Did your son or daughter struggle to find work after university?

No , neither son struggled - both were offered jobs at the companies they did placements with and directly related to degrees. Majority of their courses got jobs.

Both did degrees at a top 10 Uni ( not Russel group)

No. They did MEng Mechanical Engineering and both got jobs in their chosen field linked to their degrees.

Private Eye magazine printed stats recently that show d there were about 8,000 graduate job vacancies advertised this year, and about 400,000 graduates.

When you consider that graduates from last year and the year before are also likely to be applying, it’s scary.

I think it must depend on the level of degree and subject. My husband employs graduates and won’t employ anyone without a Masters. I’ve also found those with STEM degrees don’t seem to struggle so much.

My son has a double First from Cambridge and it took a couple of years to get into his field - a couple of years of interning supported by some paid work - but long-term it was very worthwhile

My son took 18 months to find a job in Computer Science. Most of his friends took the same time or longer.

Son graduated in summer with Master’s Civil Engineering and has walked straight into a job. It helped that he did a year in industry and it was this company who offered him a job.

DD obtained a 2:1 in Ed Psychology from Bath Spa this year. She’s gone on to study for a Masters in Education Studies. Where this will lead, I’m not sure. She wants to work in child MH, so hoping there will be jobs available!

My DD came home and made applying for jobs her job. She was up by 9am. She ensured her CV was adapted for each application and she scoured the advertisers for jobs relevant to her degree in our area,her Uni area and in her boyfriends area.

If she didnt hear back, she would politely call and ask if her CV had been received.

She ended up securing work near her BF. It was a call she made and they had been so inundated with applications they didnt know where to start! It was a small start up and they were impressed by her proactivity and politeness. She had a video call with them and agreed to start the following Monday! Suitcase packed and off she went. We visited a few weeks later with the rest of her stuff. She lived with her BF and his father for a few years until they bought a place of their own.

My son did a degree apprenticeship so he had a work opportunity directly at the end, although they had to apply for roles - he is still there 10 years on albeit in a different department.

Both DCs finished uni a couple of years ago - one ( Archaeology degree ) did a 6 month grad scheme with a large commercial archaeology firm and has been working for them ever since and the other ( Music ) had been picking up work while at Uni and just carried on doing the same once they graduated.

I've posted about this before - DS secured an engineering job during his 4th year at uni. He had already turned down a job where he'd done an internship as he wanted to work in a different area of engineering.
Unfortunately this job offer basically got rescinded during the summer the graduated so was left with no job for september. Luckily though he secured another job for the following Sept and spent last year working in the local pub and travelling. All worked out well in the end.

Good luck to everyone trying. It is a full time job now to apply for jobs. There are so many hoops to jump through before you even get to talk to a real person.

Surely people need to say how recent they are talking about? Coming out of uni 10 years ago and getting a job is different to trying to get one now.

Firstly time frame matters as pp said.
secondly you’ll get people sharing how their dc walked into a job with ease. You only need to do a quick google search to see that graduate unemployment is a massive problem. Dd has just got a job- first one she applied to since graduating. She just got very lucky.

Dd1 took six months to get a job after graduating
Dd2 did a Summer internship in a bulge bracket investment bank last year and was offered a graduate role . She graduated this year and started working in July

No. DS got a first in his law degree. He got a training contract with the same firm he'd done his VAC scheme with whilst at uni. They offered him a job at the end of his training contract. Dd got a job with the same company she did her work experience with in year 12. They graduated 8 and 2 years ago respectively.

DS1 got a competitive business graduate job with a degree in Geography, the other successful candidate had a degree in Chemistry. Two years ago now.
DS2 is currently doing his fourth year (in industry) for his Mchem, graduating next summer so we’ll see how that pans out.
Nephew 1 applied for and got a graduate job in a bank within four weeks of finishing this summer. Studied Maths.
Nephew 2 graduated with a Biology degree this summer and still looking. For anything.

The eldest got a graduate job straight away after doing a summer internship. The younger one took about 6 months to get his first grad post. Not long enough to start stressing over and he kept up his pt bar job in the interim.

People really should state the year their child graduated. Things have changed so much even in the last 2-3 years.

Placement directly relevant to degree being key.

My eldest also secured a job before graduating and had an offer from a placement which she didn't take up as it wasn't the direction she wanted to go in - vocational degree in a healthcare adjacent sector though!

Sadly the days when you could do a degree for the love of the academic subject and be considered a prime employee because a graduate was someone special are long gone now almost 50% of school leavers go to university.

People should also be aware that the 18 year olds who aren’t off to uni are also struggling massively to find jobs. And that once you’ve got a degree you’ll always have it.

It is a very tough job market for everyone at the moment though.

DD1 graduated STEM/top uni/First in 2023. No career plans. Got a rubbish office job for £29k in London. Then moved to Civil Service. Very happy. She didn’t need a degree forthe job though.

My other two didn’t bother with uni as they were already hearing it wasn’t worth it.

DT1 did a L4 apprenticeship and stayed on. Great salary and prospects. Data science.
DT2 got a job in a local bank. Quickly worked her way up and has now moved over for lower salary and better prospects in a financial services field.

Twins’ friends are now looking for graduate jobs and having a terrible time. They are happy with their choice not to go.

Yep, so I started my own practice.

Mine aren’t uni age yet but of the young relatives (nephews/nieces) none seemed to have struggled, this is the past two yrs

degrees were
nursing /midwifery - she’s working in that field
civil engineering - gone into trading
aero engineering - joining the air force soon to be a pilot
mechanical engineering - offshore oil well decommissioning
industrial electrician (placements/apprenticeship) - offshore vast gas project, v well paid
something to do with construction management - seems to have joined the company they worked part time for while at uni, again seems well paid

DS graduated July 2025. He is yet to find work in his field. He did a BEng Mechanical Engineering.
He worked in a supermarket through his degree. Luckily. As it means he has employment now. But, it's very depressing for him as he wants to focus on his future in Engineering. Not stack shelves on minimum wage.

His (now ex) girlfriend is in the same position with her degree and trying to find work. They graduated at the same time.

DS got offered a job before he’d graduated (predicted 1:2, but graduated with a 1st. HE did a
3rd year placement who also offered him a job but he’d already he didn’t want to work in that particular field