AI is tanking the UK graduate job market, new reports show.
Susie from Sheffield spent nine months job hunting after her PhD. Over 700 applications later, she only landed a role paying under £30k, barely above a PhD stipend after tax.
Susie explained how AI changed everything: 
> “Thousands of people are applying to the same jobs now – on LinkedIn you can see the number of people who have pressed apply and often one hour after a job is posted hundreds of people have already [applied].”
Entry-level jobs are disappearing fast as employers cut costs and use AI-driven hiring software to weed out candidates. Candidates say AI job filters favor keyword stuffing and penalize real skills.
Martyna, 23, prepping to graduate from York University, has applied to 150 entry-level roles across marketing, publishing, and retail. She’s had five interviews, many instant rejections, and lots of ghosting.
Martyna described the AI job hunt nightmare:
> “Platforms use AI to search for key words. I have friends who have copied entire job descriptions, pasted them into the Word document, reduced the font, and turned the colour to white so AIs find the words they’re looking for. It feels dystopian.”
Graduates say their degrees don’t help much. Employers prize customer-facing experience more than impressive academic credentials now.
Lucy, 24, from Lincolnshire, with a visual communication degree, struggles to get design jobs but easily lands education roles thanks to her support work experience.
> “Jobs don’t care if you have a degree,” Lucy said. “I have a degree in visual communication and can’t get hired in the design industry, but my experience working in a college means I pretty much always get interviews for education-related roles.”
Parents and experts warn AI-driven hiring is creating an even murkier market. Willemien Schurer, London mother of two grads, said:
> “[I’ve read in the news] that recruiters are bemoaning that so many applications fit the bill so precisely that they don’t know how to filter them.”
Her son spent five months applying to 200 jobs post-graduation with no success. AI gave recruiters hundreds of near-identical AI-crafted CVs and cover letters to sift through.
> “If everyone ticks all the boxes, then how to discern whom to pick? Grade inflation [at school and university] has now followed people into the job market.”
A Swedish business school professor warned:
> “AI-generated resumes screened by AI HR software means [one’s success] is so much more dependent on networks and who you know, but gen Z know fewer people in real life and depend on digital connections, which is not optimal.”
> “While companies are using AI to reduce costs, students are using it for all uni work and to replace thinking, and are subsequently de-optimising themselves for future jobs.”
Recruitment pros note graduates are increasingly unable to think, write, or problem-solve without AI. This has led to a sharp drop in hiring for new grads.
An anonymous London consultancy recruiter summed it up:
> “Being able to write well and think coherently were basic requirements in most graduate jobs 10, 15 years ago. Now, they are emerging as basically elite skills. Almost nobody can do it.”
Graduate Sanjay Balle, 26, has sent over 500 applications since last summer. He works as a waiter on zero-hours and worries AI cuts jobs and pathways.
> “I think we need to encourage young people to explore other options apart from university, to pursue vocational paths and go into trades, but we also need to help university graduates like me.”
Oxford microbiology grad Louise laments how her skills go unused in her new graduate trainee job.
> “There are very few jobs available for graduates, and entry-level jobs appear to be increasingly hiring experienced employees who also apply, making them less entry-level.”
> “The job I’ve been offered is not using the skills I have. I just want to use my degree.”
The UK graduate job market is slammed by AI-triggered applicant overload, job cuts, and skills mismatches. Young applicants face fierce competition with AI tools making hiring a puzzle no one can solve.
