Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic If demography is destiny, these should be good times for young graduates. They began their careers at a time of collapsing fertility, older people leaving the workforce and businesses expanding after the pandemic, leaving employers struggling to hire more workers from a smaller pool. The result? More clout to employees, who set the rules from how often they came into the office, to how much they were paid, to whether they wanted to work for a particular firm from several options offered them.In recent months, however, the story has changed. Some chief executives have begun ordering staff back to the office. And graduates from even the best universities have been sending off dozens of job applications, without success.Graduates are trapped by a slowing labour market, companies preferring to rely on the workers they have, and a mismatch between the academic skills they are offering and those that employers — increasingly keen on technological nous — are looking for.Joe, who asked not to use his surname, completed a biochemistry degree at the University of Sheffield last summer. He had hoped to get a job in the biotech industry. But, after 40 applications for laboratory assistant or data analyst roles yielded no interviews, he turned his attention to financial services. Another 50 applications later, he has had three face-to-face interviews, though has not landed a job yet. He has not let the hard slog dissuade him. “I’m still determined to keep applying. When you get so many rejections, you just have to suck it up.”Joe’s struggle is shared by many his age. Far from a shortage, there is now a surplus of university graduates chasing each job. In 2023-24, the average UK employer received 140 applications per graduate vacancy — a 59 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), a membership organisation of companies and educational institutions.After the “sugar rush” of hiring after the pandemic, employers are now consolidating, says Kate Shoesmith, deputy chief executive at the Recruitment & Employment Confederation. Particular issues are hitting UK applicants. It is not just that economic growth has been tepid, Shoesmith says. The rise in employer national insurance, due to take effect in April, has also made many companies reluctant to hire. A January survey by KPMG and REC found UK demand for staff was at its lowest point since August 2020, with areas such as high-paid professional services and tech, where many graduates are job hunting, worse hit.Matt Burney, senior strategic adviser at jobs site Indeed, says many employers are “hoarding” staff until the economic outlook becomes clearer, choking off opportunities for new entrants. Some in employment are also taking on additional jobs, further limiting openings. At distance learning provider the Open University, where students tend to work alongside their studies, cost-of-living pressures are forcing many to take on second jobs, says Ellen Cocking, OU’s careers and employability services head. “This will have an impact on younger applicants who will have less experience and are competing with those already working.”Recruiters also report that students and employers are contending with a mismatch between the skills they acquire at university and what employers want. Josef Chen, co-founder of Kaikaku, a start-up developing robotics for the restaurant industry, says too many graduates have an overly theoretical education. “I have seen lots of computer science students who graduate but don’t know how to code properly.”Zain Ali, chief executive of Centuro Global, which helps companies automate their legal and compliance services, says he and his sister, who is 13 years younger, went to the same school. “We look at our exercise books. They’re almost identical,” he says. “The skill sets have changed. The jobs have changed. The education system definitely needs to adapt.”David Conway, Northampton University’s head of careers, currently on secondment to the University and College Union, says employer reluctance to offer training can also hold graduates back. “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.”There are, however, ways graduates can improve their chances of getting ahead in a crowded market.Indeed’s Burney says employers are looking beyond formal qualifications to qualities like communication, leadership or teamwork. Graduates are often stumped when asked to demonstrate such skills, but Conway pushes them to think about part-time jobs, volunteering or hobbies. Chen says student societies, more established in the UK than continental Europe, are a particular advantage. “Actually, you have got those skills. It’s how to present these to employers,” Conway says.School leavers may be considering employability in their course choices. According to early figures from Ucas, the UK’s university application service, applications to engineering courses increased 40 per cent between 2019 and 2025. In the same period applications to history, philosophy and religion courses, and those for teaching and nursing, fell. Ali would not dissuade students from studying humanities subjects: before working as a corporate lawyer and launching a tech company he studied history at Nottingham University. “I was passionate about it,” he says. “Plus it gives you critical thinking, you have to evaluate, analyse, present arguments.” However he suggests adding practical skills, such as in computing, which students can develop in their own time. Chen would also like to see more hustle and enthusiasm from recruits. He values “self-starters, people who, as kids, have been building things in their respective fields . . . and have brought that [to us] after they’ve graduated from university.”Communicating these qualities in an application, however, is not easy. More than 40 per cent of UK 18-year-olds now apply for university, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence-assisted applications may make it harder to stand out from the crowd. Estimates from employers who spoke to the FT last summer indicated around half of jobseekers were using AI to apply for jobs, forcing employers to sift through more poor quality applications.Burney says there is nothing wrong with using AI to help craft applications, but urges hopefuls to familiarise themselves with models, and to use more than one to refine responses. “An AI tool is only as good as the inputs that you give it,” he says. “Being a jobseeker can feel like a full-time job. The crux should be having a really well-crafted CV . . . Something that makes you stand out from the crowd.” Demographic trends suggest the jobs market will turn in graduates’ favour. Stephen Isherwood, ISE’s chief executive, wrote in its 2024 student recruitment survey that declining birth rates and the increased need for skilled people remained significant challenges. “Our view is that employers are currently shielded from these two pressures because of poor economic growth. But once growth returns we expect employers to face significant shortages of available talent. The post-pandemic hiring crisis demonstrated just how quickly labour markets can tighten.”For graduates emerging into a low-growth environment, however, there is little left to do but keep trying. Shoesmith, of the REC, suggests adopting creative approaches. “Know the recruiters in the local area that recruit for those roles, figure out the companies that hire, and figure out what the people in jobs you like have in terms of skills, background work experience, [and] education.”
