Employer signal
0%
of HR leaders say they avoid hiring recent graduates.
98% report struggling to find talent, yet still pass on fresh graduates.
Research
The evidence behind the experience gap.
Employers want production habits. Entry-level hiring narrowed. Pakistan's export market is growing faster than the graduate bridge into industry roles.
Top barrier cited
0%
say lack of real-world experience is the #1 reason.
Teamwork and communication gaps rank close behind.
Hiring odds
Same degree. Same skills. Experience roughly doubles hiring odds.
ZipRecruiter calls work experience the strongest predictor of getting hired.
Without experience
0.0%
hiring rate
With experience
0.0%
hiring rate
Animated data
The market pressure is measurable.
Employers are avoiding recent graduates
Hult and Workplace Intelligence surveyed 800 HR leaders and 800 recent graduates on workforce readiness.
Experience doubles the odds
Graduates with work experience are hired at about twice the rate of those without it.
Without experience
0.0%
hiring rate
With experience
0.0%
hiring rate
+40.9 point gap with experience
New-grad hiring narrowed
At Big Tech, new graduates now represent a much smaller share of hires than before the market reset.
2019
~0%
new grads as share of hires
change
−8 pts
2025
0%
new grads as share of hires
AI is changing entry-level expectations
ZipRecruiter's graduate research shows a gap between AI's labor-market impact and school-based preparation.
Pakistan's CS/IT graduate pipeline
Pakistan is producing a large CS/IT graduate pool. The transition into industry roles remains weak.
Pakistan IT exports are growing
July-April IT export receipts grew 21% year over year. April 2026 crossed $400M again.
10M FY25
$0.00B
July-April
change
+$0.67B
10M FY26
$0.00B
July-April
Headline proof
0%+
drop in Big Tech new-grad hiring from pre-pandemic levels.
Graduate readiness
0%
say lack of real-world experience is the top reason graduates are avoided.