Organisations’ hiring behaviour has led to more graduates being out of work. So what can graduates do to avoid being jobless?
Like most graduates, Maria began applying for jobs towards the end of her Law degree. She has been advised and spent a minimum of three hours on each application, dissecting and tailoring her CV carefully to each position.
“Don’t forget to add keywords”, her university career adviser told her. “Make sure your CV is a page long.”
After submitting her applications, Maria would then go on to her colour-coded Excel spreadsheet for the jobs she has applied for and enter details like ‘submitted’, ‘pending’, or ‘rejected.’ Most columns on her spreadsheet are highlighted in red.
She has applied for more than 250 jobs in various sectors, including data analysis, risk compliance, and even accounting. Graduates like Maria are uncertain about finding a job after university and feel as though they are left in the dark.
“It’s all time-consuming, and it’s not realistic to spend three to four hours on each application,” she said “It’s really not motivating. I don’t think people are giving me a chance.”
Applying for jobs is already stressful as it is, and with graduate unemployment on the rise, the job market has become highly competitive.
The Institute of Student Employers (ISE) reported from their Student Recruitment Survey that they had received more than 1.2 million applications to just under 17,000 graduate vacancies.
The Oxford Economics similarly found that entry-level jobs were also diminishing and that there is an oversupply of recent graduates and an undersupply of vacancies.
ISE listed several key reasons for the phenomenon, including the reduced number of job positions for graduates, the adoption of AI, and the widening of entry requirements for people from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.
Other research shows that top firms were hiring fewer diverse graduates in 2024. University College London found that 20% of privately-educated graduates were more likely to receive a job offer than non-private graduates. UCL raised concerns that white applicants were more successful in receiving an offer than those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
“The team found that inequalities in offers persisted across socioeconomic background, ethnicity and gender, and in 2024 were more pronounced than in 2023,” the UCL report concluded.
“I know there are opportunities out there, and you have to mature enough to seek them. I just think I haven’t had enough help.”
Maria
Maria thinks nepotism is being used within the job market. She believes graduates from an elite university will have a higher chance of being offered a job than someone like herself.
She has seen other graduates with a Language degree from elite universities and fewer transferable skills being offered accounting jobs. She has also seen some of her peers landing roles because of their connections.
The known phenomenon and universities
A recruiter executive from Mackie Myers Agency, Ryan Cooke, believes graduate unemployment boils down to the lack of effort by corporations not hiring inexperienced graduates.
“The market has become very lazy in how it approaches recruiting in general and developing its people,” he said, and highlighted that the unemployment rate is not a new phenomenon and is certainly not AI’s fault nor the government’s. He stated it’s primarily due to the organisation’s hiring behaviour.
“We see employer behaviour move to wanting experienced beginners over true trainees. Our graduates and school leavers report that when they’re applying for a job, they get very frustrated because they’re caught in a doom loop. They find themselves reaching for experience, and employers not giving them experience because they don’t have the experience.”
A way to combat this irritating doom loop, Ryan suggested that universities must have a strong career department to assist their students in finding work experience and graduate schemes. He stated that some universities are not adequately equipped for the fast-evolving labour market and should reach out to other organisations.
In Maria’s case, this was a significant problem; she felt that her university was not helping her find opportunities and did not provide her with the right guidance, even when she asked. By the time she graduated, Maria thought her university was presented more as a business, collecting students’ money rather than nurturing them.
She also finds herself stuck in the doom loop and fears not finding a job within the next year. Maria is now considering whether she should pursue a master’s degree because she feels her bachelor’s degree doesn’t hold much significance when applying for jobs.
“Everyone now has a degree. Even some people who aren’t well-suited have a degree. No one stands out and neither do I. I think for me to stand out is to gain like a thousand experiences, volunteering or even get a master’s, which is now a new version of a bachelor’s.”
TikTok creator and university student from Exeter, Alex, who prefers to be known by his online name, AMP, spends his time posting content and advising other students on how to navigate the job market.
