Terrible job market for recent grads

[Anonymous]

My kid graduated from a non-flagship VA school this year with a degree in Accounting. They had an internship last summer and got a FT offer from it. While I know that it's a tough market, it's not all dismal. Keep applying and putting yourself out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from a non-flagship VA school this year with a degree in Accounting. They had an internship last summer and got a FT offer from it. While I know that it's a tough market, it's not all dismal. Keep applying and putting yourself out there.

People are always going to hire entry level accountants. Your kids experience is not the only one that matters, it IS dismal for many, especially those who might normally be hired by government.

[Anonymous]

i graduated in 2005, poli sci major

had a tough time finding a job by 2008, went to grad school bc i couldnt think of anything else to do

took out stupid loans to pay it off

did finally get a gov job by 2012, however. got PSLF in 2022 to take care of those loans.

new grads, dont be me. dont go to grad school and take out massive loans just bc its a bad market. hang in there! you will find work!

[Anonymous]

I can't believe there are posters recommending DOGE?!? Maybe it's just one who posted as different people. If OP wants her son to ever get married to a gen z woman in the area, that is not a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from a non-flagship VA school this year with a degree in Accounting. They had an internship last summer and got a FT offer from it. While I know that it's a tough market, it's not all dismal. Keep applying and putting yourself out there.

People are always going to hire entry level accountants. Your kids experience is not the only one that matters, it IS dismal for many, especially those who might normally be hired by government.

Didn't realize this was only about government jobs. FWIW the job is with a federal contractor so could be at risk. However they have a specialized skill, are going to use this to get their CPA and then look. They know their career is in their hands.

PS - when I graduated it was also an abysmal job market and despite my degree from UVA I ended up taking an admin job just to have something. You have to start somewhere and it's not always at your ideal job.

[Anonymous]

I haven’t read all the posts but I think k this column by a LinkedIn exec is instructive and terrifying.

AI Is Coming for Entry Level Jobs

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/opinion/linkedin-ai-entry-level-jobs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from a non-flagship VA school this year with a degree in Accounting. They had an internship last summer and got a FT offer from it. While I know that it's a tough market, it's not all dismal. Keep applying and putting yourself out there.

People are always going to hire entry level accountants. Your kids experience is not the only one that matters, it IS dismal for many, especially those who might normally be hired by government.

Didn't realize this was only about government jobs. FWIW the job is with a federal contractor so could be at risk. However they have a specialized skill, are going to use this to get their CPA and then look. They know their career is in their hands.

PS - when I graduated it was also an abysmal job market and despite my degree from UVA I ended up taking an admin job just to have something. You have to start somewhere and it's not always at your ideal job.

What do people think about entry-level accounting jobs? I feel like it's one of the easier ones to replace with AI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Hello -- my name is Matt Sedensky. I'm a reporter for The Associated Press. The situation you're describing is becoming more common, as reflected in employment statistics. I'm reaching out to recent college graduates who are having trouble finding work. Would love to speak to this individual if they'd be willing. My email is [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Hello -- my name is Matt Sedensky. I'm a reporter for The Associated Press. The situation you're describing is becoming more common, as reflected in employment statistics. I'm reaching out to recent college graduates who are having trouble finding work. Would love to speak to this individual if they'd be willing. My email is [e-mail].

Make sure you research the OPT fraud. Optical Practical Training.

The troubling fact is that the OPT program was created entirely through regulation with no authorization from Congress whatsoever. It has been going on for so long, that many people assume that Congress authorized OPT when in fact, Congress has explicitly changed the law to prohibit it.

Here is a history of how OPT came about. In reading this history, keep in mind that the regulations described here employ the euphemism "practical training" to refer to work.

In 2007, Microsoft concocted a scheme to use OPT as a means to circumvent the H-1B quotas. Microsoft's plan was to extend the duration of OPT from a year to 29-months, so that the duration would be sufficient to serve as a guestworker program, rather than just an internship-type program. Microsoft proposed this scheme to the Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at a dinner party at the home of the owner of the Washington Nationals baseball team. (See pp. 229-230 in the book Sold Out.) From there, DHS worked in absolute secrecy with industry lobbyists to craft regulations implementing Microsoft's plan.

In a classic example of Washington cronyism, the first notice that DHS was even considering such regulations came when they were promulgated as a fait accompli, without notice and comment, on April 8, 2008 (73 Fed. Reg. 18,944). These regulations made three major expansions to OPT. First, they allowed aliens to remain in student visa status while they were unemployed so they could look for work. Second, they allowed aliens working under OPT to remain in student visa status from the time an H-1B petition was filed on their behalf until a final decision was made on the petition or the start date. This adds a maximum of 6 months to the OPT duration. Finally, they authorized a 17-month work period for aliens with degrees in fields DHS designates at Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics (STEM). This gave a maximum OPT duration of 35 months.

