The Entry-Level Hiring Process Is Breaking Down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/grade-inflation-ai-hiring/685157/

Article that brings up AI & grade inflation as reasons for the difficulty in hiring recent grads. Some interesting anecdotes on how employers are differentiating recent graduates.

Grade inflation? Since when have companies started checking or caring about grades. And why? Academic performance is nothing like a corporate job.

Some care. I don't hire kids with Cs in calculus and physics for engineering positions.

Do you care if the C was caused by illness and a prof who didn't care, not ability?

A clear example of how parents are raising coddle children.

You think an employer is going to take the time to interview the C kid to ever even hear why they got a C? On top of which, even if the kid has the opportunity to explain, it is a red flag for what that person as an employee would be like. Always having an excuse as to why it isn't their fault for underperforming.

I'm pp, and that's a hiring problem. DS went to a famously hard math school (where many, including business students, flunk courses). If they were recruiting there and see a C over an A at a local community college, they might not realize that the student didn't even opt to take the much harder class.

Not sure business majors should be the benchmark. Now if you would have said engineering, physics, etc...

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/grade-inflation-ai-hiring/685157/

Article that brings up AI & grade inflation as reasons for the difficulty in hiring recent grads. Some interesting anecdotes on how employers are differentiating recent graduates.

Grade inflation? Since when have companies started checking or caring about grades. And why? Academic performance is nothing like a corporate job.

You aren’t getting an interview at a Big 4 accounting firm with a 3.0. It’s their first cutoff when scanning resumes.

Because messing up in accounting can get your license revoked and actually cause financial issues for your company. But the consultants are literally just making spreadsheets- you don’t need a 3.5 for that.

[Anonymous]

the Atlantic is too left to be considered worth reading. Google it

[Anonymous]

I think everyone here is talking about the wrong things. Consulting and IB or whatnot will match on for the top to get their useless managerial positions. What is concerning is the lack of jobs below that.

DD has never a day in her life thought about consulting, but if you go on a job board aimed at Undergrads like Handshake, you’ll see that basically all the jobs route you to consulting, IB, occasionally wealth management, and software engineering. Those are your options, and many students are struggling to improvise a degree for those fields which require particular skills (other than consulting) and often require prep. A lot of the fake “business analyst” roles have fizzled up. Her college (a damned good one) essentially tells everyone to go into consulting and offers little help if you want any sort of fulfilling career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think everyone here is talking about the wrong things. Consulting and IB or whatnot will match on for the top to get their useless managerial positions. What is concerning is the lack of jobs below that.

DD has never a day in her life thought about consulting, but if you go on a job board aimed at Undergrads like Handshake, you’ll see that basically all the jobs route you to consulting, IB, occasionally wealth management, and software engineering. Those are your options, and many students are struggling to improvise a degree for those fields which require particular skills (other than consulting) and often require prep. A lot of the fake “business analyst” roles have fizzled up. Her college (a damned good one) essentially tells everyone to go into consulting and offers little help if you want any sort of fulfilling career.

I mostly agree. But to this last point, if the more fulfilling path were more circuitous, everyone on here would be talking about oUtCOmeS and saying that her (damn good) college isn’t nearly as good as the next college over. Bit of a trap for schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is at one of the "big 4 consulting forms"

Only about 2/3 of the 2024 summer class were given return offers.

To date, those kids have not yet started and were told they might start in January, but if they have other opportunities, they should take them.

There were only about 20 2025 summer interns. In my kid's class, there were 60. Only 5 of those 20 were given return offers, but with no starting date.

That is one firm in one city, but it is illustrative what is happening in consulting. I assume the other comparable firms are about the same.

The same sh*t happened when I graduated in the early 2000s. This is not a new phenomenon.

Yes. And against in 2008-09. And now. It’s called graduating into a bad economy. Thanks, Trump. 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS had to do a dozen asynchronous interviews after recruiters reached out to him at his T20 and then got ghosted. The problem lies in the corporations -- who don't know how to recruit and actually spend time to talking to potential candidates.

The companies are at fault? It’s not the fault of the socially awkward, entitled, unrealistic, inexperienced, unemployable applicants?

