If demographics are destiny, these should be a good time for young graduates.
They began their careers during the collapse of fertility, with older people struggling to expand their workforce and businesses after the pandemic, and employers having more workers from smaller pools.
result? The greater influence on employees setting rules, from how often they enter the office to what they pay, to some options offered to whether they want to work for a particular company.
But in the last few months the story has changed. Some chief executives have begun to bring staff orders back to the office. And even the best universities have sent out dozens of job applications without success in their graduates.
Graduates are slower in the labor market, companies that prefer to rely on the workers they have, and those whose employers are increasingly keen on technical nous with the academic skills they offer. They are trapped in seeking discrepancies between them.
Asked not to use his last name, Joe completed his biochemistry degree from the University of Sheffield last summer. He wanted to get a job in the biotech industry. However, after 40 applications for the role of lab assistant or data analyst did not result in interviews, he turned his attention to financial services.
50 more applications later, he received three in-person interviews, but has yet to win jobs. He didn’t deter him by a hard throw. “I’m still determined to continue applying. When you get so many rejections, you have to smoke it.”
Joe’s struggle is shared by many of his age. Far from the shortage, there is a surplus where university graduates are chasing each job.
From 2023-24, the average UK employer received 140 applications for each postgraduate vacancies. This was an increase of 59% year-on-year, according to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), a member organization for businesses and educational institutions.
Employers are currently consolidating after the post-pandemic employment “sugar rush,” says Kate Shoes Miss, assistant chief executive of Recruitment & Employment Coalition.
A specific issue is bumping into UK applicants. It’s not just that economic growth is slippery, Shoesmith says. The increase in employer national insurance, which is expected to take effect in April, has made many companies reluctant to hire. A survey from KPMG and Rec in January shows that UK demand for staff is the lowest point since August 2020, with more people looking for jobs in areas such as fast professional services and tech, where many graduates are looking for jobs. There was a bad hit.
Matt Burney, senior strategy advisor at Jobs Site, says many employers are “hoarding” staff until the economy’s outlook becomes clearer and opportunities for newcomers are suffocated.
Some jobs have also taken on additional jobs, further limiting the opening. At the Distance Learning Provider The Open University, where students tend to work with research, the cost of living pressure forces many people to get a second job, says Ellen Cocking. “This will affect younger applicants who compete with those who have little experience and are already working.”
Recruiters also report competing for discrepancies between students and employers acquire at university and what employers want.
Josef Chen, co-founder of Kaikaku, a startup that develops robotics for the restaurant industry, says that the alumni are overly theoretical education. “There are a lot of computer science students who have graduated but don’t know how to code properly.”
Zain Ali, CEO of Centuro Global, helps businesses automate legal and compliance services. “We’re looking at our practice books. They’re pretty much the same,” he says. “The skill set has changed. The job has changed. The education system definitely needs to adapt.”
David Conway, the career director at Northampton University, who is currently seconded to the University and College Union, says employers’ reluctance to provide training can also help keep alumni under control. “When you start a new job, you always need that period to adjust and learn,” he says. “Employers aren’t always ready to invest that time.”
However, there are ways to improve the likelihood that graduates will move forward in busy markets.
Certainly, Bernie says employers look beyond formal qualifications to the quality of communication, leadership, teamwork, and more. Alumni are often confused when asked to demonstrate such skills, but Conway pushes them to think about part-time jobs, volunteers and hobbies. Chen says that the student society established in the UK over continental Europe is a particularly advantageous one. “In fact, you have those skills, and it’s how you present these to your employer,” says Conway.
School retirees may be considering employability in their course selection. According to early UCAS figures, UK university application services increased 40% between 2019 and 2025 due to applications for engineering courses. History, philosophy, religious courses, and concurrent applications for education and nursing have fallen.
Ali did not discourage students from studying subjects in the humanities. Before starting a high-tech company where he worked as a corporate lawyer and studied history at the University of Nottingham. “I was passionate about it,” he says. “It also gives critical thinking. It requires evaluation, analysis and discussion to present.”
However, he suggests adding practical skills such as computing that students can develop in their own time. Chen also wants to see more fuss and enthusiasm from recruits. He values his own zodiac sign, people, “as a child, I build things in my own fields.” . . And after they graduated from college, they brought it (to us). ”
However, it is not easy to communicate these qualities in your application. Currently, over 40% of UK 18-year-olds apply to universities, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence assistance applications can make it difficult to stand out from the crowd.
Estimates from employers who spoke to FT last summer showed that about half of job seekers used AI to apply for employment, sifting through low-quality applications by employers.
Bernie says there’s nothing wrong with using AI to help create applications, but encourages those who want to be familiar with the model and use multiple uses to improve their response . “AI tools are as good as the input you give it,” he says. “Being a job seeker can feel like a full-time job. At the heart of it, there should be a very well-made resume… something that stands out from the crowd.”
Demographic trends suggest that the job market will change to alumni favor. ISE CEO Stephen Isherwood wrote in a 2024 Student Recruitment Survey that lower birth rates and increasing needs for skilled people remain important challenges.
“Our view is that employers are currently protected from these two pressures as economic growth is deteriorating. But once growth returns, there is a considerable amount of talent available to employers. “We hope to face a shortage of jobs. The post-pandemic employment crisis has shown how quickly the labor market can strengthen.”
However, if graduates are emerging in a low-growth environment, there is little to do, but they continue to work hard. Rec’s Shoesmith proposes taking a creative approach. “Get out the local recruiters recruiting these roles, know which companies you hire and what people in the job you like have with regard to skills, background work experience, education (and) education Please understand that.”
