"He's seen the issue up close up through City Pay it Forward, a UK program that helps high school and university students pursue careers in finance, and he concluded that the system is broken. And other than applying to everything in sight, he said that "there is little practical advice that seems to make any difference." For a generation that did what "society told them to do," Nason isn't only worried about the economic cost, but the emotional one."
"A former Deutsche Bank managing director and now vice chair of the London Foundation for Banking and Finance, Quentin Nason, has slammed the impossible application process for fresh-faced graduates-or as he puts it, a "meat grinder." "Job listings that stayed open for a month last year are now closing within hours," he wrote in a LinkedIn post. " Barclays reportedly shut its graduate intake five hours after opening because applications flooded in.""
Graduate recruitment has hardened into an overwhelming, fast-closing process described as a 'meat grinder', with job listings that once stayed open for a month now closing within hours and graduate intakes filling within five hours. Programs that support students entering finance report the system is broken and that applying broadly offers little practical improvement. Many graduates entered debt-funded degrees under promises that no longer hold, creating economic strain and a heightened emotional toll as repeated rejections accumulate. Social media shows Gen Z sharing extensive spreadsheets of applications and rejection collages. Emerging AI tools for recruiters and applicants risk worsening access and fairness.
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