> we hire Juniors to help fill the talent pool with the hope that they will be productive in a few months

The sad reality for smaller companies is that we cannot compete salary-wise, which means training juniors that will leave the minute they become productive

But mostly the issue is with the market, there are only so many things you need a junior to do in a body shop that is getting squeezed

Other companies are also cash constrained and need to pivot fast to "AI"-something, which juniors wont really help with on the short-term