London graduate: 'I've applied for 500 jobs in two months'

"You have to work 10 times harder to work for a role that 10 years ago you could have got very easily straight out of university," says 22-year-old business management graduate Charlotte Briggs. Within two months she had applied for 500 roles. "It's quite upsetting because I've worked really hard for the last three years to achieve a 2:1 just to be rejected for not having experience." Although her job search sounds extreme, it may not be that unusual. According to latest ONS figures, 22.5% of people aged 16 to 24 cannot find work, putting London as the UK region with the second highest rate of youth unemployment. The North East has the highest rate at 24.6%. The UK average rate is 16.1% - its highest in more than 10 years. The above statistics include young people looking for work and is different to NEETs - which only looks at young people not in Education, Employment, or Training. The unemployment rate for London is likely to be higher as the capital shows the first signs of a struggling labour market, according to Avnee Morjaria from the independent think tank Institute for Public Policy Research. "You've got the hospitality and retail sector struggling, difficulty in entry poin

Mar 18, 2026 → Mar 18, 2026