UK Job Markets Cool Down 5.8% As Entry-Level Creatives “Lose Hope”

There is still no job in sight for the creative duo Avi and Luke, one year after their graduation from the School of Communication Arts 2.0, one of the UK's most well-known advertising academies.

Luke and Avi partnered together during their studies. While Luke Dinsdale is the copywriter of the pair, with a 2024 D&AD New Blood graphite pencil under his belt, Triski Avissa Yulrisman (Avi) is the creative art director with previous experience in graphic design.

Now, they are hoping to catch employers’ eyes with a stunt, delivering their portfolio in a big box, since 'Big Ideas Need Big Boxes.' It got people talking, but not enough for both of them to quit their jobs in customer service and work in advertising full-time.

After a whole year of rejections, getting offered multiple positions, and then hearing that budgets were cut for the roles or blatant ghosting, both started to despair. While the stunt has started to make the creative pair feel more positive, Luke says, “I have really started to lose hope. This year has been heartbreaking and gut-wrenching.”

A Two-Year Low in Employment

It’s not them – it’s the job market. At least according to the most recent statistics. Job openings fell by 5.8% to 718,000 between May to July across nearly all industries in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

At the same time, the Financial Times reported UK recruitment being close to a two-year low in July, according to a survey published by KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (Rec) on Monday.

School of Communication Arts 2.0 dean Marc Lewis has confirmed a tightening in placement opportunities offered to graduates in the advertising industry. “We want to give our students a choice of where they go. Whereas right now we're saying, ‘Look, grab that one and we'll let you know when the next one comes up.’”

The total staff turnover in the advertising industry dropped about 7.1%, from 31.2% in 2023 down to 24.1% in 2024, according to the IPA Agency Census 2024. All that while redundancies increased by 7.2 percentage points, from 4.9% in 2023 to 12.1% in 2024.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) adviser, Gwyn March, at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) states that research demonstrates real difficulties in spending levy money on entry-level apprenticeships, with many agencies using it to upskill existing employees or treating it as a tax.

So There Are Fewer Jobs, More Redundancies and Fewer Opportunities for Youngsters. But Why?

The list of factors influencing a tightening in the job market is a long one. But first and foremost, it is the consequence of budgets tightening in the creative industry. CPD adviser Gwyn says: “With a struggling economy, finance directors are struggling with budgets, some agencies are leaner, with less time to recruit and run, say, a graduate training programme.”

​Samantha Peace, the founder of the recruitment collective Creative Connections, says that this year has taken such a battering on agencies. With global tariff announcements from US president Donald Trump – an additional 10% on top of existing US duties – and a slowing economy, the creative industry has been heavily impacted. “Marketing is the first thing that goes when things are tight. Everything trickles down to marketing and, of course, recruitment, making it a double whammy.”

Samatha adds: “This year has taken such a battering on agencies. It feels quite luxurious to run a scheme and then employ, you know, 10 people off the back of it.” She adds: “But it's a real shame, because I personally think the best way to enter this industry is through an entry-level scheme.”

CPD adviser Gwyn says: “Some training providers have noted that their agency clients have been more cautious of late, waiting to see if marketing budgets recover.”

Redundancies also impact the seniors in the industry. Due to high pressure, more work and less time, “there is no capacity” to grab coffee with juniors in the industry, answer their request or let them shadow, says Samantha.

That is what Avi and Luke have observed, too. Luke says, “The lack of actual human connection is all ghosting leaves you with. It makes you feel like no one cares. You're just kind of screaming into a void, and no one is hearing you.”

The Elephant in The Room

Of course, the discussion of graduates struggling is also linked to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in agencies and the creative industry as a whole.

A McKinsey & Company report predicts 92 million jobs to be displaced by 2030 due to AI, but also 170 million new ones to develop that will require new skills.

Marc Lewis also thinks that the creative industry will have to adapt and change with the technology. Gen AI use makes the traditional way of pairing up art directors with copywriters, a thing of the past, he says. The default model of the creativity duo is common but expensive. “That is why we're starting to see now is a new kind of team, and that's human and machine. So when mankind teams up with ‘silicon-kind’ artistic intelligence, we get a liminal space that lives in the middle.”

Adviser Gwyn says that IPA “only has anecdotal evidence, but there is widespread concern/belief that gen AI’s capabilities can replace some junior roles.”

But, What About the Fresh Blood?

The uncertainty regarding the use of AI is also why the industry “overcorrected” by cutting budgets and seeing how developments play out, says Marc. While clients have very few placements at the moment, especially over the summer period, the dean expects more positions over the autumn. “They're realising that they need placements, and they're, they're fighting for the budgets, and they're realising that they need to correct.”

Marc predicts the industry will be shaken up by current financial pressures. “I'm not upset to see the industry to becoming lighter and leaner and faster and stronger as a result of the shake-up. In fact, I celebrate it.”

Adviser Gwyn wants everyone to keep their nerves. She says the UK government is supporting the creative industry with a £380 million investment plan, and there is “no evidence that AI can come up with better advertising ideas, humans always win in any competition or research.”

She is expecting the creative industry to bounce back if: “budgets recover, AI turns out not to be a panacea for everything, and we stick with wanting the business benefits of diversity and inclusion”.

Recruitment expert Samantha Peace is highly worried about the advertising industry in the coming few years. “The problem is if we are not bringing in enough fresh blood into the industry, then that's going to cause a real issue. There's going to be low supply, high demand; it's going to flip on its head completely. Salaries will go up as a result, like they did after covid. And if we're not attracting the absolute best. Then the quality of the candidate is just going to go down.”

Adviser Gwyn agrees with Samantha on the predicted creativity drought that will have to be stimulated after. “Anyone fortunate enough to be an entry-level hire in these leaner years will become much sought after, and a war for talent will begin again.”