Elon’s University’s class of 2025 confronts adulthood in a job market influenced with technological development and cautious hiring. Elon seniors graduate to a period of economic uncertainty with less job openings and more applications across most careers.

Openings for jobs are down 15%, while applications per job are up 30%, according to a report by the job search website Handshake. The report indicates an environment of “heightened anxiety and competition,” and students applying at a higher rate than years before.

Brandon Sheridan, professor of economics, said the United States’ economic decisions are a factor for hiring pulling back.

On May 12, the U.S. and China each lowered tariffs by 115% and with other U.S. measures still in place, according to a White House press release. Both nations have been leveraging tariffs since April. 

“The theme I would think about for companies is probably uncertainty,” Sheridan said. “The Trump administration, they put in tariffs one day and then the next day they take them off.”

According to Sheridan, companies are not firing employees, but they aren’t hiring either. The country’s gross domestic product shrank at a 0.3% annual rate from January to March of 2025, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This drop, Sheridan said, was the result of companies preemptively importing ahead of tariffs. The uncertainty of the general state of the economy leads to fewer hirings, according to Sheridan.

Sheridan said artificial intelligence could also pose a new dynamic for the hiring process.

“You’re going to see a lot more applications per position so they could also make it challenging for companies because they have to filter through more,” Sheridan said.

Senior and business major Adam Kanowitz describes himself as a career- oriented person. Kanowitz said he hassubmitted close to 40 applications for consulting or analyst-level jobs and has not received a formal interview from an employer. He said he felt frustrated after hearing different promises from CEO’s and recruiters.

Kanowitz received a Student Achievement in Entrepreneurship and Innovation award from the Martha Love School of Business in April. He said he worked tirelessly toward his goals and gave over 70 workshops, taking a career path straying from most business majors.

“I stand up there and listen to them talk about me when they’re giving awards, and speak to the Board of Trustees and it has not translated to a single thing of career success,” Kanowitz said.

Kanowitz said he takes nothing for granted and is moving home to New York to focus on applying to consulting roles. He said he is searching for a job that fulfills his experience.

Sophomore Gabriella Czerveny is looking for summer marketing internships.

“I feel like marketing, it wasn’t that bad. I applied to maybe, like, 40 jobs, and then heard back from two of them, there was one that even ghosted me,” Czerveny said.

Czerveny said the job postings online felt fake and that the job market felt overwhelming. Four in 10 companies posted a fake job in 2024, according to a report by Resume Builder.

“For a lot of them, you could tell that they didn’t really put that much effort into putting the job posting up, or they didn’t put tabs on it,” Czerveny said.

Sophomore Ryan James said he applied to 296 positions to secure his internships for the next two summers. He said he was nervous about a slight slip-up with his grade point average in the fall, which he said is critical to maintain since Elon is not a target school for bank hires, according to Mergers & Inquisitions — a school that attracts employment based on name alone.

“It’s gotten a lot more competitive,” James said. “The economy is very volatile so people are cautious.”

James secured an internship with Morgan Stanley, a global investment banking firm. James networked with an Elon alumnus at Morgan Stanley to get a referral.

“Elon has a good young alumni network that will fight for your place,” James said. According to the previously mentioned Handshake report, 57% of 2025 students enrolled in college with a dream job, now half of the original percentage are seeking the same job.

In one word, senior Andrew Whipp described the job market as “timid." Whipp is pursuing a career in strategic communications and works with organizing brand merchandise with Hilton.

Whipp is a music production minor, and his dream job is working as a PR agent in the music industry. He said he was lucky to have a job, and that his dream job was out of reach.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but not at the moment, I don’t feel secure enough to,” Whipp said.

Adam Kanowitz is among many in the class of 2025 who graduated from high school in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kanowitz said he takes nothing for granted. He said his next step is writing job applications continuously until he lands something.

“I am a graduate of the high school class of 2020, so I’ve learned to take things as they come. That’s all you can do,” Kanowitz said.