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

Ds1 is a vet, he walked into his first job as soon as he graduated.
Dd graduated this year with a first in a fairly niche subject. She isn't following a career in her degree subject at the moment, but is working as a ta in a send school. It wasn't her first choice but she is finding it rewarding and is in no hurry to move on. Life throws curve balls sometimes.

@Downsidesupside But vets nearly always get work don’t they! There’s hardly any vet schools. Theres over a hundred unis offering history. It’s no comparison.

We have several friends whose children have graduated over the last 5 yrs. Id say less than ½ have gone into their chosen field but all have found work, all be ut on a lower wage than a job related to their degree would pay.

No - DS did a degree in Accountancy and secured an internship fairly quickly with a local authority who offered further training and career development opportunities - he’s now still working for them 10+ years later in a more senior role
DD dropped out of university in second year and found a rewarding career elsewhere - which has allowed her to gain industry specific qualifications in a niche field - she is currently on maternity leave but will return soon PT and will have many opportunities for progression

Why are so many of them applying for jobs AFTER they graduate?

I graduated in the 2010s and applications for graduate schemes used to open up to 12 months in advance. Is that no longer the case?

I secured a graduate job in the City in November for the following September.

Why are so many of them applying for jobs AFTER they graduate?

I graduated in the 2010s and applications for graduate schemes used to open up to 12 months in advance. Is that no longer the case?

I secured a graduate job in the City in November for the following September.

I graduated with a science degree in 1991 when only around 13% of the population in the uk actually went to university and finished their degree.

1991 was a shit year to graduate.

It took me 3 years of dead-end zero-hour jobs before I did a TEFL course and ended up with a career that took me around the world and back to teaching in the UK in colleges and universities.

I was rubbish at English at school, did something completely different at university, then ended up teaching it. I found enough interest in it to later pursue an MA and then a PhD in it and having an amazing career that had no connection to my UG degree. Nevertheless, without the initial degree, I would not have got the work visas I needed to pursue what ended up being my vocation.

Sometimes the field (selected at 17 years old!) is not as important as the opportunities that the degree brings. Sometimes it can take years to find an alternative fit for the individual. And sometimes, doing jobs that make us unhappy are just the boot up the arse we need to explore other possibilities.

DS26 graduated three years ago after a five year degree in automotive engineering, with a first, and an excellent report from his industrial placement, and had a job he wanted before graduation. So did every one in his student house, all on the same course.

i suggest civil service to my dd
also suggest a masters
although she has a job it does not require a degree and she does not want to go higher up in that field.

DS graduated in 2025 with a Maths degree, started job searching September same year and landed a grad job in insurance which started January this year . he is very luck but selection process was tough , interviews, tests, one day selection workshop, presentations.

This thread doesn’t reflect the 2026 reality that I’m seeing around me here in London and amongst friend’s kids.I work in education and we have many TAs that are graduates and are doing the work until they secure a better job. Some have been with us for years. They have applied for hundreds of jobs.

However a degree is for life and is always worth it eventually imo.

Sounds like they didn’t get a training contract after their degree and are doing a job in a law firm rather than being an associate? My friends DD graduated from UCL 2 years ago, with a training contract from a London based firm and should have a job there when she finishes- great money but awful hours. Less than half their grad class are actually working in law.

2 x 2025 engineering grads I know and both working in retail while applying for engineering jobs. AI and automation has had a huge impact in their sector.

There are still graduate schemes that open up a year in advance. But they are extremely competitive and only have a comparatively tiny number of places. Many students are applying for a huge number of jobs now before getting lucky. The jobs themselves also require more in terms of hoops to jump though - multiple rounds of intereview etc. That takes a lot of time. A lot more students also work part time in conjunction with their degree to make ends meet. There simply isn't time to job search at the intense level required, work part time in a paid job, and spend enough time on your studies to get a decent degree.

Yes agree. The poster also needed to ask what year the student graduated to take any meaningful conclusions.

