{"id":768362,"date":"2026-09-12T13:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T13:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/768362\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T13:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T13:22:16","slug":"i-graduated-from-one-of-londons-top-universities-100-job-applications-later-im-still-unemployed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/768362\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I graduated from one of London\u2019s top universities \u2013 100 job applications later I\u2019m still unemployed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On paper, it should have straight forward for Emily Shulman to secure a job upon graduating from her journalism master\u2019s degree at Goldsmiths University<\/a> in London<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The 22-year-old had already achieved an undergraduate degree in criminology and sociology from the University of Nottingham, and has a host of work experiences and internships under her belt. <\/p>\n

However, more than 100 applications later and she remains unemployed and is among the one million young people <\/a>struggling to settle into a career. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt first it was instant rejections but as I did more work experience, I got more interviews but ultimately everything was leading to nothing,\u201d she told The Independent. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried different approaches such as reaching out to people on LinkedIn, applying online, emailing – but so often I\u2019ve been ghosted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent official figures showed the number of vacancies in the UK jobs market fell to a five-year low in the three months to July.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AroundAround one in eight people aged 16 to 24 in the UK are not in education, employment or training (Alamy\/PA) (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey found that small firms may not be recruiting because of increased labour costs and other business expenses, while the war in the Middle East has caused economic uncertainty and rising living costs. <\/p>\n

This has particularly impacted young people, with the latest data, published earlier this year, showing the number of people aged between 16 and 24 and not in employment, education or training \u2013 so-called Neets \u2013 was at nearly one million. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people are in the same position as me,\u201d Ms Shulman said. \u201cMy sister is one year older and she did a law conversion and couldn\u2019t get a training contract. She\u2019s ended up moving to Manchester and doing something law-related but not what she really wanted to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my friends from my master\u2019s are still unemployed. It\u2019s so hard anyways going from living independently in university to living with your parents. The cost of London makes socialising so hard, going on a night out together is especially hard when you have no income.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has since carried out a number of unpaid internships in order to gain as much work experience as possible, but says the job market is \u201coversaturated\u201d and that many advertisements require several years of experience for junior roles. <\/p>\n

Another issue named by those applying is the presence of \u201cghost jobs\u201d. This refers to the practice of employers or recruiters advertising roles which may already have been filled or may not have existed in the first place. <\/p>\n

The purpose of this is often to build a pool of candidates for future hiring, or to keep a list of names incase the recent hire doesn\u2019t work out. <\/p>\n

\"MsMs Shulman has done a number of internships and has both a Masters and an undergraduate degree (Emil Kunda and Gavin Alexander)<\/p>\n

A report published by City Hall in April found that artificial intelligence was threatening at least a million jobs in London alone, mainly administrative roles and jobs in areas such as IT and data analysis. <\/p>\n

Women, who are overrepresented in administrative and clerical roles, young people and those with higher educational levels are among the most exposed, the report states.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to stay optimistic but it is really disheartening, especially when you can\u2019t celebrate your achievements,\u201d Ms Shulman said. \u201cI was coming to the end of my Masters but that looming deadline of September and having nothing to show for it clouded everything. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel you can\u2019t be excited until you know what you\u2019re doing,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The ONS said its early estimates show there were around 6,000 fewer vacancies between May and July, compared with February to April.<\/p>\n

This brings the level of vacancies down to 707,000, the lowest in more than five years or, outside of the Covid pandemic years, since 2014.<\/p>\n

Vacancies slumped earlier in the year in a sign that firms were pulling back hiring in the face of economic uncertainty and higher wage costs.<\/p>\n

\"SpencerSpencer Stern has applied to over 200 jobs since he left his data analyst role in July 2025 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t just graduates who are struggling to find secure employment. Spencer Stern, 44, spent nine years as a senior data analyst before leaving his role last summer, but has now applied to over 200 jobs in his ongoing search. <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I just get frustrated and fire off applications and not care,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got these AI \u2018easy apply\u2019 type jobs which I\u2019ve found quite rubbish. It\u2019s just shooting applications into a black hole. They are essentially flooding the recruiters with CVs which makes it even harder for those who are not using auto-apply apps.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIn terms of difficulties in the job market, it\u2019s gone from a handful of stages to a ridiculous amount of stages. You now have to apply with a cover letter and a questionnaire, then a one-way video interview, a test, a call with a recruiter, a hiring manager, a take home task and a presentation before in-person interviews.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Mr Stern is channelling his energy into building his own venture ChatbotCV, which he hopes will help employers filter through CVs for the relevant information.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most devastating things about being out of work is the unstructured time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s devastating on the mind so over time I\u2019ve had to structure my thoughts and figure out something that\u2019s keeping me busy, in a way that I can hopefully monetise.\u201d <\/p>\n

A DWP spokesperson said: \u201cEvery young person deserves the chance to build a future they can be proud of, and we are reforming Jobcentres so they are better able to support those including graduates trying to find work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to our \u00a32.5 billion investment, there are more opportunities opening up for those looking to take the next step in their career, supporting almost one million young people and unlocking up to 500,000 jobs and training opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses also receive significant tax breaks through the national insurance exemption for under-21s and apprentices under 25, alongside hiring incentives worth up to \u00a38,000 when they take on an eligible young person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-768362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}