12 hours ago
New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years
Robert Trowe never imagined it would be so difficult landing a full-time job. By the time the 21-year-old graduated from Arizona State University in May, he had a roster of references, a network of family and alumni offering advice and a summer internship at JPMorgan Chase & Co. under his belt. Like any good finance major, he's kept a spreadsheet of all 300 jobs he's applied to since the start of his senior year, and the stats are bleak: Just 4% resulted in interviews, 33% sent an automated rejection, and the rest haven't gotten back at all. 'The entry-level roles are few and far between,' he says. 'Everyone I know who is graduating right now is struggling.'
Every generation seems to think they're entering the workforce at a difficult time—just ask those still-reeling 2008 grads who launched during the Great Recession—and they're not entirely wrong. After all, the US has undergone three recessions since 2000. But there are signs the most recent college grads are facing especially brutal conditions, thanks in part to the rise of artificial intelligence, which is replacing some entry-level positions, and the hiring freezes implemented across much of corporate America under the threat of President Donald Trump's on-again-off-again tariffs.
