I would have been better off working in a restaurant than getting my 2:1 degree

Since I graduated in 2024, I have discovered that the modern job hunt sits somewhere between a joke and a complete nightmare. My peer group had been told since early childhood how a degree would significantly increase our chances of being able to access the workforce and develop an interesting career, and, as a generation, we really believed it. That belief has cost us significantly.

A quarter of a century ago, 68 per cent of students were able to enter work immediately after graduating, with a further 20 per cent opting to gain further specialist qualifications. Today, the figure for immediate entry stands at 54 per cent – and is going south, fast. In 2000, the graduate unemployment rate was around 5 per cent, a stark contrast to the 16.9 per cent that now affects my generation.

Many of my friends are pursuing master’s degrees (an increasingly common requirement for certain industries), and even then, the outlook is bleak. A friend who recently attained a master’s from the University of Coventry is still struggling to find work, on top of that additional financial outlay. Another, who graduated with a first and with lots of work experience to her name, only scored a job in marketing after sending hundreds of applications and working in retail for a year. I have several other friends working in retail, which I’m not knocking, but if we knew this was going to be our professional future, a lot of us might not have opted to do degrees and gone straight into work instead.

There is so much talk around Generation Z’s supposed “laziness”, which only really adds to our despondency, because almost everyone I know is juggling their job search with minimum wage work. Added to this, the job-hunting process is dehumanising and depressing. There are endless rejections (if you’re lucky!), but it’s more usual to hear nothing back at all from hundreds, or even thousands, of applications.

I applied for many graduate roles, including programmes sponsored by the government and public services like the NHS. I attained high scores on all the entry tests, but my usual feedback after a long delay was of being “rejected due to the sheer volume of applicants”. This is experienced across my peer group. It’s not a lack of suitability for roles, just thousands of applicants all fighting to get into entry-level positions.

A close friend of mine has worked in a high-end restaurant chain since 2022. With tips, this is better paid than a lot of graduate entry jobs – again, something we could have been made aware of before getting degrees! Career advice in the UK at most schools is pretty non-existent. I applied to three restaurant chains and did some trial shifts, which went well. One of them told me I was over-qualified, and another – despite a really good trial shift – just ghosted me. No call, no text, no rejection letter explaining why. Again, professional ghosting is something being experienced by a lot of my generation, and it’s upsetting and alienating.

I have applied for so many roles, and I’ve found one of the biggest hurdles is the use of AI in the process. AI tools allow candidates to mass apply for roles, and companies also use AI to screen. Many recruitment systems are now set with such strict filters that 98 per cent of candidates are automatically rejected before a human ever sees them. This means applicants have a two in 100 chance of jumping through enough hoops to even make it to the next stage of the interview. And the 98 per cent who fail receive no feedback, no encouragement, nothing but an automated rejection, silence and more applications to fill out.

I also assume that the impersonal nature of this process must have unforeseen consequences for employers themselves. AI is trained to categorise data and search for specific keywords. It cannot measure more human factors which can only be evident often in person, like passion, teamwork and suitability for a role. This means talented people will miss out if they don’t algorithmically qualify – which is an insane system!

Then, 37 per cent of UK workers aged 18-34 believe they have applied for roles that were “ghost jobs”; ads for positions that didn’t genuinely exist. One of my peers works for a high-profile bank and has told me this is absolutely the case there. They are legally required to advertise the roles, but in reality, they are reserved for internal candidates and the kids of people who already work there. I know there has always been a system of “it’s who you know”, but it’s approaching farce if you can’t get into any industry unless you are connected. It’s no wonder “nepo babies” have a bad name!

My generation doesn’t want handouts and, contrary to popular opinion, we don’t expect six-figure salaries whilst working from home. But we do want a fair chance. We want (and need) better career advice starting from school. We need transparency about degrees and institutions’ employment success rates. And an actual human screening CVs and applications, and then doing the interview process doesn’t seem too much to ask for.

The UK clearly needs to invest in better training courses as an alternative to expensive degrees. But I’d also like companies and the government to know that we are human too. The combination of thousands of unsuccessful applications, ghosting by employers and job-hunting that doesn’t go anywhere is a major factor behind my generation’s poor mental health and growing despondency. Surely there has to be a better way forward than this?

Izzy Combi graduated from the University of Sussex in 2024 with a 2:1 in Business Management