After graduating, a large portion of Pitt students head right into the workforce — but finding a job might be harder than some were expecting.
A new labor analysis released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in August shows there is a greater number of people looking for jobs than there are jobs available. This new data, combined with a growing rate of unemployment — 4.3% in August, compared to 4.2% in July — has made the job market for entry-level postgrad jobs more difficult to break into.
David Lebel, an associate professor of business administration, said this “tightening” of the job market is due to many components, including government spending and tariffs.
“The government is spending in the military and in health care, so if you’re not in those industries, that’s not going to help you broadly,” Lebel said. “And you have the tariffs — it’s going to raise prices, it’s going to shrink margins and people are going to get more conservative in hiring.”
Despite employers becoming more cautious with hiring, it’s not all bad news for recent graduates, according to Lebel.
“The labor market seems to not be growing as fast, but the unemployment is still 4%, which is historically very low,” Lebel said.
Lebel said students shouldn’t be overly concerned if the unemployment rate is growing because it likely won’t have a big impact on entry-level jobs.
“There should be openings, and the people who aren’t participating tend to be older. So that’s a good thing for undergraduates,” Lebel said.
Lauren Gallagher, a 2024 Pitt grad and current account manager at BLD Marketing, was offered her position thanks to a previous internship she had with BLD. However, Gallagher said she has noticed that some employers are hesitant to hire Gen Z graduates, which might be contributing to the struggle to find jobs.
“I think there’s an assumption that Gen Z is a little more online — a little more brain-rotted, for lack of a better term — and doesn’t know how to function in a traditional 9-to-5 workplace,” Gallagher said. “That could be true for some people, but I think it’s become a harmful generalization.”
Lebel said there is a phenomenon where, every two generations, the older generation looks down upon the younger, which has helped create age stereotypes, such as Gen Z being internet-obsessed or job hoppers.
“I think the generational bias is real in the sense that the bias exists, but is it really that the whole generation is lazy? No,” Lebel said. “I think it [makes older hiring managers] more reluctant. And it creates cultural dynamics and conflict that aren’t necessary.”
Another factor playing a role in the shaky job market is the rise of AI. Lebel said there is no way to predict how AI is going to affect the job market long term, but he does think some jobs will fade while new ones pop up. The issue for new college grads, according to Lebel, is the short-term uncertainty of what AI will change.
“It could be bad,” Lebel said.
“[Employers] don’t want to hire people and then have to get rid of them,” Lebel said. “They’re going to see the uncertainty, and they’re going to conserve resources — they’re not going to spend as much.”
Philip Sherman is a senior computer engineering major who has a job lined up once he graduates in the spring. Sherman said — in the engineering field specifically — AI has caused some anxieties that entry-level jobs might be going away for student engineers.
“AI can do a lot of menial and simple tasks that can take away from entry-level jobs,” Sherman said. “It’s a lot on your plate to be this busy in college and then also have to compete with AI for a job. It feels like the cards are stacked against you.”
Gallagher said her marketing company typically only uses AI to pull together a design concept or consolidate notes.
“It’s not replacing anything. And none of our systems are super automated,” Gallagher said. “But it does help with day-to-day tasks and makes things a little more efficient.”
AI is even being used to screen candidates, which will also affect upcoming graduates. Aratik Marwah, an industrial engineering major who graduated from Pitt in August, is currently on the job hunt. Marwah said he has had to adjust his resume and application strategies in order to combat AI being used by recruiters to filter through applications.
“At the beginning of summer, I had a much different resume than I do now. I had to include a lot of buzzwords and stuff that I thought would go through the AI scans so that I could actually get my resume out there,” Marwah said. “It’s annoying to have to do that.”
Lebel said the best advice he has for people who are still struggling with their job search is to put in as much effort as you can and don’t be too “choosy.”
“The first step should be about experience, not just the name. I think undergraduates get something in their head … but I don’t think you should be holding out for perfect,” Lebel said. “I think it’s more about the quality of the experience. And sometimes that’s really getting the interview and seeing who you’re working with.”