Latest news with #graduateemployment
Telegraph
24-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Britain's graduates ‘left on the scrapheap' as entry-level jobs disappear
Caoilen Doyle will graduate from his master's in biomedical engineering at the University of Strathclyde on Friday, but is struggling to find full-time employment in his field. Doyle, 27 from Motherwell, near Glasgow, has applied to more than 40 engineering roles and attended three assessment centres but still hasn't managed to secure a job. For now, he will have to satisfy himself with his part-time work as a swimming instructor. 'There's a lot more networking needed if you don't know somebody already in the industry,' says Doyle, who has spent seven years in higher education. It will be a familiar story to many university leavers. After submitting essays, handing in assignments and completing exams, graduates now face an even more challenging task: finding a job. Graduate job postings in the 12 months to June are down 33pc compared to a year earlier, according to Indeed. Not only are there fewer jobs on offer but there are also more university leavers. The numbers have climbed from 828,000 in the 2018/19 academic year to just over 1m in 2023/24 (including both postgraduate and undergraduate students). As a result, graduates are having to scrap it out over fewer jobs. Each entry-level role received 140 applications on average in 2024, according to the Institute of Student Employers, up from 86 applications per role in 2023. The struggles of well-educated people to find work is part of the growing problem of worklessness in Britain. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 987,000 people aged 16 to 24 were classed as not in education, employment or training (Neet) in January to March 2025. 'The situation for young people is ... a worry for me at the moment,' Alison McGovern, the employment minister, told the Work and Pensions Committee earlier this month. 'Nearly 1m young people [are] effectively on the scrapheap.' Rise of the robots While studying for her master's degree in social and geographic data science at UCL, it dawned on Hannah Schuller, 24, that finding her first job would be a struggle. 'It was during that year that I realised a job would by no means be as easy to get as I thought it had been maybe three years prior when I started higher education,' says Schuller, who graduated in September 2024 with a distinction. Schuller has applied to roles ranging from data handling and analysis to data journalism. She has found herself waiting months for a reply and, like many others, is struggling to navigate a new world where artificial intelligence (AI) is often the first thing that reads her submission. 'I don't really care if an AI tool is going through the applications,' Schuller says. 'I think the bigger problem that it reflects is that there's not enough opportunities out there and that there are too many people in the first place applying for too few things.' As well as transforming hiring, AI is also fuelling drops in job openings within industries where tasks can be automated. It may help to explain a 62pc drop in graduate roles in HR over the last year and a 44pc slump in entry-level jobs in accounting. 'Big four' accountants KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and EY are hiring hundreds fewer grads than they were a few years ago as they use AI to complete the kind of 'grunt' work that would typically be done by junior staff. Many businesses have also put a freeze on hiring or are cutting back jobs following Rachel Reeves's tax raid in the autumn Budget, which increased the cost of employing staff by raising employers' National Insurance contributions. Meanwhile, Stephen Isherwood, of the Institute of Student Employers, says declines in industries such as technology reflected the fact 'they over recruited significantly after the pandemic and there's still a retrenchment from that'. 'Really, really disheartening' It's not just grads feeling the squeeze. The latest figures from Indeed show that vacancies across all levels of seniority and industry are now at the lowest level since the pandemic. A cooling labour market has meant that some graduates find themselves competing against more experienced jobseekers who have been forced to apply for junior or entry-level roles in an effort to find work. Many university leavers find themselves in a catch-22 as they are unable to get the experience they need to compete against these kinds of candidates. 'In all likelihood it's unfortunately probably going to remain quite a challenging picture for graduates for the foreseeable,' says Jack Kennedy, at Indeed. Simran Abdullatif graduated with a first-class degree in Criminology and Sociology from the University of Kent last year. Since then, the 23-year-old has found the job search 'really, really disheartening'. 'Once I started looking seriously, there was nothing. Honestly, there was nothing,' she says. The aspiring solicitor has cast her net wide in her search for an entry-level role. After sending out over 100 job applications for vacancies ranging from law schemes to secretarial roles, Ms Abdullatif hasn't been invited for a single interview. 'I've come to realise how tough just finding a job is. I've honestly even been applying to Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl and even they aren't getting back to me,' she says. 'I keep saying to my mum: 'what was the point of me studying so hard to get a first-class for that first-class to not even be able to do anything for me?' You've studied for so long and you don't see the fruits of your labour. 'Maybe I need to get more experience under my belt, but then no one wants to give you the experience.' Doyle is similarly struggling to know where to go from here. Despite all the applications and assessment days, he has had little in the way of constructive criticism about how to improve his changes. 'I think I've only had proper feedback from one of them, but even for the rejection emails that I get, it just sounds like, 'oh, we've decided to go with other candidates progressing forward',' he says. 'So there's not really much you can build on.'
