By Alicia Navarro

The UK unemployment rate has hit its highest point since the pandemic, at 5.1% according to the Office for National Statistics. For young people, it’s far worse: 8.7% for those aged 18–34.

Increased minimum wage and NI contributions, geopolitical instability, and the rapid reshaping of work by AI, are driving changes in hiring behaviour.

Historically, entry-level roles existed because someone had to do the grunt work: filing, tagging, testing, customer support, QA. Today, much of that work is handled by software, automation, or AI agents.

And when junior hiring does happen, employers can afford to be choosier. Why take a chance on a graduate when, for the same cost, you can hire someone with two or three years’ experience?

This shift hits neurodivergent candidates hardest.

As junior roles become scarcer and competition intensifies, hiring processes grow longer and more complex - often overwhelming for those with executive function challenges. While companies may consider this a form of screening (”if you can’t handle the interview process, how can you handle the job?”), for certain creative or specialist roles, they are missing out on potential talent.

AI has accelerated this trend. Around 87% of companies now use AI-powered tools to screen CVs, source candidates, and even conduct initial........

© LBC