Man who’s applied for 270 jobs and counting tells LBC support for graduates is 'next to nothing'

Shiva Chandorkar, 22, has been applying for a job since October 2024 but is yet to be hired.

Mr Chandorkar, who's applied for hundreds of government and defence sector roles, says he's spent hours on cognitive and verbal assessments for each application, only for it to be “reviewed and rejected by an AI”.

He says he’s “tried to change tack by actually going to events in person in search of an opportunity” and he’s found “some success in that regard, but nothing that has led to a job offer”.

He told LBC: “It’s quite demoralising. For some of the roles I apply for I am basically the exact poster boy for the role, yet somehow they’ll always find someone better. Probably someone who has industry experience which further compounds the issue for graduates, who are just getting their foot in the door.

“After a certain point you start to question ‘am I the problem?’ yet I have to remember that there are thousands of graduates across the country who face the exact same issue. I’m lucky that I’m an army reservist so I’m still keeping busy but I do feel terrible for those who are completely not in education, employment or training. It must be soul-crushing.”

Figures from the Office for National Statistics released today revealed the rate of unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds jumped to 16.2% in the three months to March – the highest level since 2015.

Tom Freeman, Managing Director & Founder of Sanctuary Graduates and Apprentices, told LBC there's a "massive mismatch between the work that young people want and the employers that feel able to hire”.

He said: “While today's data is very sad, it's not surprising. Universities are churning up the same number of graduates every year and there's a fall in overall graduate and apprentice vacancies," Mr Freeman said

“All of this put together means that demand for young people, both in formal graduate schemes and in the casual work in high street restaurants and shops... is more scarce because of the cost of hiring. That's what's led to it all.

“What we're seeing now just anecdotally over the last two years: graduate schemes by big corporate employers that you would have heard of abandoned internships being put on hold… reducing their hiring numbers. And the sad thing is we're hearing almost daily from some of our clients, we've built a graduate scheme, we've got an apprenticeship scheme, but we're not getting sign off for it. Senior executive people won't sign it off. So that's what's leading to this. It's not surprising, but it's still really disappointing.

“A lot of people don't remember what happened when law firms, banks, asset managers, tech companies stopped hiring for two years between 2008 and 2010. They've got enormous gaps in their leadership elements and in certain echelons of the business and they've had to expensively fill those externally. They that's going to happen again.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden stressed the latest figures also showed 416,000 more people in work than a year ago.

He said: “While this is encouraging, we know the conflict in the Middle East is casting a shadow on the labour market.”

A Government-ordered review on youth unemployment led by social mobility expert Alan Milburn “will play a key role in looking how to prevent young people falling out of work or education,” Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman told reporters.

Former Health Secretary and Chair of the investigation Alan Milburn said: “Nearly one million young people in Britain are not in education, employment or training – and that number has been rising for four years. This is a national outrage – it’s both a social injustice and an economic catastrophe.

“We need to create a movement – a coalition of the concerned – to help us understand what’s broken and what must change.

“Every young person, whatever their background, deserves the opportunity to learn or to earn. My report will be unafraid to shine a light on uncomfortable truths and recommend where radical change is needed.”

Both the Milburn review and another led by Sir Stephen Timms examining health and disability benefits are due to be published this autumn.