Welcome to summertime, TA experts! 😎

Higher education is overrated.

At least, according to hiring managers who participated in a recent Resume Templates survey. One-fourth of respondents said they’ll ax bachelor’s degree requirements in some job descriptions by late 2025.

It seems TAs aren’t impressed by undergrad diplomas. Instead, they focus on experience and certifications, which expands the talent pool while ramping up positive PR.

Questions? Comments? Wondering if anyone’s listening? Reply to this email — we’d love to hear from you!

— Team Talivity ✨

Today’s issue is a 4-minute read. Here’s what to expect 👇

🧑‍🎓 College graduates aren’t optimistic about job prospects
💲 Financial stress is impeding employee efficiency
🧓 Older employees aren’t ready for desired career changes
✂️ Overhauled government policies prompt Booz Allen and Climeworks to reduce workforces

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NEWS

One Thing You Should Know This Week

Axios: College Graduates are Anxious About Entering a Rocky Job Market

🎓 Graduating Into Gloom

The college seniors of 2025 might be giddy about graduating. When it comes to job prospects, not so much.

A recent Axios article explained that economic uncertainty and recession fears are prompting large and small businesses to put hiring plans on hold. As a result, newly minted employee applicants are entering a situation with few job offerings and plenty of pessimism.

We dug into this topic last month, too—check out our earlier take on why grads might be facing one of the toughest job markets in years: Tough Break for Grads.

🖼️ The Big Picture

In the pandemic’s aftermath, a massive talent shortage put plenty of power into the workforce’s hands. College graduates had a seemingly unlimited pick of abundant career opportunities. Meanwhile, dissatisfied employees who disliked bosses’ stances on remote work resigned in droves, knowing they’d find something better somewhere else.

What a difference a few years make.

Beneath the low unemployment and job growth reports is a sluggish hiring rate. The pace is especially glacial for undergrads; in a 2024 report, ADP noted that college graduate hiring has been on the skids since mid-2022.

More recently, the entry-level job platform Handshake said that:

• More than half of 2025 graduates were pessimistic about their hiring chances
• Graduates submitted 21 percent more job applications through the Handshake platform in 2025 than in the previous year

The upshot? Fewer jobs, more applicants.

💼 What This Means for Job Seekers

Unfortunately, the slow-as-molasses pace of hiring is a fact, at least until tariff uncertainties and recession fears (hopefully) unravel. At the same time, even employees nursing job-related grievances are staying put.

This is all bad news for job-starved college seniors. Axios reporters interviewed graduates who applied for posted jobs, only to hear crickets or receive rejections. Some of these individuals are considering part-time work or internships.

But internships offer little solace. The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported in April 2025 that intern hiring could drop by 3.1 percent from the previous year.

🔮 Looking Ahead

Historical data spell grim news for those graduating into economic downturns. New career seekers end up in part-time or temporary jobs. Others make their way to graduate school, hoping that a master’s or doctorate can improve their professional prospects. Many move back with their parents, resuming their lives in childhood bedrooms.

These unhappy applicants could encounter more problems. A National Bureau of Economic Research write-up said that young adults entering the workforce during recessions might experience:

• Higher rates of disability
• Fewer marriages and children
• Less successful spouses

The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research put the icing atop this gloomy scenario, reporting that recession graduates can have higher midlife death rates. The causes include unhealthy behaviors like smoking, drinking, and poor nutrition, leading to heart, liver, and lung diseases.

Unfortunately, job recruiters and talent acquisition professionals can’t wave a magic wand to provide plentiful career opportunities to college graduates instantly. But the experts can help by:

• Increasing job searches on college campuses
• Using technological tools to reduce costs and streamline recruitment
• Encouraging graduates to create professional connections and networks

If you’re rethinking how to support early-career talent in a shifting market, we can help. Talivity’s Strategic Consulting team partners with TA leaders to turn uncertainty into opportunity—by aligning hiring plans with what’s next for your business. Talk to a strategist.

📥️ Read more at Axios.

🌍 If you were at UNLEASH in Vegas earlier this month, you already know the value. Now imagine that on a global scale.

UNLEASH World is happening this October 20-22 in Paris, and it’s one of the most influential gatherings in HR tech, talent strategy, and the future of work.

If your team is expanding into EMEA or you’ve already got people in Europe, this is a smart event to build into your plans. Meet global buyers, connect with forward-thinking HR leaders, and get plugged into the international talent tech ecosystem.

