If demography is destiny, these should be good times for graduate young people.
They began their careers at a time of collapse of fertility, older people who abandon the workforce and companies expanding after the pandemic, leaving employers who fight to hire more workers in a smaller pool.
The result? More influence to employees, who establish the rules of the frequency with which they entered the office, how much they were paid, if they wanted to work for a particular company of several options that offered them.
In recent months, however, history has changed. Some executive directors have begun to order staff Back to the office. And the graduates of the best universities have been sending dozens of employment applications, without success.
The graduates are trapped by a slowdown in the labor market, the companies that prefer to trust the workers they have and a mismatch between the academic skills they offer and those that employers, increasingly interested in the technological Nous, are looking for.
Joe, who asked not to use his last name, completed a biochemistry title at Sheffield University last summer. He had hoped to get a job in the biotechnology industry. But, after 40 requests for the laboratory assistant or the roles of data analysts did not yield interviews, he directed their attention to financial services.
Another 50 requests later, he has had three face -to -face interviews, although he has not yet achieved a job. He has not let the hard work deter. “I am still determined to continue applying. When you get so many rejections, you just have to endure. “
Joe’s struggle is shared by many of his age. Far from a shortage, there is now a surplus of university graduates who pursue each job.
In 2023-24, the average United Kingdom Employer He received 140 applications per postgraduate vacancy: an increase of 59 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), an organization of membership of companies and educational institutions.
After the “sugar fever” of hiring after pandemic, employers are now consolidating, says Kate Shoesmith, executive deputy director of the Recruitment & Confederation of Employment.
The particular problems are reaching the United Kingdom applicants. It’s not just that economic growth It has been warm, says Shoemith. The increase in the national insurance of the employer, in force in April, has also made many companies reluctant to hire. A January survey conducted by KPMG and REC found that the demand for the United Kingdom personnel was at its lowest point since August 2020, with areas such as professional services and high payment technology, where many graduates are looking for work, worse blow.
Matt Burney, senior strategic advisor at the job site, says that many employers are “monopolizing” staff until the economic perspective becomes clearer, drowning opportunities for new participants.
Some in employment are also assuming additional works, which further limits openings. In the distance learning provider, the open university, where students tend to work together with their studies, the cost of living pressures are forcing many to assume the second jobs, says Ellen Cocking, the head of employment services and OU employability. “This will have an impact on younger applicants who will have less experience and compete with those who are already working.”
Recruitors also report that students and employers are holding with a mismatch among the skills they acquire in the university and what employers want.
Josef Chen, co -founder of Kaikaku, a new company that develops robotics for the restaurant industry, says that many graduates have too theoretical education. “I have seen many computer students who graduate but do not know how to codify correctly.”
Zain Ali, executive director of Centuro Global, who helps companies automate their legal and compliance services, says that he and his sister, who are 13 years younger, went to the same school. “We look at our exercise books. They are almost identical, ”he says. “The skills sets have changed. The works have changed. The educational system definitely needs to adapt. “
David Conway, head of races at the University of Northampton, currently in Secumo to University and College Union, says that the employer’s reluctance to offer training can also delay graduates. “When you start a new job, you always need that period of time to adapt and learn,” he says. “Sometimes employers are not always ready to invest that time.”
However, there are ways in which graduates can improve their possibilities to get ahead in a market full of people.
Burney in fact says that employers are looking beyond formal qualifications to qualities such as communication, leadership or teamwork. Graduates are often perplexed when asked to demonstrate such skills, but Conway pushes them to think about part -time jobs, volunteer or hobbies. Chen says that student societies, more established in the United Kingdom than in continental Europe, are a particular advantage. “Actually, you have those skills. It’s how to present them to employers, ”says Conway.
School graduates may be considering employability in their courses. According to the first figures of UCA, the Application Service of the University of the United Kingdom, applications to Engineering courses increased by 40 percent Between 2019 and 2025. In the same period, the applications of history, philosophy and religion courses, and those of teaching and nursing, fell.
Ali would not dissuade students to study humanities subjects: before working as a corporate lawyer and launch a technology company that studied history at the University of Nottingham. “I was passionate about,” he says. “In addition, it gives you a critical thought, you have to evaluate, analyze and present arguments.”
However, he suggests adding practical skills, such as computer science, that students can develop in their own time. Cen would also like to see more hustle and enthusiasm of recruits. Value “highways, people who, as children, have been building things in their respective fields … and I brought that [to us] After they have graduated from the university. “
However, communicating these qualities in an application is not easy. More than 40 percent of young people from the United Kingdom, 18 now request the university, and the growing use of applications assisted by artificial intelligence can make it more difficult to stand out among the crowd.
Employers estimates who spoke with the FT last summer indicated Around half of employment applicants were using AI to request jobs, which forced employers to examine poor quality applications.
Burney says there is nothing wrong with using AI to help create applications, but urges candidates to familiarize themselves with models and use more than one to refine the answers. “A AI tool is as good as the entrances you give,” he says. “Being a job applicant may seem full time. The Quid should have a very well elaborate CV. . . Something that makes you highlight among the crowd. ”
Demographic trends suggest that the job market will change in favor of graduates. Stephen Isherwood, Executive Director of ISE, wrote in his 2024 student recruitment survey that the decrease in birth rates and the greatest need for qualified people remained significant challenges.
“Our opinion is that employers are currently protected from these two pressures due to bad economic growth. But once the growth returns, we hope that employers in front of a significant shortage of available talent. The hiring crisis after the pandemic demonstrated how fast the labor markets can harden. ”
However, for graduates that emerge in a low growth environment, there is little to keep trying. Shoemith, from Rec, suggests adopting creative approaches. “Know the recruiters in the local area that recruit for these roles, discover the companies that hire and discover what people in the work they like have in terms of skills, background work experience, background experience, [and] education.”