New Challenges for the University Student’s Employment in the “Artificial Intelligent Time”
Research Article
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New Challenges for the University Student’s Employment in the “Artificial Intelligent Time”

Xuanting Wang 1*
1 University of Manchester
*Corresponding author: xuantingwang05@gmail.com
Published on 19 August 2025
Journal Cover
LNEP Vol.113
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-313-0
ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-314-7
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Abstract

This paper will provide an overview of the various challenges that university students are likely to face when seeking employment in the era of artificial intelligence. As more students progressively rely on AI tools to complete their university assignments, the practical skills they possess become increasingly rare and insufficient when entering the competitive job market or having a few chances to get a higher salary. This concern is extremely serious. Under these circumstances, analysing the key problems students may encounter during this transition, as well as the underlying causes, will offer strong support for the central theme of the paper. These problems are categorized into three main areas: psychological challenges, structural job displacement, and institutional policies. The psychological part has a few factors: envy when browsing social media, uncertainty about future career pathways as well as reality reasons. In terms of structural job displacement, the AI is faster than the change of education policy is the key reason for the employment problems. For institutional policy, the staff in the university mainly focuses on short term-skill rather than preferring long term. Finally, the paper proposes strategies to address these issues, providing useful recommendations for students to improve their situations, for example, by developing the practical skills they currently lack.

Keywords:

psychology, structural job displacement, institution policy

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Wang,X. (2025). New Challenges for the University Student’s Employment in the “Artificial Intelligent Time”. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,113,30-36.

References

[1]. PwC. (2017, June). Impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the gross domestic products (GDPs) worldwide in 2030, by region. Retrieved from statista: https: //www-statista-com.manchester.idm.oclc.org/statistics/785877/worldwide-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-gdp/

[2]. Shen, Y., & Zhang, X. (2024). The impact of artificial intelligence on employment: the role of virtual agglomeration. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1).

[3]. Almeida, L. (2025, June). UK graduates facing worst job market since 2018 amid rise of AI, says Indeed. Retrieved from TheGuardian: https: //www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jun/25/uk-university-graduates-toughest-job-market-rise-of-ai?utm_source

[4]. Myers, C. (2025, July). As if graduating weren’t daunting enough, now students like me face a jobs market devastated by AI. Retrieved from TheGuardian: https: //www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/06/graduation-students-jobs-market-ai-accountancy-finance?utm_source

[5]. Parker, L., Carter, C., Karakas, A., Loper, A. J., & Sokkar, A. (2024). Graduate instructors navigating the AI frontier: The role of ChatGPT in higher education. Computers and Education Open, 6, 100166.

[6]. Zheng, J., & Zhang, T. (2025). Association between AI awareness and emotional exhaustion: the serial mediation of job insecurity and work interference with family. Behavioral Sciences, 15(4), 401.

[7]. Dempsey, A. E., O'Brien, K. D., Tiamiyu, M. F., & Elhai, J. D. (2019). Fear of missing out (FoMO) and rumination mediate relations between social anxiety and problematic Facebook use. Addictive behaviors reports, 9, 100150.

[8]. O’Day, E. B., & Heimberg, R. G. (2021). Social media use, social anxiety, and loneliness: A systematic review. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 3, 100070.

[9]. Parrott, W. G., & Smith, R. H. (1993). Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy. Journal of personality and social psychology, 64(6), 906.

[10]. Kirkpatrick, C. E., & Lee, S. (2022). Comparisons to picture-perfect motherhood: How Instagram's idealized portrayals of motherhood affect new mothers' well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 137, 107417

[11]. Jackson, D. (2015). Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and best practice. Studies in higher education, 40(2), 350-367.

[12]. Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity youth and crisis (No. 7). WW Norton & company.

[13]. Korhonen, V. (2023, October). Number of Bachelor's degree recipients in the United States from 1869/70 to 2031/32. Retrieved from Statista: https: //www.statista.com/statistics/238164/bachelors-degree-recipients-in-the-us/

[14]. R. Collins, “Credential Inflation and the Future of Universities, ” Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 3, no. 2, 2011.