Talivity will be there, and we’d love to team up with others who are attending. If you’re planning to go, let us know!

Register Here

NUMBERS

Numbers That’ll Make You Think

• 7 in 10 – The number of companies admitting they’ve incorporated AI into their work-related efforts (HRDive)
• 83% – The percentage of HR pros who observe that financial stress is doing a number on employee productivity (HR Brew)
• 67% – The percentage of employees who would eschew remote work in a changing job market for greater employability through relevance, skills learning, and security (OnRec)
• July 9 – The date by which President Donald Trump’s 50% tariff on EU imports is delayed (CNN)
• 24.3% – The actual—or “true”—percentage of America’s workforce that is functionally unemployed (Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity)
• 2,600 – The number of U.S. jobs containing “diversity” or “DEI” in titles and descriptions that have been slashed since early 2023 (NPR)

EVENTS

Ways to Connect

⭐️ Reputation Reset: Re‑engineering Your Employer Brand on Glassdoor, Indeed & Beyond

June 12 | 1 PM ET

Join us to learn how to take control of the conversation around your brand. We’ll show you how to spot reputation risks early, turn negative signals into trust-building moments, and build a proactive, data-backed recovery plan.

Plus, you’ll get actionable tools like templates and checklists — and an exclusive first look at Talivity’s new Employer Reputation Navigator.

👉 Register

📊 Talent Market Index (TMI) Briefing: Your Real-Time Pulse on the Talent Economy

June 17 | 1 PM ET
As summer sets in, the job market is shifting, with more than just rising temperatures at play. In June’s Talent Market Index, we unpack the latest hiring trends across industries navigating tighter budgets, seasonal changes, and the growing impact of AI on workforce planning.

Whether you’re seeing a surge in applicants or facing hard-to-fill roles, this month’s data offers clear, actionable insight to help you understand what’s truly shaping the talent market. And where to focus next.

👉 Register

🤖 From Hyped to Hired: What Actually Works in AI for Talent Acquisition

July 9 | 1 PM ET

Cut through the noise and get real about AI in talent acquisition. In this session, you’ll hear what’s actually working from TA leaders in the field, uncover fast-win use cases, and learn how to avoid the most common traps.

We’ll also debut Talivity’s AI Talent Map — a new resource to help you benchmark where you are, where to go next, and how to make AI work for your hiring strategy.

👉 Register

INDUSTRY INTEL

M&A Deals, Industry Moves & Other Things to Know

• President Donald Trump’s April 23 Executive Order brings hope to skilled trades leaders that more resources will support hands-on apprenticeship programs to increase vocational skills (HRDive)
• An AARP survey reports that 24 percent of older people are eager to change jobs, but 65% haven’t done anything to prepare for the process (AARP)
• Artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic claims its Opus 4 AI model has the moxie to handle complex tasks without human prompts for a seven-hour workday (CNN)
• Another lawsuit has been brought against the legally troubled HR and finance platform Workday—this one due to anti-age bias from its AI (INC)
• AI research lab firm OpenAI will pay $6.5 million for ownership rights to start-up device company io, the brainchild of former tech giant Apple design chief Jony Ive (CNN)
• Home improvement retailer Home Depot is improving customer friendliness with training and generative AI tools to boost associates’ product knowledge (HRDive).
• Air carrier United Airlines and 28,000 flight attendants ready for take-off through an “industry-leading” tentative labor deal with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union (NBC News)
• Global CRM platform Salesforce shells out $8 billion to buy cloud data management company Informatica (TechCrunch)
• President Donald Trump blesses the formerly scuttled union between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel (NBC News)

LAYOFFS

Places For You To Source Talent

• Swedish automaker Volvo Cars will slice 3,000 jobs to cut costs (AP News)
• International retail giant Walmart plans a 1,500-job reduction from its Global Tech team to increase operational efficiencies (CBS News)
• DOGE-cancelled contracts prompted 2,500 employee layoffs at government consulting and technology firm Booz Allen (INC)
• Autonomous vehicle software company LeddarTech announced the temporary layoff of 138 employees—approximately 95% of the Quebec City firm’s workforce—to pay debts (Betakit)
• Carbon removal start-up Climeworks AG of Switzerland is reducing its workforce by 22% (106 employees) due to America’s axed climate change incentives (Wall Street Journal)

 👋 Thanks for reading!