OPINION: Britain’s youth jobs crisis is particularly hitting Jewish graduates

Lord Wolfson’s warning last week, reported in the Jewish News, about the sharp rise in applicants for entry-level jobs at his organisation Next, should concern us all.

At Resource, where we support unemployed Jewish people into work, we are seeing this trend every day – particularly among young people trying to secure their first proper opportunity.

Around 50 young people are currently registered with Resource as they need help finding their first role. Most are bright, capable and motivated. They have degrees, good grades and plenty of enthusiasm. But despite doing everything they have been advised to do, they are finding securing their first job to be a challenge.

The reality is that entry-level opportunities have reduced dramatically over the past two years. Many major employers have quietly scaled back graduate recruitment, apprenticeship programmes and internships.

Only a few years ago, a graduate with a decent CV could expect to secure interviews after a relatively small number of applications. Today, young people are sending out hundreds of applications and hearing absolutely nothing back.

For many in our community, the picture is even more complex. Jewish candidates who attended private schools, or whose parents went to university, increasingly find themselves screened out by the diversity, equity and inclusion filters used by larger organisations.

The intention behind those policies is understandable. But when a bright, capable young person is filtered out before a human being has even glanced at their CV, something has gone wrong. Even when they do manage to get through the first stage, the process is often exhausting. Multiple rounds of interviews, online tests, one-way recorded video assessments and AI screening systems have become standard, even for very junior positions. For young people already struggling with confidence, the process can be overwhelming.

One recent graduate we supported completed a Media & Communication degree with a 2:1 and had made more than 100 applications for marketing and journalism roles before coming to Resource for help. She had secured only a handful of interviews and was finding the whole experience increasingly difficult for her confidence and mental health. When she arrived at Resource, her CV technically contained the right information, but it did not bring her achievements or skills to life. Like many graduates, she also underestimated how important professional presentation and communication are in such a competitive market.

The impact of Resource’s guidance on her job search skills was significant and within a few weeks she had secured five first-stage interviews and progressed to the third stage of the BBC journalism apprenticeship process. More importantly, her confidence improved enormously.

The harsh reality is that candidates now need far more preparation and support than previous generations simply to be considered for a role.  Many young people are not failing because they lack talent or work ethic. They are struggling because the market has fundamentally changed.

There are several reasons behind this: Lord Wolfson pointed to rising employment costs, including increases to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage. Whether people agree politically or not, the reality is straightforward: when the cost of employing junior staff rises significantly, employers hire fewer people. Entry-level recruitment is often the first area to be reduced.

At the same time, employers have become more risk-averse. When budgets are tight, companies naturally look for candidates who already have experience, even for roles that were traditionally designed to help people gain that experience in the first place.

This creates an impossible cycle for many young people. They cannot get experience because nobody will hire them, and nobody will hire them because they lack experience.

Technology is also playing a growing role. AI-driven applicant tracking systems now filter huge numbers of CVs before a human being ever sees them. A bright, capable candidate can be rejected in seconds because their application is not optimised correctly. Young people are often completely unaware this is happening.

At Resource, we increasingly find ourselves teaching people not just how to interview well, but how to navigate automated recruitment systems, professional networking, LinkedIn algorithms and AI screening tools. These are skills many older generations simply never had to learn when entering the workforce.

Youth unemployment among 16-to-24-year-olds now sits at around 16.2%, more than three times the national average.  At Resource, we will continue doing everything we can to support young jobseekers – helping them build confidence, strengthen applications and navigate an increasingly difficult jobs market. But charities alone cannot solve this problem.

Government, employers and the voluntary sector all need to recognise what is happening and respond before an entire generation loses faith in the idea that hard work and education will lead to opportunity.

Victoria Sterman is the CEO of Resource, the community charity that has been helping people into work for over 30 years