Supporting early career graduates through job applications

Careers services need to be able to identify those students who may struggle most with job applications and engage with them where they already are, writes Chloe Cruse, deputy manager (optional placements) at the University of Portsmouth

Support for early career graduates has been available for many years from careers teams across the sector. However, due to competition within the job market, plus increasing time commitments outside of job applications, many challenges are being faced from the outset.

Students are working more hours alongside their studies. Anecdotally, we are aware that the cost of living crisis has led to some students putting working to earn money ahead of their academic studies. An article from the Guardian supports this, suggesting that students are averaging a 48-hour working week when university and part-time work commitments are combined.1

Furthermore, the Prospects Luminate Early Careers Survey 2024 shows that 50% of respondents reported that balancing commitments was one of the biggest challenges they face.2 This rose to 60% in the final year undergraduate respondents.

Who is impacted most by uncertainty?

The good news is that the Early Careers Survey 2024 also tells us that engagement with careers services has increased and that this engagement increases students’ certainty in their career plans beyond graduation. The bad news is that, according to the House of Commons Education Committee, those who could benefit most from increased certainty in their future career are less likely to access and/or receive careers support.3 These groups include those from minority ethnic backgrounds, and young carers, but also students whose parents did not attend university themselves.

The Early Careers Survey shows that neurodivergent students are finding it more difficult to navigate the early career journey. Careers services and employers should consider how they approach job application processes to reach a wider audience.

How can we support early careers graduates?

For careers services, it is important to identify the student groups within your own student body who may find the job application process more difficult than others. Enact targeted initiatives to support those student groups around their needs or to address their concerns. This could include mentoring schemes for neurodivergent students or the use of career readiness data.

This will help identify final year students at risk of becoming a graduate who is uncertain of their career plans. Interventions at this stage can raise awareness of the services offered and, hopefully, reduce students’ worries when entering a job application process.

Engage with students where they already are. Embedding employability into curriculum activities has gained traction in recent years. If students can really only commit time to their timetabled studies and part-time work, then bring the careers support into the timetable. Show them how the skills gained in their studies and part-time work can be transferred to a graduate job application.

For employers, consider your own recruitment pipeline and how you could engage students both in the classroom and outside of their studies. Does a career with your organisation have to start at graduation? Could you offer valuable part-time work or short-term internships? Are company initiatives around diversity clear in your early career recruitment?

The job application process can be overwhelming for early careers graduates so ensuring that they have the correct tools is important. Moreover, what is especially important is that they understand the support that is available to them from both their university careers team and their potential future employer.

This article was first published in the 2024/25 edition of What do graduates do?

Notes

1. More than half of UK students working long hours in paid jobs, The Guardian, 2024.
2. Early Careers Survey 2024, Prospects Luminate, 2024.
3. Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance - Fourth Report of Session 2022-23, 2023.

Written by

Chloe Cruse

Deputy manager (optional placements)

University of Portsmouth