BBC News
23-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Swansea University graduate applied for 646 roles before getting a job
After applying for more than 600 jobs, university graduate Caitlin Morgan almost felt like giving up hope of finding as she was becoming demotivated, the 23-year-old's persistence was rewarded as she was offered a job as a trainee accountant after her 647th after 18 months of job hunting, Caitlin was left wondering if going to university for four years and getting a degree was worth research from the Institute of Student Employment shows competition for graduate roles is at a "record high" as estimates suggest there were 1.2 million applications for 17,000 graduate vacancies last year. Setting herself a target of sending two applications a day, Caitlin was immediately rejected 150 times without feedback and did not hear back from 271 other applications."I put so much effort into my applications and so much time that when I didn't hear back from them that I just wondered what made my application not worthy of feedback?" she completed a year in industry as part of her finance and accounting degree at Swansea University and hoped it would help her stand out when applying for she has a spreadsheet filled with rejections dating back to September 2023. "I worked hard for my degree and had experience so was thinking, was it worth it?" said Caitlin from south Wales."There was a period where I was feeling completely demotivated and didn't believe in going to university or getting degrees." Caitlin thinks the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by companies as part of their filtering process could be a reason why she did not get very far in some said initially her CV wasn't written in a way that could be read by a resume screening programme called ATS (applicant tracking system), where AI reads CVs."I was just getting straight rejections whereas after adjusting it, sometimes you'd be invited to an assessment after you've applied," said Caitlin. "Had I have known that from the get go, that would've helped me with my other applications."She reached the assessment stages for 221 of the roles she applied for and had five final interviews before getting a data estimates an average of 140 applications were received for each available graduate job in 2024. The Institute of Student Employment spoke to 145 companies that hired almost 40,000 new students and the body said applications were the highest for 30 years - a more than 50% rise from figures showed that for finance roles like the ones Caitlin applied for, an average of 188 applications were submitted for each months of uncertainty after graduating last year, Caitlin has been offered her first degree-level job and will move from her home in Tintern, Monmouthshire, to London to become a trainee accountant in September. "It was exactly what I wanted and is offering all the courses I want to do in finance," she said. "I just wished it would've happened a bit quicker."Despite Wales having the lowest proportion of graduates in the UK workforce, the group that represents universities believes the demand for graduate-level skills will grow by 2035."While we recognise that today's job market presents real challenges for many people, research shows that a degree continues to boost lifetime earnings, career prospects and personal development," said a Universities Wales spokesperson."University offers a transformative experience that not only benefits individuals but also strengthens our communities and economy."Thousands more students are now preparing to follow in Caitlin's footsteps this Williams is getting ready to start his role as Bangor University Student Union's Welsh officer for 12 months, before returning to education next year. "I think I'll apply to be on a teachers' training course in history, a career pathway I've always been interested in," said the Huw knows what the next year looks like for him, the future is not so clear for fellow Bangor graduate Alaw Simpson. The 21-year-old is returning home to nearby Anglesey in north Wales where she hopes to find her first graduate-level said: "I want to move on from education and try something different."It is a worry because it can be very difficult to find professional jobs these days." Recruitment experts have said many employers now focus on attitude and personal behaviour."Getting your first job post-education is the biggest step because you might not necessarily have a lot of experience," said James Fortnam of Robert Half Recruitment."I think there's a lot of noise with employers with a sheer number of applicants for an opportunity, so it's really difficult for clients to whittle that down."It's really important applicants tailor their CV to the opportunity." Mr Fortnam has said some firms use technology to help assess applicants' skills."Companies will use software tools to match somebody's CV to the job," he said."Because they won't have had huge volumes of experience, typically a lot of graduates sometimes appear lower on that matching capacity."
