GPT-5 is live — and 6 moves to get hired faster 💨
From GPT-5 to redundancy survival — get the inside scoop on the latest tech market trends.
Hey there,
This fortnight feels like a platform shift: GPT-5 is out, OpenAI models just landed on AWS, and big players are literally reshaping their infrastructure spend to feed AI. On the ground, UK hiring remains cautious overall — but AI/data/cloud roles are still moving, fast. Here’s what matters and what to do next.
What’s inside
Quick Hits — recent tech articles that caught our eye
Spotlighted Jobs — trending roles on Haystack
Career Corner — practical upskilling you can start this week
Hiring Signals — stronger, clearer plays for TA & hiring managers
Resource of the Week — Surviving a redundancy (new Haystack guide)
What we’re reading — interesting reads we found while on internet rabbit holes (recent)
⚡ Quick Hits
GPT-5 is here. OpenAI’s new model rolls into ChatGPT and the API with sharper reasoning and more unified tooling.
OpenAI models on AWS. For the first time, OpenAI shows up on Amazon’s stack (Bedrock/SageMaker), making enterprise pilots simpler.
GovTech moment. US federal agencies get ChatGPT Enterprise for $1 per agency for a year — expect procurement pressure elsewhere.
Infra money moves. Meta shares AI infrastructure costs via a $2B data-center asset sale — more budget into GPUs and power.
Consumer scale is alive. Roblox passes 100M daily users off a viral hit (Grow a Garden).
Maps go social (again). Instagram launches Instagram Map, a Snap-Map-style feature; geospatial and trust/safety skills remain relevant.
⭐️ Employer Spotlight: Ad Signal
Ad Signal is a remote‑first SaaS startup helping broadcasters tackle an unglamorous but expensive problem: duplicate video and audio files eating up storage bills and carbon budgets. Fresh from a £3 million round led by Foresight Group, the fully distributed team (no office, flexible core hours, quarterly meet‑ups) is scaling fast and offering every hire a slice of equity.
They’re currently hiring through Haystack for:
Other trending roles on Haystack
✅ Project Engineer - Aluma, Cambridge (This role is open to junior applicants!)
✅ Full Stack Engineer - OneClickComply, Sunderland (This role is open to junior applicants!)
✅ Site Reliability Engineer - Dunelm, Open to remote (Mid - Senior level)
✅ Senior Software Engineer - Orchestra, London (Senior level)
P.S. These employers are all actively hiring and responding to applicants via Haystack.
📈 Career Corner: actionable moves for tech job seekers
Whether you’re actively looking, considering a move, or just keeping yourself market-ready, small, focused steps compound fast. Here are six things worth doing this week that will actually help you land interviews and stand out.
1) Try a second copilot
Don’t get locked into one tool. Run the same coding or writing task in your usual copilot and Claude 4.1. You’ll quickly see strengths, weaknesses, and where each fits your workflow.
2) Study smarter (free)
Use Gemini’s Guided Learning for short, structured practice in DSA, SQL, or cloud basics instead of bouncing between random tutorials. It’s designed for active recall, not passive reading.
3) Refresh your GitHub & LinkedIn
Pin 2–3 repos that reflect the work you want to do next.
Update READMEs to explain why you made certain design choices.
Add one small, recent commit — activity signals matter.
On LinkedIn, make sure your headline includes your role + tech stack and turn on “Open to Work” for recruiters only.
Additionally, in your work experience section on LinkedIn, make sure to include what you achieved while working there.
4) Upgrade one in-demand skill (4-week sprint)
Find the skill that pops up most in the jobs you’d actually apply for and focus on that one.
A few examples to get you started:
Kubernetes basics → Tutorial
System design → Primer
Azure AI Fundamentals → Learn Azure
Prompt engineering basics → Learn prompting
Databases & SQL → Tutorial
5) Apply with focus, not volume
Choose 8–12 high-fit roles. Tailor the top section of your CV for each, and track every application so you can follow up.
Free job tracker → Get it here
Quick DM template:
“Hey <Name> — I’m a <role> (<stack>). Recently built <short project link>. Think I’m a fit for <role> — happy to walk through design choices. Can we chat next week?”
6) Prep for the interviews that matter
For system design: focus on trade-offs, not just architecture diagrams.
For behavioural: structure answers with STAR.
Do a 20-min mock interview with a friend or record yourself — you’ll spot things you wouldn’t otherwise notice.
Run through potential interview questions with ChatGPT.
📣 Hiring Trends: what to change now (with sources)
1) Early-career ≠ “graduates only”
Entry routes have broadened (apprenticeships, bootcamps, returners).
Do: swap degree filters for capability tests + short work samples; pair each junior with a named mentor and a 90-day outcome.
2) Design the job before you open it
Most hiring pain comes from vague roles and handoffs.
Do: outcome first (12-month result), one owner, automate the noise, define 3–5 capabilities (not 20 skills), set a 3–4 metric scorecard.
3) Move beyond static job architectures
Titles age fast in AI-touched orgs; skills & outcomes shift faster than ladders.
Do: keep a live skills inventory (cloud, MLOps, security, data), map to outcomes, flex pay by capability scarcity + impact.
4) Stand up an AI “control tower” in TA/HR
AI is in every tool — treat it like production software.
Do: cross-functional working group (TA/HR Ops/Legal/Sec), register uses (screening/sourcing/scheduling), require human-in-loop on critical decisions, disclose AI use to candidates.
→ Read ServiceNow’s HR Guide to AI Transformation
5) Use AI agents for short walks, not marathons
Agent chains compound errors; great for enrichment/scheduling, brittle for multi-step judgment.
Do: cap the number of steps, gatekeep with evaluation, and escalate if there’s low confidence in the decision-making.
💡 Resource of the week: Surviving a redundancy (Haystack guide)
Redundancy hits more than your payslip. This step-by-step playbook covers how to steady yourself and get moving again — without burning out.
📚 What we’re reading
Interesting reads we found while going down internet rabbit holes this week
Three macro predictions on AI
Sharp, long-view thinking on where AI might actually take the economy, geopolitics, and the job market.
The shaky economics of AI coding startups
High infra bills + thin margins = tricky maths for code-generation tools. Great reality check on this corner of the AI boom.
RIP GPT-4o
Some ChatGPT users are mourning the older model now that GPT-5 has rolled out — a look at why people sometimes prefer “last year’s” AI.
Anthropic’s revenue problem
When two customers make up nearly all your revenue and a pricing war kicks off, sustainability gets dicey.
Agentic shopping still far away
Pinterest’s CEO thinks truly AI-driven shopping agents are years out — and explains why.
The hidden meaning of the BMW logo
File this under “things you didn’t know you needed to know” — the design story behind BMW’s badge.
Vibe analysis
Exploring how “vibe” is becoming a measurable thing in data and product design — and why it matters.
AI’s “just ship it” problem
Why moving too fast in AI product development can backfire — and how to slow down without losing momentum.
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