As the present job market continues to shift, 2025 school graduates categorical each optimism and concern about their job prospects, in accordance with Monster’s annual State of the Graduate Report.
Most graduates (83%) stated they had been assured about touchdown a job quickly after commencement, though 37% stated the job hunt may take 4-6 months.
“The job market is quickly shifting, and as we speak’s graduates are getting into it with each confidence and conviction,” Scott Blumsack, CMO of CareerBuilder + Monster, stated within the report.
“The message is evident: as we speak’s graduates are bold, intentional, and values-driven,” Blumsack stated. “Employers who adapt to those priorities by providing flexibility, objective, and pathways to progress shall be greatest positioned to draw and retain the subsequent technology of high expertise.”
In a ballot of 1,000 new and upcoming school graduates, 75% stated they’re frightened their job prospects shall be affected by the economic system, up from 69% in 2024.
As well as, 48% of graduates stated they assume they received’t have the ability to discover a job on the office they like, as in contrast with 52% in 2024.
On account of present market circumstances, 42% of graduates who don’t have already got a full-time job stated they’re now taking a look at extra corporations and industries, a rise from 34% in 2024.
Graduates pointed to a number of purple flags that may forestall them from making use of for a job at an organization, together with a wage freeze, latest layoffs, decrease than common earnings in the course of the previous 12 months, a mandate for every day in-office work and absolutely distant work.
On the similar time, graduates reported blended ideas in regards to the economic system and the way it could impression their beginning wage. About 37% anticipate their beginning wage to be increased because of the economic system, whereas 27% anticipate their beginning wage to be decrease.
Job safety additionally seems to be a serious precedence, with 80% reporting issues about job safety within the present market, as in contrast with 77% in 2024. About 64% stated it’ll be harder to discover a job as a result of synthetic intelligence filling roles beforehand held by people, up from 62% in 2024.
In December 2024, hiring, job openings and turnover decreased, with hiring reaching its lowest level in 5 years, in accordance with a BambooHR report. Hiring declined throughout all industries, each within the U.S. and worldwide, the report discovered.
For now, the labor market has cooled off, which may very well be excellent news for hiring managers, main economists instructed HR Dive. Though high expertise could also be considerably simpler to search out and retain, an growing older workforce and modifications to immigration will probably problem recruiters all through 2025, they stated.
