaluate effectively and make decisions efficiently have a significant advantage.
What Does The Next Six Months Look Like?
Looking ahead, Liv expects continued investment in AI enablement, data modernization, cybersecurity, cloud transformation, and broader technology optimization initiatives.
At the same time, she believes many organizations are still working through foundational modernization efforts before they can fully capitalize on AI and automation opportunities.
From a hiring perspective, she expects demand to remain strong for engineers, data professionals, cybersecurity specialists, product leaders, and professionals who can help organizations successfully adopt and scale new technologies.
Perhaps most importantly, she expects hiring managers to continue prioritizing impact, adaptability, and business outcomes over simply adding headcount.
Final Thoughts
One of the things I appreciated most about this conversation was how balanced Liv’s perspective was.
Yes, AI is showing up in nearly every business conversation.
Yes, organizations are investing in new technologies and exploring new ways of working.
But underneath all of that, many of the fundamentals remain unchanged.
Companies still need people who can solve problems, communicate effectively, adapt to change, and create meaningful business value.
Technology will continue to evolve.
The ability to learn, build relationships, and drive outcomes remains just as important as ever.
Thanks again to Liv for the time and perspective!