Why is it so Hard for Graduates to Find a Job?

A Story of Ghosting, Buzzwords, AI, and Recession

by Heiner Burkard

Today, young people feel very pessimistic about their career prospects. Graduates describe their job hunt as “soul-destroying” and vent their anger online as the struggle to start their career extends across not only Europe, but also the US, China, and Canada. This piece investigates why the "rejection generation" struggles so much with finding a job. The graduate job crisis is not individual failure but failure of the structural transformation in the job market. 

Social media has become the main outlet for frustration. Many young adults go on TikTok, Reddit, or Instagram to unveil their hardship as they are looking for their first job. Videos show graduates applying to hundreds, if not thousands, of positions, while not getting a singular offer and scoring only a measly number of interviews. Describing their search as traumatic and even “soul-destroying”, they are shocked by how difficult it is to find a job right now. This overwhelming number of applications sent by graduates is a perfect analogy of the scale of their hardship. 

But why is it so hard to find an entry-level job? What are the challenges? Or are graduates just not used to the reality of a competitive job market? Aneesh Raman, the Chief Economic Opportunity Officer at LinkedIn, argues that graduates are currently “dealing with the perfect storm” when looking for their first job. 

Reports from Europe, the US, China, and Canada tell the same story. Experts say this is the worst market for new college graduates since the height of the pandemic. Trade wars, inflation, and the end of the post-pandemic hiring boom have caused a broader employment downturn. And yet, young people are feeling the impact most. Entry-level jobs for graduates experienced a sharper decline than non-entry roles. In the US, the unemployment rate for recent graduates is consistently higher than the national unemployment rate for the first time since record-keeping began. Graduate hiring is down 23 per cent since 2020, exceeding an eighteen percent downturn in overall hiring. Europe is finding itself in a similar situation. It appears that while the entire job market is taking a hit, the struggle of young people and graduates cannot only be explained by the challenging economic environment alone. 

At the same time, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming not only how we work but also the types of roles available. The debate over AI´s impact on graduate jobs is everywhere. Experts believe we are witnessing a major transformation in the economy and the nature of work. “Breaking first is the bottom rung of the career ladder,” says LinkedIn´s Aneesh Raman. Entry-level roles most exposed to AI have seen the largest decline of all entry-level roles. A recent report found that the increase in AI exposure is associated with a demand-drop in junior roles. AI clearly plays a major role, but experts say it is necessary to rethink entry-level work. The focus will shift to thinking about the implications of AI and finding ways to stand out in the job market. 

The hottest buzzword here is employability. It describes the specific skills and attitudes an applicant holds that gets them employed – or not. As the pressure to stand out increases, graduates try to optimise everything. Soft skill courses, flexibility, continuous education, and tirelessly applying to jobs proved to be no guarantee of landing a job. Some job listings labelled as entry-level even required one or more years of previous experience. The belief that effort leads to reward and that if you get a good degree and work hard, you will get a good job, feels outdated – a glimpse of an easier past. This job market can penalise graduates twice over. They are expected to acquire the perfect skill set to be employable, but even if they do so, the door can still be shut. This self-optimisation is also found in our everyday lives. People are told they need to be thin, sporty, good-looking, but also smart, funny, and fashionable. This is a burden that only a few are able to satisfy. Stemming from individualism and putting all the weight of your existence on your ability to stand out and differentiate yourself, a need to always become smarter, sexier, and better is created. This is a road with a dead end. Nobody can and should be expected to always improve and optimise themselves. This is true for your person and identity as well as for your professional life. To tie your worth to self-optimisation and the idea that you always need to do better in your career or any other singular aspect in life, will crush your spirit and leave you burned out as you are chasing an ideal that cannot be sustained forever.

Some graduates send hundreds of applications, and yet fewer than one per cent lead to interviews. Many report that they never heard back from more than half of their applications. This practice from employers is called ghosting. They never reply, not even with a rejection. This deepens young people´s frustration as more and more employers engage in this practice. Additionally, some companies are posting ghost job vacancies. Ghost job listings by legitimate organisations for positions that do not actually have openings and have no intent of hiring anybody for them. Companies try to create the illusion of a growing workforce and a healthy and growing organisation that is able to expand. Some engage in this to convince employees that help is on the way to reduce their workload, or that they could always hire someone to replace them, or to create a talent pool for later real openings. This seems not only insincere and unethical, but is also emotionally draining and time wasting for all applicants who hope that this one could be their chance. 

We can here, at least to some extent, answer the questions of why graduates struggle so much with finding their first job. The difficult job market, the threat of AI replacing entry-level jobs, as well as the demands and behaviours of employers are leaving many young people tired and confused. These effects are, by themselves, factors of frustration and anxiety for young people. But it really doubles down on the mental load of young people by creating a hostile and tiring atmosphere during the first job search, as the expectations from employers are shifting at an incredible speed. Universities and employers must collaborate to redefine entry-level jobs for an era of uncertainty and AI. But this hardship may also open up young people in this struggle to new and deeper questions like: How can we help young people? Are we really preparing them for the job market in our universities? Are we currently experiencing the end of the corporate job era due to AI? What do I really want to do for work? How do I want to work? Do we need to rethink entirely how we work?

Sources: BBC News, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Euronews, CNN, The

HR Digest, Revelio Labs.

Written by Heiner Burkard

Edited by Sarah Valkenburg and Nina Gush