Independent Singapore
29-05-2025
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Unemployed graduates rose 130% in 3 years, says Redditor citing government data
SINGAPORE: After a local Reddit user did the math related to recent graduates finding jobs, they wrote that there was a 130 per cent increase in unemployed public university graduates from 2021 to 2024. After SkillsFuture Singapore published the data from the latest Private Education Institution Graduate Employment Survey on May 26, u/ PretentiousnPretty wrote that they decided to look up the graduate employment surveys from the past years to see if they could find any trends. ' With reference to the graduate employment survey in the article above, and this article , I've extracted the following employment statistics for autonomous (public) universities. Proportion of graduates in the labour force who were unemployed: 2021-5.6%, 2022-6.2%, 2023-10.4%, 2024-12.9%.' The post author focused on the significant increase in this number from 2021 to 2024, adding, 'Why then, is it, that some people are still in denial about this phenomenon, why do they refuse to look at the causes, consequences and solutions?' they asked, inviting fellow users on the platform to weigh in with answers. See also After a year of rain Indorse is ready to enjoy the sunshine A commenter who said they help young people as they start out with their careers replied by citing the proportion of graduates in the labour force who were unemployed previous to 2020, which tells another story. While in 2020 the figure had been 6.4%, from 2016 to 2019, it ranged from 9.3% to 11.1 per cent. ' Okay, so it seems like 2024's figure isn't that much higher than the pre-Covid years? I'm not saying that fresh graduates aren't facing many challenges today. But the situation isn't as dire as your tone seems to be suggesting,' the commenter wrote, adding that the figures the post author had cited had been 'significantly distorted' by the pandemic. 'This was a time when the share of non-Singaporeans working in Singapore was overwhelmingly low. People wanted to go home to their country of origin, and there just weren't enough workers to go around,' they added. As for the reasons why new graduates are having a hard time landing jobs today, the commenter listed three things that contribute to this: technological advancements, with AI taking over many tasks; earlier mass layoffs, especially in the tech sector; and the imposition of tariffs, which is likely to have caused companies to put a pause on expansion. See also Understanding Online Community Members 'I can assure you that we have graduates who are very, very hungry. But we also have students and graduates who can be over-ambitious. I've spoken with students who want a $10K a month role straight out of graduation, but do not even know the requirements or skills they need to bring to the table to command those salaries straight out of the gate,' they added. /TISG Read related: Weaker hiring demand meant fewer private uni grads found full-time jobs in 2024
Malay Mail
27-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Graduating from a Singapore university? Survey shows private grads lag in jobs, pay gap widens
One in four private university graduates working part-time or jobless Nearly 80 per cent of public university graduates landed full-time jobs within six months Median monthly pay for full-time employees at S$3,500 in 2024, compared to S$3,400 in 2023 Best earners are IT graduates with a median salary of S$4,080 (RM14,280) SINGAPORE, May 27 — Fewer than half of private university graduates in Singapore secured full-time jobs this year, reflecting a cooling job market despite marginally better pay. Only 46.4 per cent landed full-time work in 2024, down from 58.7 per cent last year, The Straits Times reported today, citing findings from the Private Education Institution Graduate Employment Survey by SkillsFuture Singapore released on April 26. More took on part-time or temporary roles, rising to 24.2 per cent from 18.9 per cent in 2023. Freelancing dipped to 4.2 per cent, while overall employment – including part-time and freelance – fell to 74.8 per cent, from 83.2 per cent last year. Salaries inched up, with the median monthly pay for full-time hires at S$3,500 (RM12,250), compared to S$3,400 (RM11,900) in 2023. Graduates from Parkway College and ERC Institute earned the