Luke, 23, who studied product design at Central St Martin’s University, has not found a job even after applying for more than 400 positions.
The application process is quite vile. You apply, but then the [online process] wants to know the exact same information somewhere else in a different form.
What you end up having to do is actually go through it again and redo all of it from scratch.
Any normal person coming out of a university degree would think: “Yes, I’ve got a degree. I am now open to all these starting, junior jobs”.
You find out they haven’t got the finances or AI has just replaced a whole load of jobs.
The amount of rejections definitely make you depressed. It’s humiliating.
I started [claiming] Universal Credit in March last year. Entering into the job centres is really depressing.
I felt a sense of rejection. The fact that everything I’ve done means nothing, in this day and age it’s useless.
It’s the Catch-22 situation.
As you enter the job market that you want to go into, you don’t have enough experience for that job.
[And] you’re overskilled for basic jobs, like stacking shelves… which I’ve done before. But once you’ve got that degree you are pushed aside as being overskilled.
I’ve been rejected for cleaning roles, barista , normal cafe jobs, receptionist in hotels, waiters at restaurants.
I think I’ve had one interview for a janitor role. They said they’ll get back to me… I didn’t hear anything.