[15]. M. Tomlinson, “Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes, ” Higher Education Policy, vol. 25, p. 407–431, 2012.

[16]. Bloomberg, L. D. (2024). Re-aligning higher education and employability: Stackable skills are the new currency as online education paves the way. Journal of Online Graduate Education, 7(1).

[17]. Stephany, F., & Teutloff, O. (2024). What is the price of a skill? The value of complementarity. Research Policy, 53(1), 104898.

References

[1]. PwC. (2017, June). Impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the gross domestic products (GDPs) worldwide in 2030, by region. Retrieved from statista: https: //www-statista-com.manchester.idm.oclc.org/statistics/785877/worldwide-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-gdp/

[2]. Shen, Y., & Zhang, X. (2024). The impact of artificial intelligence on employment: the role of virtual agglomeration. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1).

[3]. Almeida, L. (2025, June). UK graduates facing worst job market since 2018 amid rise of AI, says Indeed. Retrieved from TheGuardian: https: //www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jun/25/uk-university-graduates-toughest-job-market-rise-of-ai?utm_source

[4]. Myers, C. (2025, July). As if graduating weren’t daunting enough, now students like me face a jobs market devastated by AI. Retrieved from TheGuardian: https: //www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/06/graduation-students-jobs-market-ai-accountancy-finance?utm_source

[5]. Parker, L., Carter, C., Karakas, A., Loper, A. J., & Sokkar, A. (2024). Graduate instructors navigating the AI frontier: The role of ChatGPT in higher education. Computers and Education Open, 6, 100166.

[6]. Zheng, J., & Zhang, T. (2025). Association between AI awareness and emotional exhaustion: the serial mediation of job insecurity and work interference with family. Behavioral Sciences, 15(4), 401.

[7]. Dempsey, A. E., O'Brien, K. D., Tiamiyu, M. F., & Elhai, J. D. (2019). Fear of missing out (FoMO) and rumination mediate relations between social anxiety and problematic Facebook use. Addictive behaviors reports, 9, 100150.

[8]. O’Day, E. B., & Heimberg, R. G. (2021). Social media use, social anxiety, and loneliness: A systematic review. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 3, 100070.

[9]. Parrott, W. G., & Smith, R. H. (1993). Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy. Journal of personality and social psychology, 64(6), 906.

[10]. Kirkpatrick, C. E., & Lee, S. (2022). Comparisons to picture-perfect motherhood: How Instagram's idealized portrayals of motherhood affect new mothers' well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 137, 107417

[11]. Jackson, D. (2015). Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and best practice. Studies in higher education, 40(2), 350-367.

[12]. Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity youth and crisis (No. 7). WW Norton & company.

[13]. Korhonen, V. (2023, October). Number of Bachelor's degree recipients in the United States from 1869/70 to 2031/32. Retrieved from Statista: https: //www.statista.com/statistics/238164/bachelors-degree-recipients-in-the-us/

[14]. R. Collins, “Credential Inflation and the Future of Universities, ” Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 3, no. 2, 2011.

[15]. M. Tomlinson, “Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes, ” Higher Education Policy, vol. 25, p. 407–431, 2012.

[16]. Bloomberg, L. D. (2024). Re-aligning higher education and employability: Stackable skills are the new currency as online education paves the way. Journal of Online Graduate Education, 7(1).

[17]. Stephany, F., & Teutloff, O. (2024). What is the price of a skill? The value of complementarity. Research Policy, 53(1), 104898.

Cite this article

Wang,X. (2025). New Challenges for the University Student’s Employment in the “Artificial Intelligent Time”. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,113,30-36.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICILLP 2025 Symposium: Psychological Perspectives on Teacher-Student Relationships in Educational Contexts

ISBN: 978-1-80590-313-0(Print) / 978-1-80590-314-7(Online)
Editor: Renuka Thakore, Abdullah Laghari
Conference website: https://2025.icillp.org/Nawabshah.html
Conference date: 17 October 2025
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.113
ISSN: 2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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