most at S$4,000 (RM14,000), followed by SIM grads at S$3,600 (RM12,600). But they still lag far behind their peers from public universities like the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), who earned a median of S$4,500 (RM15,750). Nearly 80 per cent of public university grads secured full-time jobs within six months, with just 1.6 per cent freelancing. Polytechnic graduates saw a salary bump to S$3,000 (RM10,500) after serving in Singapore's national service, from S$2,963 (RM10,370) last year. The survey covered 3,500 graduates from 27 private institutions, including James Cook University and PSB Academy. Of these, 2,300 were in the labour force, defined as working or actively job-hunting. A worrying 28.3 per cent were either unemployed or stuck in involuntary part-time or temp jobs – far higher than the 10.7 per cent rate for public university graduates and 7.2 per cent for polytechnic graduates. Engineering graduates from private institutions fared best, with 55.3 per cent in full-time roles, followed by science graduates at 51.8 per cent. Information and digital tech graduates earned the highest median salary at S$4,080 (RM14,280), followed by those from the humanities and social sciences at S$3,500 (RM12,250).
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
I'm a Cambridge student. Rachel Reeves has made job hunting impossible
This time last year, in my final term at Cambridge, wondering anxiously what life after exams would hold, I started to panic. My last outstanding job application had just come back with a rejection. With horror, I pictured myself returning to my childhood bedroom in failure, living off my parents' pity and charity until I finally converted my English degree into some sort of employment. Now I know what you're thinking: what did you expect when you chose an English degree? But my looming unemployment was not for want of trying. I spent my summers doing any kind of internship or work experience I could find. I had ploughed almost every free moment during term into working at the student newspaper, which I had assumed would burnish my CV. The fact is that for the students I know, whatever subject they study, whichever career they want to pursue, finding a job is always a Herculean task. A friend with a first-class computer science degree from Durham described his job hunting experience as only a bit better than medieval torture – and that was before Rachel Reeves raised employers' National Insurance contributions. This year, things are even worse. In the 12 months to April, there were just 794 graduate schemes advertised, down from 1,224 a year earlier. Now, the students applying for 50 jobs alongside studying for finals don't blame Rachel Reeves for their predicament. But the economics is straightforward: if you tax labour, employers will consume less of it. Today's revelation that the pool of grad schemes is shrinking should not be a surprise. I swerved unemployment by spending another year at Cambridge, this time studying business instead of the humanities. And after another gruelling round of applications, assessment centres, and interviews, I finally received a job offer. On my new course, I was awed by how dedicated some of my fellow students were to playing the graduate labour market – and impressed at the results their efforts received. Nonetheless, just because a barrier can be overcome doesn't mean we should ignore its existence. The people who suffer the most from the graduate labour market's brutality are the creative, wonderfully intelligent people I meet every day at Cambridge who just aren't sure what they want to do yet. These are people from whose talent we should all benefit as they find their way in the world. Instead, I see them cowed into putting off reality by taking on even more debt to study for a master's degree. Or, worse still, I see them pursuing careers they are manifestly unsuited to, because they can't justify chasing the job they really want while the economy is so hostile. Finding your path after university is hard – even, it seems, with multiple qualifications under your belt. After investing so much in young people's education, you would expect the Government to try to help graduates make a success of their entry into the labour market. Instead, by raising National Insurance, the Chancellor appears to be doing the very opposite: turning their hopes into failure.
