20+ Applications = 1 Job

After leaving university, undergraduates also predicted their first job’s salary to be £20,250.

Sixth-formers expressed a slightly more positive outlook, meanwhile, believing their potential earnings will be £23,000.

In the survey, which intended to reveal the attitudes of the UK’s youth towards today’s job market, 744 British 16 to 24-year-olds participated.

Research Director at YouGov, James McCoy, said: “Although the economy is showing signs of recovery, young people feel that they face an extremely tough employment situation.

“Most see finding employment as hard work, and the number of applications they expect to fill out is testament to that.”

YouGov’s research comes at a time when graduate-jobs.com discovered how employers fail to respond to more than half of graduate job applications.

In response to their findings, Gerry Wyatt, graduate-jobs.com’s Operations Director, said: “At the end of the process, to give applicants some closure, there should also be an email to say that the application has been unsuccessful – not knowing can be very frustrating.”

“We frequently see that graduates applying for fewer jobs, but with targeted applications, have a higher likelihood of being called for interview.”