AI Brings Pain and Promise to New Grad Job Market

For decades, recent college graduates—who are cheaper to hire—have had lower unemployment rates than the national average, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But that trend has steadily reversed over the past five years, plunging to a nadir this spring. Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the national unemployment rate was around 4 percent, while 6.6 percent of workers with a bachelor’s degree between the ages of 22 and 27 don’t have jobs—up from 6 percent at the same time last year.

While the pandemic’s reverberations, rising interest rates and President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff policies have all contributed to the labor market’s volatility, generative artificial intelligence is also shouldering some of the blame.

Not only are some tech leaders predicting that the new technology could replace a large share of entry-level white collar jobs in the next five years, but AI also allows job seekers to saturate application pools. But AI is also emerging as part of the solution, as some colleges are partnering with the makers of artificial intelligence tools to help alumni navigate those challenges.

“The actual battle for the jobs that do exist is fiercer than ever because, through the use of ChatGPT or even more customized AI tools, an individual student can pump out 500 or 1,000 applications in the blink of an eye,” said Jeremy Schifeling, founder of the Job Insiders, which trains students and career coaches on how to use technology, such as LinkedIn and ChatGPT, to help with job searching. “Recruiters are throwing their hands up.”

He added that all of it has brought the job market to a “breaking point,” and “applicants [will] have to go back to first principles” if they want to succeed.

“Our own human algorithms are wired for relationships and trust,” he said. “Employers are always going to pick someone who’s a friend of a friend or is recommended by a current employee over the random stranger, no matter how good their AI-generated résumé is.”

Networking Important as Ever

While alumni networks have the power to help students and recent graduates cut through the AI slop and make real, human connections that can get their applications noticed, it’s not always easy for every student to tap in to those networks. In an effort to change that, many institutions are deploying AI tools aimed at strengthening students’ networking skills and creating more opportunities to connect with alumni.

“If you’re an international student, nonnative English speaker or an introvert, you have all of these challenges competing in a labor market that gives favoritism to people who are bold and well-spoken,” said Schifeling, who used to work as the associate director of career services at the University of Michigan. “There are AI tools now that will help people practice interviews or role-play conversations, so that even if you’re an introvert or nonnative English speaker, you can start to build up the muscle memory and confidence and repetition so you can feel comfortable in that environment.”

Doing whatever it takes to master those networking skills “will become an even more important part of getting the job” as entry-level jobs become more scarce, said Josh Kahn, associate director of research and public policy for the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

And right now, the outlook for recent graduates is only getting more bleak.

In fall 2024, employers had expected to hire 7.3 percent more graduates from the Class of 2025 compared to those hired from the Class of 2024, according to a recent NACE survey. But by this past spring, that projection changed to just a 0.6 percent increase.

In addition to offering students access to AI-driven interview and communication tools, such as FinalRoundAI, Big Interview and LinkedIn Interview Prep, most colleges and universities also run online alumni networking platforms, such as LinkedIn, Almabase and Gravyty. But since most of those platforms require users to create yet another account, “alumni teams struggle to get alumni and students to sign up for these platforms,” said Max Leisten, founder and CEO of Protopia.

For instance, the University of Tennessee, which uses Gravyty, posted last month on LinkedIn that it had grown its membership on the platform to 8,000-plus in three years. However, the UT system has more than 454,000 graduates, according to its alumni association.

To boost engagement, Protopia uses AI to help students make more seamless, direct connections with alumni—and doesn’t require alumni to sign up for it to participate. “Universities have to make it easier for alumni to connect,” Leisten said. ”And that’s where AI comes in. It allows you to deliver something at scale that was previously unscalable.”

AI Boosts Engagement

Protopia works by first acquiring alumni data—and their email addresses—from an individual university. Students and recent graduates use an AI assistant to help them craft an email specifying their career aspirations. Perhaps they’re a communications major who wants to work for an education-related nonprofit, preferably on the West Coast. That email then gets sent to a batch of alumni Protopia’s algorithm identifies as a good fit for making a meaningful connection. Alumni who get the email can choose to respond, which Leisten said happens about 93 percent of the time.

Although Protopia launched in 2019, the rise of generative AI in the years since has made it an even stronger tool for students and recent graduates who are still learning the nuances of effective networking and communication.

“For example, we’ve struggled with students not knowing how to say thank you when they got a response they didn’t like. They don’t understand that even a no is still an opportunity to build social capital,” Leisten said. “So we built an agent that crafts a recommended thank-you. We’re coaching students and alumni on how to better engage with each other.”

Over the past several years, numerous colleges and universities, including Elon, Northwestern and Ohio State Universities, have partnered with Protopia.

Lasse Palomaki, associate director of career services for alumni at Elon University in North Carolina, helped launch Elon Q&A—which is powered by Protopia and open to students and alumni looking to make connections—last fall in response to demand for more networking opportunities.

Since then, it’s processed 440 questions—78 percent came from students, 16 percent from alumni and 6 percent from faculty—which has resulted in 538 answers directly from alumni.

“Everyone knows that networking matters, but very few students and even alumni know how to do it. Going to a networking event with a bunch of alums may be nerve-racking for students. Many of them just won’t show up,” Palomaki said. “If that was all we had to offer, a lot of students would never get that networking piece of their education. But through something like Elon Q&A, we can lower the barrier to engaging in these meaningful interactions.”