Why are junior posts in IT so difficult to find ?

[Mynameismynumber]

DS has just graduated with a decent degree in computing and is really struggling to find a job in his chosen field. He’s actually struggling to find any kind of employment tbh. Had 2 interviews so far which sadly led to nothing, one in retail, one in a coffee shop and it’s really starting to affect his mood. He’s now going to apply for some voluntary work to keep him occupied and gain some customer service skills but he’s starting to doubt that he’s good enough for that.
What we’ve noticed are the large numbers of ‘IT apprenticeships’ paying the same amount (£20-23k) as jobs asking for IT experience which sadly DS doesn’t have. He can’t apply for apprenticeships because he’s too qualified and yet he’d be quite happy to work for NMW just to get his foot in the door. I’m reading and hearing about lots of other recent graduates unable to find work, particularly in IT. It seems weird that companies are falling over themselves to offer apprenticeships rather than employ relatively skilled graduates. Anyone in IT give us any advice ? Anyone’s DC in a similar situation ?

I’ve done a lot of recruiting into IT first line (Service Desk/Helpdesk) jobs., which is where most people start. As he’s found graduate jobs are few and far between. Apply for the jobs with low experience needed (especially helpdesk/service desk)

I’d recommend he gets an awareness of ITIL processes (lots of reading and videos without playing for the qualification). He doesn’t need to pay to do the qualification.

The keys skills he’ll actually need are not necessarily technical, (every organisation is a bit different) although an understanding of Windows OS will help.

The skills I’ve always looked for are:

Customer service. Not necessarily in IT, some of the best IT people I’ve worked with have customer service skills honed elsewhere. Do they communicate with the customer and colleagues.

Problems solving ability. How do they approach a problem, do they keep the customer informed, where do they look for guidance - knowledge based/ colleagues etc.

Knowing when to escalate. Knowing they can’t solve everything and not trying to be independent so much to the detriment of the customer.

Attitude. Are they positive, have they researched the organisation and technology, company and department strategy.

On a technical front, it’s great when they can recognise what a cyber attack might look like (how it presents to a customer)

Graduates are often oversold on what they’ll do post university. Like others have said it’s a tough market so entry level is it for a lot.

That said opportunities are there once they’ve gotten that first role. Then with exposure to all the different parts of IT people can find their niche, and what actually interests them (the reality is most don’t know until they start doing it) and network with other teams and learn from them.

Where in the country is he looking?

Did he apply for any graduate schemes? He's missed the boat for this year, but they'll reopen for next Sept from around Christmas time. Even if he's in a job by then, it might be worth seeing if he can get into a scheme at a better company: the experience, training and development you get on a graf scheme can be really valuable

Also, what does he want to do within IT? Are you looking at Tech specifically? Or Software dev? Gaming? IT support in a corporate? All quite different. If the latter also look at places like IBM who have a consultantancy arm

Gradcracker a pp mentioned above is a useful link.

Has he tried the big service providers - Accenture, Infosys etc. Could be a way to get some experience.

Has he looked at local authorities? Would get him a foot in the door then there might be more opportunities once he's in. They quite often do graduate schemes as well so even if he's missed the boat for this year, there's still next year.

It might also provide opportunities for working in schools?

Did he apply for any graduate schemes? He's missed the boat for this year, but they'll reopen for next Sept from around Christmas time.

Exactly what I was going to say.

I would encourage him to ensure his CV is well written, organise some interview practice, and skill up on areas of IT that are in demand that weren't covered on his degree.

I don’t know if this still happens but friends DS works in IT but started in 2019 he did gain work experience when even in high school but he also took part in a few hackathons, does this still happen? It gave him loads of contacts.

“Graduate” jobs in IT are hard to come by. The industry tends to focus more on what practical skills you’ve got than what qualifications you’ve got. Most people start out at the bottom (below graduate level) and work their way up. It seems that apprenticeships are easier to get than graduate jobs.

I would suggest developing a portfolio to demonstrate his skills. Set up a LinkedIn profile and use it to network and apply for jobs. Connect with people at companies he likes the look of, make intelligent comments on their posts, and politely ask for referrals if they hear of any jobs. Register with recruitment agencies and temp agencies. Do some freelance work if possible.

What does your DS want to do? With more info we can perhaps advise further.

For entry level help desk jobs focus on soft skills - customer service skills, managing priorities, good communication, thinking creatively. What jobs has he had before? A lot of the traditional sixth form/university jobs will demonstrate experience.

What uni did he go to? Universities these days partly sell themselves on getting their graduates into jobs, so it's disappointing that he's had zero support from them.

Is he still applying for those type of jobs? Worth a try even if the ‘experience’ is unrelated but has transferable skills.

I’m reminded of companies asking for X years of experience in certain programmes where X is longer than the programme has been publicly available for so it was impossible to actually meet the recruitment criteria 🤷🏽‍♀️

I work for a big bank and we just did our IT grad recruitment in June. Search for tech grad programmes, a lot of them open around January time. You get placed into a role for two years and at the end you apply for a permanent position. It also looks like a great community to be a part of, a lot of the grads move from other cities and live together and it's really supportive.

Don't leave it til Jan to start looking for grad schemes, lots startr in September

IT is a massive area - what is he looking for? What jas his degree covered? Is he involved in open source as a hobby?

My husband works in IT and when he recruits he looks for experience over a degree. He started in the local high school as IT support then worked up from 2nd line to where he is now.
Most of his staff started on Service desks.

Was his degree in IT or was it in a different field? What sort of area is he looking at? Pure IT / development or with a business focus? Lots of companies take on grads in IT/business without degrees in either of these areas. I've known of performing arts grads get into IT related graduate schemes as it's their all round skill set. IT can be taught, soft skills less so.

Thanks for the really helpful replies. His degree is in computing from our local uni which doesn’t have the best rep tbh. I’m not well informed about the IT world at all but he tells me that he is working on things to show his proficiencies. I do know that he’s done some free Microsoft courses amongst other things.
He has now agreed to do some voluntary work with the local council and a charity run cafe, maybe he can help them with any IT issues ? I think he needs to develop soft skills like others have mentioned upthread, working in a team, dealing with customers etc he’s had a few interviews with retail companies and what’s let him down is probably his lack of confidence and experience.

What has he done to date, OP? I'd expect someone who's old enough to have finished a degree to have some work experience - whether that is voluntary or paid. It doesn't have to be in IT - any sort of standard retail/hospitality job will tick a lot of skills boxes.

I'd also expect someone who was interested in IT to be able to demonstrate this - does he code in his spare time, has he built his own computer network, does he engage with online communities etc.

You mentioned in your OP that you don't understand why employers want to employ apprentices rather than relatively skilled graduates. My DS is currently doing an apprenticeship and to get the apprenticeship he needed to demonstrate both soft skills and experience and passion for IT - which he did through voluntary work, paid jobs, and description of his self initiated IT "projects".
Does your DS have more than a degree to make him more attractive than someone like my DS? It may be just that you've not mentioned it here, but he really needs to be doing more to sell himself.