He believes the meaning of having a degree has changed. He told me universities are incredibly oversaturated and that a degree doesn’t guarantee graduates a job as much as it did previously. AMP speculates that the reason graduates struggle to find a job is due to the lack of job hiring.
“I’d want to be somewhere that it’s growing, ambitious countries, somewhere where there’s plenty of opportunity. I want to be somewhere where there’s just general optimism about the future of the country.”
AMP
Unlike Ryan and Maria, AMP doesn’t see the point in blaming the government or companies for the lack of job opportunities. He argued that it’s a consequence of capitalism and slow economic growth.
“You can’t put the blame on one person. We’ve obviously had a population increase. We’ve had really high inflation rates. We should be asking why isn’t the economy growing at all. It’s been obviously an awful business environment in this country. I think it’s just literally a result of just capitalism. It is that just the supply demand.” he said.
AMP told me that young graduates are in a weird time right now, traditional jobs are leaving the market, and newer jobs are being created. It’s also partly due to people not knowing where the jobs are, which could be a limiting factor.
The online creator doesn’t see himself staying in the UK for long. He wishes to find opportunities elsewhere that have a good work environment for young people.
Fear of AI
The blame for AI contributing to the phenomenon is a façade. Ryan argued that technology will be enabled for the next generation because of their tech-savvy skills.
He says he has not seen a reduction in hiring due to AI and highlighted that the lack of trust associated with AI has led people to be against it. Cooke said that some companies blame AI for not generating profit and use it as a scapegoat, even when it’s not necessarily the case.
“People’s perception of AI means we will lose jobs and that is not a proven concept yet.”
Ryan Cooke
KPMG, an accounting and professional services network, views AI as a means to transform the way people work. According to the Future of AI report, it is expected that more jobs will be created, and people should acquire AI skills to stay competitive.
Ryan believes that AI cannot replace human connection and interaction. He believes that networking could be the new way for young graduates to acquire opportunities and job offers, and he added the importance of leaning into social network groups, volunteering and building partnerships within the industry.
Another way to gain networking and build connections is to find a dedicated mentor or career coach to establish guidance.
The coach
The frustration of having it all figured out when tailoring a CV can be frankly irritating. It’s the same sort of doom loop, not only having to appease the employer’s interest but also going against, ironically, the AI machinery.
AI is now being used to help employers filter out the hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants. Which means it could be searching for specific keywords and experiences in order for an applicant to progress to the next stage.
Coaches like Emma Kong assist both graduates and non-graduates who struggle to navigate the application process, as well as helping international graduates secure sponsorships.
She has found that employers are keen to hire young people who have skills like adaptability and independent working. She stated that, due to AI evolving the workplace environment, it is essential for employees to adapt to it and also be confident working from home, while maintaining the same level of productivity.
In Emma’s line of work, she consistently helps her clients with their online presence by advising them on how to present themselves to recruiters and potential employers.
“It’s really crucial to make your LinkedIn profile look professional. It’s an unspoken rule, but most employers use LinkedIn before they hire you,” she said.
“You have to see everything from their perspective. For example, a graduation hat, they immediately think in their mind, this person is a fresh graduate. They are not really cut out for the labour market. This is why you need to look professional and have a good photo.”
She highlighted, in agreement with Ryan, that employers are looking for skills and work experience, and she argues that a degree is only used for about a third of the application, and the rest is based on the applicant’s experiences.
She also stated that people should start looking at a degree in a different way, where it doesn’t guarantee a job but perhaps can still give you connections.
Emma recently hosted a podcast with Paul Donnan on how to tailor a professional CV and gave advice on how to get hired.
She is still optimistic for the future: “You have to think like it’s a game. A game where you overcome any challenge and level up. It’s a real-life upgrade. The whole job market is evolving, and we need to give it time once the market catches up.”
Although the job market for graduates appears to be a challenging loophole, there may be some hope for us in the end, as long as we are all resilient, upskilling and connecting with one another.
Featured image by Stephen Barton.