Competition for graduate jobs has reached a record high, with the average employer receiving 140 applications per role, according to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE).
More than one million applications were submitted for just under 17,000 graduate vacancies in 2023-24 — a 59 per cent year-on-year increase, which makes for the highest demand-supply deficit since ISE began tracking this data in 1991.
Contributing factors include AI speeding up applications, economic challenges, and relaxed entry criteria for some roles.
The ISE surveyed 145 employers, that made over 40,000 new student hires, including 16,865 graduates and 6,014 school and college leavers.
According to the Office for National Statistics, only 60.4 per cent of graduates aged 21 to 30 in England were in “high-skilled” roles last