The OPT program has been the subject of continuous litigation since then where, after nearly a decade, the federal courts have been unable to come to a decision on whether it is lawful. However in 2015, the D.C. District Court held that the 2008 OPT regulations had been promulgated unlawfully without notice and comment. In response to this opinion, DHS promulgated new regulations that did the same as the old regulations except that they expanded the STEM work period from 17 months to 24 months, giving a maximum OPT work period of 42 months (24+12+6).

OPT is an example of the administrative state run amok. Instead of law coming from Congress, we have law coming from bureaucrats working hand-in-hand with lobbyists. OPT also illustrates the slippery-slope problem of regulation. Work on student visas started innocently as an integral part of a course of study to give foreign students an experience not available in their home country, but eventually was transformed into a full-blown guestworker program whose stated purpose is to provide labor to American business.

https://cis.org/Report/History-Optional-Practical-Training-Guestworker-Program


The Optional Practical Training (OPT) for foreign students who have graduated from American universities allows all foreign graduates to receive a 12-month work permit, but STEM graduates are eligible for an additional 24-month work permit.  Businesses are using this program to circumvent H-1B visa caps and American and legal immigrant graduates are losing out:

OPT has grown more than 400% in recent years and is bigger than the H-1B program.
275,000 foreign workers were employed in 2017 under the OPT program.
From 2007 to 2017, employers hired 2.5 million OPT and CPT workers.
Employers don't have to pay payroll taxes on OPT employees, making them 15.3% cheaper to hire.  The FICA fund loses out on $2.5 billion each year due to this.
OPT visas are not merit-based and have no restrictions or limitations.
Fewer than 50% of U.S. STEM graduates are finding jobs in STEM fields, which is a direct result of the OPT program.
The OPT program is harming American STEM grads by giving companies a financial incentive to hire temporary foreign workers, even though the government is actively encouraging American students to study for STEM degrees.
To make matters worse, a federal court has decided that the government does have the power to exempt OPT workers from Social Security and Medicare taxes, making it even cheaper for employers to hire them.

[Anonymous]

pecifically, SignalFire found that Big Tech companies reduced the hiring of new graduates by 25% in 2024 compared to 2023. Meanwhile, graduate recruitment at startups decreased by 11% compared to the prior year. Although SignalFire wouldn’t reveal exactly how many fewer grads were hired according to their data, a spokesperson told us it was thousands.
While adoption of new AI tools might not fully explain the dip in recent grad hiring, Asher Bantock, SignalFire’s head of research, says there’s “convincing evidence” that AI is a significant contributing factor.
Entry-level jobs are susceptible to automation because they often involve routine, low-risk tasks that generative AI handles well

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/27/ai-may-already-be-shrinking-entry-level-jobs-in-tech-new-research-suggests/

The job market is rapidly reducing the hiring of new employees. As repetitive and simple entry-level tasks are being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI), corporations are restructuring their hiring strategies to focus more on experienced workers. In particular, with reductions at big tech companies, the openings for new employees are becoming increasingly limited.

According to a report released by U.S. venture capital SignalFire on the 27th (local time), the hiring of college graduates by 15 major U.S. big tech companies decreased by 25% compared to the previous year. During the same period, new hiring at startups also fell by 11%. In contrast, hiring for talented individuals with 2 to 5 years of experience increased by 27% and 14%, respectively

https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-it/2025/05/28/IWGJMLBIWZHB3HXSZELDY5GS5Q/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from a non-flagship VA school this year with a degree in Accounting. They had an internship last summer and got a FT offer from it. While I know that it's a tough market, it's not all dismal. Keep applying and putting yourself out there.

BS

[Anonymous]

It IS a tough market out there for jobs. Many economists say that it’s due to the economic uncertainty especially with tariffs and all. In the IT sector, companies hired so many people during Covid assuming the tech remote jobs is the way of the of the future that it became saturated. Now they’re laying offs those jobs.

Companies who are posting jobs aren’t necessarily being transparent. Those are ghost jobs to make it look like they’re doing well in this economy. They’re also doing it to survey the resumes and as a back up in case they do need to hire someday. But those are mostly ghost job postings.

I feel sorry for the current young grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting a job at doge would allow you to pay your student loans, allow you to make your car payment and allow you to pay for an apartment. There is nothing wrong with honest work.

Define honest….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

This is why it's nice to have a husband who has his own company. Our kids can work for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

This is why it's nice to have a husband who has his own company. Our kids can work for him.

That’s unethical. Great role model you are.