The reality for grads now is v tough. My DS1 graduated this summer and has started a grad job this Sept with a major retailer after a paid internship with them last summer. He applied for every marketing internship going and landed this one. But it was months of work, alongside his second year degree work to land one.
He did all the usual stuff of tailoring his CV for each app etc.
He got to different stages for over 50 applications. But only got one offer it was a full time job applying for internships. Often the stages of selection had very strict time limits (take these tests in next 24hours etc) which was extremely hard to manage with multiple applications on the go and his uni work. The one he landed had 5 stages of selection. He didn't interact with a human until stage 4.
The benefit was that in the Aug before yesr 3 he knew he had a job and could properly enjoy his final year in the subject he loves.
There are a handful of grads from his course with grad roles. Most are doing multiple part time roles or working as TAs and still looking.

One did a masters and is working in their field, having been headhunted before they had even finished their masters.
And one, having studied in their field, realised they didn’t want to work in it but stayed to get a degree.

DS graduated in 2025 having done a placement year in his area of interest. He did some freelance work for them in his final year and has been there full time now for a year. It’s a leading consultancy in his field of research interest and he is doing extremely well

I am not seeing any of his peers struggle to find roles from grads in 2024-25. There are a good few surveyors, the ones at law school have all secured training contracts albeit some took a couple of goes to get there, 4 or 5 have gone to the big 4 to train as accountants. One has a pupillage lined up and 2 are training as actuaries. 3 or 4 have gone into the banks, one is doing some kind of aviation thing at Gatwick and a couple on to software training. A few are working in social media marketing including one at a premium international brand and once 2 have done PGCE’s

No, my 4 grandchildren all went to different Uni’s for different things, but all found jobs they wanted straight away.

Whether it’s worth the debt is a debatable point though. 🤷‍♀️

I employ graduates in the creative sector there is a pile of unis taking on completely usless non talented designers who’s portfolios are GCSE level, I won’t name the unis but if your children are doing a creative degree please please only go to the good courses and make sure they are talented to start with.

Uni like places like Brighton and Bournemouth are producing some great creatives along with Bristol and Manchester.

This sector is doing OK and weathering the AI storm so far.

There are too many variables to answer this meaningfully. When did they graduate? What is their degree? Where in the country are they looking?
STEM and vocational degrees may fare better- but we have several friends whose graduate children are still struggling to get a job ‘in their field’ and are working in much lower paid jobs than they hoped. It is really tough out there. A degree is not worth what it was and once they are a few years post grad, employment history is more relevant than having a degree or not.
Best option is a degree with a year in Industry as those who manage to secure a placement seem to often get a job after.
Also bear in mind the cost of going rises year on year - with accommodation costs rising at above inflation. £10k for year 1 Halls is not uncommon even outside London- so the cost for parents to top up or for the student to earn are much more than 5 years ago or longer.
Not meaning to be negative- but Uni should be a positive, well thought out choice now - not the default if they don’t know what to do.

Is it the case that people with specific degrees find it easier to secure a job?

It seems as the chemical engineering graduates can secure jobs more easily. I know a handful of people that have just graduated in Chm Engineering and they have got jobs at Silverstone and at a Mercedes employer nearby after working there for their yr3 in industry.

If you have a degree in English it’s probably harder to find a job.

Your son started his first job as a lawyer on 72k eight years ago? Wow, that’s good. My niece just got a graduate job (as a lawyer) at a Magic Circle City law firm and they start on 56k.

OP I think you should re-phrase your question and ask for experience in the past 3 years. Some of these posts sound like they went through the experience 10 years ago and the market has taken a nose dive since then!

Yes exactly! That is pretty much what this article says. So Physics degree from Manchester, you will probably be fine, Theatre Studies from a low ranking uni, you may well struggle.

https://ifs.org.uk/news/average-graduate-can-expect-be-around-ps100k-better-over-their-lifetime-going-university

And to answer the OP - DC1 got lucky. Graduated in a science subject at Imperial College in 2024. They applied for only 4 scientist jobs, got interviewed for 2 and got 1 of them and have been happily working in that job ever since.