Four hundred and thirty-seven job applications. That’s not a typo. For some young people in the UK right now, sending out hundreds of CVs and hearing almost nothing back has become the grim reality of trying to get a foothold in the working world.
The BBC has been speaking to young jobseekers across the country, and the picture they paint is exhausting. One graduate described spending six to eight hours a day on applications, tailoring cover letters, practising interview answers, only to receive automated rejections or, worse, complete silence.
“I’ve started to wonder if my emails are even landing anywhere,” one 23-year-old told the BBC. “You just shout into the void and hope something comes back.”
It’s not just graduates, either. School leavers and those trying to switch careers in their mid-twenties are hitting the same walls. Entry-level roles now routinely demand two or three years of experience, a requirement that would have seemed absurd a decade ago.
The numbers back this up. Youth unemployment in the UK has been creeping upward, with the 16 to 24 age group hit disproportionately hard since the post-pandemic hiring surge cooled off. Some sectors that were gobbling up young workers in 2021 and 2022, retail, hospitality, tech, have since frozen recruitment or cut headcount entirely.
So how are young people actually coping? Some have turned to freelance platforms, cobbling together an income from gig work while they keep applying. Others are moving back in with family to cut costs, a choice that stings but buys time. A few have started their own micro-businesses, not out of entrepreneurial ambition, but out of sheer necessity.
“I’d rather be employed,” admitted one 21-year-old who now sells handmade goods online. “But at least this keeps me busy and pays a little.”
There’s a real danger that a generation of bright, capable people will simply give up and drift into whatever work they can find, settling rather than striving.
The question nobody seems to have a convincing answer to is this: if young people are doing everything right and still can’t find work, what exactly are they supposed to do differently?
