Deema Khunda: An obsession with credentialism is another barrier to youth entry into the workforce
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
Dr Deema Khunda is an energy researcher and a Thatcher Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies.
“Education is not acquiring a stock of ready-made ideas, images, sentiments, beliefs and so forth; it is learning to look, to listen, to think, to feel, to imagine, to believe, to understand, to choose and to wish.”
~ Michael Oakeshott, The Voice Of Liberal Learning
Forget Labour’s tax rises, forget the malign legacy of the Covid lockdowns, forget Boomer electoral hegemony – credentialism by far the most significant barrier young people face to getting on the career ladder today.
The fact that one in eight Gen Zers in the UK right now is classified as a NEET appeared to have startled the commentariat class, but for many in my generation, it was hardly a revelation.
Getting your first job seems harder than ever. The Institute of Student Employers reported the competition for graduate roles is at a ‘record high’, with 1.2 million applications for 17,000 graduate vacancies last year. The precipitous drop in early-career hiring has been blamed on the rise of AI, but that explanation doesn’t provide the complete picture of the forces at work here.
An anaemic economy and the implementation of government policies that penalise new hiring undoubtedly worsen the crisis of youth unemployment. Still, they are not what sits at the heart of it.
The average new hire in 2025 was 42 years old – up from 40 in 2016. This suggests that when hiring does occur in a stagnant economy, it disproportionately favours older, established workers. Britain’s modern work culture’s near-religious reverence for “credentials” & ‘experience’ is driving youth unemployment.
A large-scale analysis by StandOut CV found that 37 per cent of entry-level job adverts on LinkedIn required around 2.5 years of prior work experience. Another 2025 report from recruitment firm CV Genius estimates that four in five entry-level roles now require “relevant experience”.
Furthermore, obtaining a master’s degree or an ever‑expanding alphabet of external accreditations, such as the Construction Skills Certification Scheme, LSSGB, PMP certificate, or IOSH safety training, instantly puts applicants at the top of the list. Revealing that postgraduate qualifications are treated as the new competency indicator by employers.
While a debate can certainly be had over whether these qualifications improve on-the-job performance, what is already clear is that these requirements systematically favour older candidates – simply because early‑career applicants have not yet had the time to accumulate them.
This is perhaps another fallout from the expansion of the universities. As student populations doubled over the past three decades, recruiters and employers have responded in kind, moving beyond relying on …
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
Dr Deema Khunda is an energy researcher and a Thatcher Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies.
“Education is not acquiring a stock of ready-made ideas, images, sentiments, beliefs and so forth; it is learning to look, to listen, to think, to feel, to imagine, to believe, to understand, to choose and to wish.”
~ Michael Oakeshott, The Voice Of Liberal Learning
Forget Labour’s tax rises, forget the malign legacy of the Covid lockdowns, forget Boomer electoral hegemony – credentialism by far the most significant barrier young people face to getting on the career ladder today.
The fact that one in eight Gen Zers in the UK right now is classified as a NEET appeared to have startled the commentariat class, but for many in my generation, it was hardly a revelation.
Getting your first job seems harder than ever. The Institute of Student Employers reported the competition for graduate roles is at a ‘record high’, with 1.2 million applications for 17,000 graduate vacancies last year. The precipitous drop in early-career hiring has been blamed on the rise of AI, but that explanation doesn’t provide the complete picture of the forces at work here.
An anaemic economy and the implementation of government policies that penalise new hiring undoubtedly worsen the crisis of youth unemployment. Still, they are not what sits at the heart of it.
The average new hire in 2025 was 42 years old – up from 40 in 2016. This suggests that when hiring does occur in a stagnant economy, it disproportionately favours older, established workers. Britain’s modern work culture’s near-religious reverence for “credentials” & ‘experience’ is driving youth unemployment.
A large-scale analysis by StandOut CV found that 37 per cent of entry-level job adverts on LinkedIn required around 2.5 years of prior work experience. Another 2025 report from recruitment firm CV Genius estimates that four in five entry-level roles now require “relevant experience”.
Furthermore, obtaining a master’s degree or an ever‑expanding alphabet of external accreditations, such as the Construction Skills Certification Scheme, LSSGB, PMP certificate, or IOSH safety training, instantly puts applicants at the top of the list. Revealing that postgraduate qualifications are treated as the new competency indicator by employers.
While a debate can certainly be had over whether these qualifications improve on-the-job performance, what is already clear is that these requirements systematically favour older candidates – simply because early‑career applicants have not yet had the time to accumulate them.
This is perhaps another fallout from the expansion of the universities. As student populations doubled over the past three decades, recruiters and employers have responded in kind, moving beyond relying on …
Deema Khunda: An obsession with credentialism is another barrier to youth entry into the workforce
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
Dr Deema Khunda is an energy researcher and a Thatcher Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies.
“Education is not acquiring a stock of ready-made ideas, images, sentiments, beliefs and so forth; it is learning to look, to listen, to think, to feel, to imagine, to believe, to understand, to choose and to wish.”
~ Michael Oakeshott, The Voice Of Liberal Learning
Forget Labour’s tax rises, forget the malign legacy of the Covid lockdowns, forget Boomer electoral hegemony – credentialism by far the most significant barrier young people face to getting on the career ladder today.
The fact that one in eight Gen Zers in the UK right now is classified as a NEET appeared to have startled the commentariat class, but for many in my generation, it was hardly a revelation.
Getting your first job seems harder than ever. The Institute of Student Employers reported the competition for graduate roles is at a ‘record high’, with 1.2 million applications for 17,000 graduate vacancies last year. The precipitous drop in early-career hiring has been blamed on the rise of AI, but that explanation doesn’t provide the complete picture of the forces at work here.
An anaemic economy and the implementation of government policies that penalise new hiring undoubtedly worsen the crisis of youth unemployment. Still, they are not what sits at the heart of it.
The average new hire in 2025 was 42 years old – up from 40 in 2016. This suggests that when hiring does occur in a stagnant economy, it disproportionately favours older, established workers. Britain’s modern work culture’s near-religious reverence for “credentials” & ‘experience’ is driving youth unemployment.
A large-scale analysis by StandOut CV found that 37 per cent of entry-level job adverts on LinkedIn required around 2.5 years of prior work experience. Another 2025 report from recruitment firm CV Genius estimates that four in five entry-level roles now require “relevant experience”.
Furthermore, obtaining a master’s degree or an ever‑expanding alphabet of external accreditations, such as the Construction Skills Certification Scheme, LSSGB, PMP certificate, or IOSH safety training, instantly puts applicants at the top of the list. Revealing that postgraduate qualifications are treated as the new competency indicator by employers.
While a debate can certainly be had over whether these qualifications improve on-the-job performance, what is already clear is that these requirements systematically favour older candidates – simply because early‑career applicants have not yet had the time to accumulate them.
This is perhaps another fallout from the expansion of the universities. As student populations doubled over the past three decades, recruiters and employers have responded in kind, moving beyond relying on …
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