Has Graduate Recruitment become Graduate Rejection?

Having been a graduate recruiter my entire career, working in Investment Banking, FMCGs, and the Public Sector, I can say with utter certainty that getting a “graduate job” with a top employer is harder now than at any time during my 26 years in the sector.

I am sure that statistic scared you! It scares and depresses me, as graduate recruitment has been reduced to graduate rejection. Processing this volume of rejections has become big business with employers increasingly turning to AI to help them sift and even screen the early stages of their recruitment process.  Where does the 98.2% statistic come from? Annually Highfliers Research releases ‘The UK Graduate Careers Survey’ which in 2024 was based on face-to-face interviews conducted on-campus with more than 14,000 final-year students from the ‘Class of 2024’ at 30 leading universities across the UK. The survey revealed that collectively these students had submitted over 1 million job applications (for approximately 28,500 positions) to the top employers by the end of February 2024, far exceeding the previous highest total of 819,000 during the 2021 graduate recruitment season. The shocking impact is that only 2.8% of graduates get a golden ticket for one of these “Willy Wonka” graduate positions.  Next time you pick up a coffee in Costa, ask your barista which university they recently graduated from!  The bad news for graduates is that employers report that application numbers continue to rise in 2025.

I question why this total obsession with graduate schemes is still so prevalent. A recent expose in The Sunday Times makes difficult reading for graduate employers.  Graduates across the sectors reveal what it’s really like on their graduate programmes. “Unprepared and underpaid,” said one in the corporate sector; “stuck working from bed,” said another.   A participant on a public sector programme remarked, “it was nothing to do with leadership, nothing to do with building skills, managing…all the things the ‘fast track’ promised, it had nothing to do with that.”

The reality of the marketplace is that nearly all graduates head into companies big and small as a ‘direct hire’ and various research reveals that after 3-5 years there is little difference between the career progression of direct hires and graduate scheme entrants.  In addition, the average amount of time a graduate spends in their first job is now only 2.5 years, so most don’t need to worry about their first job post university! This portfolio career world has changed the job market forever.

Whatever young people’s choices are after school, it’s become increasingly competitive.  School leaver recruitment is growing, but so is the interest, with an average of 113 applications per role (ISE, Oct 24).  Degree apprenticeships have increased in popularity and are nearly as competitive as graduate roles and to top it all off, just getting to a top university is now a major achievement (even if you have the grades), due to the flood of international students who are keeping the lights on at many institutions.  Russell Group universities are 57% funded by international students, UCL, Imperial and LSE 75% (The Times, Apr 24), so the next generation is hitting barriers in all directions.

So, what can we do?

Before we dive into practical ways to increase students’ chances of getting an aspirational career, it’s important to realise what actually matters for lifelong employability.  I am becoming increasingly convinced it can be broken down into 3 simple concepts: Skills, Knowledge and Experience.  Do you have the skills the employer wants? (to the level of proficiency required) Is there any knowledge you need? (most graduate schemes do not require specific knowledge) and finally, is there any experience required for the job? (relevant or any).  Think about how you are developing these 3 elements in your students.

Practical ways to help students

I recommend breaking down what you currently do, either extracurricular or curricular/PSHE into the “3 buckets” I believe are vital for lifelong employability:

1. Skills – students are developing skills in everything they do (curricular and extracurricular) but struggle to articulate and demonstrate these skills in a work context so delivering specific work/professional skill-related sessions and practice graduate assessment opportunities will help them understand the link between the two.
2. Knowledge – we must tell students the truth about the future of work.  Bringing in experts who know the market, alumni who can share their stories and employers who can share their opportunities is critical. Your students need to know that good grades are insufficient on their own.
3. Experience – whilst I question the value and effort of arranging short work experience opportunities for a vast number of students, I do recommend encouraging them to use their initiative to find work.  Self-sourced holiday work or a long-term part-time job will enable them to gain a plethora of skills, resilience and confidence, regardless of the industry or menial nature of the work.  In addition, arranging community outreach work or challenges where a whole year group works on tackling local social injustices will open their eyes to the world around them.  Finally, mock assessment centres are a great way for students to “have a go” in a safe environment so they are less daunted when facing assessment for the first time by an employer or university.

I hope this article has opened your eyes a little bit to the reality of the world of work.  I will be going into much more detail at the HMC Conference for Heads of Sixth Form on the 23 January 2025, and hope to see you there.

For those not attending, I work with over 25 HMC schools offering talks, activities (e.g. the future of work, intro to transferable skills, AI in selection), PSHE curriculum content (e.g. LinkedIn and values/culture matching workshops, professional skills for the workplace), mock assessment centres & community challenges with local charities for sixth formers (and Y9 upwards) and can be contacted on [email protected].

About James Darley, Founder and CEO, Transform Society 

James is the driving force behind Transform Society. With more than 25 years’ experience in graduate recruitment he is widely recognised as one of the leading figures in the sector.

He has served as a Trustee for Frontline, Police Now, Think Ahead and Unlocked and was, for 15 years part of the original senior leadership team at Teach First which, under his aegis, reached #2 in the Times Top 100 of graduate employers and became the largest single recruiter of graduates in the UK. During his time at Teach First he recruited over 10,000 graduates for the most challenging schools across the UK.

Before joining Teach First James also ran graduate recruitment at Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and United Biscuits, so has significant experience across multiple sectors.

James is a Trustee of Now Teach, Romodels and also sits on the advisory board of the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation, a charity giving life-transforming education opportunities to disadvantaged and vulnerable children.

Finally, he is part of the Government’s National Leadership Programme for the top 100 public sector leaders.