Snow

Plow

Parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/grade-inflation-ai-hiring/685157/

Article that brings up AI & grade inflation as reasons for the difficulty in hiring recent grads. Some interesting anecdotes on how employers are differentiating recent graduates.

Grade inflation? Since when have companies started checking or caring about grades. And why? Academic performance is nothing like a corporate job.

For finance these days, you need a good GPA or it’s automatic bin.

What’s the threshold?

[Anonymous]

The hiring process in general is broken. I applied for a role I was fully qualified for and auto-rejected. Funnily, I applied for another role with the company and they said I’d be “perfect” for that role id already been rejected from. HR manually put my application back in the running - I have a final interview for that role next week - but it says a lot that people who are clearly qualified are being rejected by systems rather than human beings, just because you don’t have the “right” language or font on your resume.

Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is at one of the "big 4 consulting forms"

Only about 2/3 of the 2024 summer class were given return offers.

To date, those kids have not yet started and were told they might start in January, but if they have other opportunities, they should take them.

There were only about 20 2025 summer interns. In my kid's class, there were 60. Only 5 of those 20 were given return offers, but with no starting date.

That is one firm in one city, but it is illustrative what is happening in consulting. I assume the other comparable firms are about the same.

The same sh*t happened when I graduated in the early 2000s. This is not a new phenomenon.

Yes. And against in 2008-09. And now. It’s called graduating into a bad economy. Thanks, Trump. 🙄

Wait till the stock market sells off 50%.. then many middle managers would be out the door and new graduates will be recruited thence… 1-2 yr window

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is at one of the "big 4 consulting forms"

Only about 2/3 of the 2024 summer class were given return offers.

To date, those kids have not yet started and were told they might start in January, but if they have other opportunities, they should take them.

There were only about 20 2025 summer interns. In my kid's class, there were 60. Only 5 of those 20 were given return offers, but with no starting date.

That is one firm in one city, but it is illustrative what is happening in consulting. I assume the other comparable firms are about the same.

I think consulting is going to be decimated over the next 3 years. Ai is totally coming for them.

They deserve it. Not the new grads of course, but consulting companies in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/grade-inflation-ai-hiring/685157/

Article that brings up AI & grade inflation as reasons for the difficulty in hiring recent grads. Some interesting anecdotes on how employers are differentiating recent graduates.

Grade inflation? Since when have companies started checking or caring about grades. And why? Academic performance is nothing like a corporate job.

Some care. I don't hire kids with Cs in calculus and physics for engineering positions.

Do you care if the C was caused by illness and a prof who didn't care, not ability?

Even when I graduated 20 years ago the career center would have tiers of jobs that people could apply for. The most selective of employers required a minimum of 3.75 GPA, then 3.5 then 3.0 then everyone else.

Nobody was getting interviews if they had C s. Maybe if you impressed a recruiter at a career fair or meet and greet at a bar you might get a second look but they would have stacks of resumes and there were probably dozens of kids who had A’s in all their math classes. What would be the point of figuring out if the C kid was worthwhile? Nobody has infinite time.

This culture leads to cheating and unethical behavior where everyone is terrified to get less than an A. Students don’t try to learn, just figure out how to get a good grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The hiring process in general is broken. I applied for a role I was fully qualified for and auto-rejected. Funnily, I applied for another role with the company and they said I’d be “perfect” for that role id already been rejected from. HR manually put my application back in the running - I have a final interview for that role next week - but it says a lot that people who are clearly qualified are being rejected by systems rather than human beings, just because you don’t have the “right” language or font on your resume.

Ridiculous.

This. AI has ruined the process. An HR director was so frustrated with how few applicants they got, she tested the system by applying for her own position and was rejected by the first round AI review.

[Anonymous]

HR is reducing their numbers; fewer people to do interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is at one of the "big 4 consulting forms"

Only about 2/3 of the 2024 summer class were given return offers.

To date, those kids have not yet started and were told they might start in January, but if they have other opportunities, they should take them.

There were only about 20 2025 summer interns. In my kid's class, there were 60. Only 5 of those 20 were given return offers, but with no starting date.

That is one firm in one city, but it is illustrative what is happening in consulting. I assume the other comparable firms are about the same.

I think consulting is going to be decimated over the next 3 years. Ai is totally coming for them.

This would be AI’s best contribution to society.

Consulting is a scam.