Study conducted in 2024 by JobTeaser's GenZ Lab and EDHEC's NewGen Talent Centre among over 10 000 students and recent graduates
Starting careers What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
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Editorial
Every year, thousands of young higher education graduates enter the job market. Between the desire for personal fulfilment and the quest for meaning, they are constantly redefining work standards and norms. While their expectations are sometimes complex, their vision of the corporate world is positive but uncompromising: collaborative yet hierarchical, captivating yet stressful. Implicitly, it is also a profoundly new concept of career that is emerging, one that is based on movement! Future graduates are considering their first position as short-term, already anticipating changes in profession, sector or even a complete reorientation. Is it a fear of commitment or simply a necessary adaptability in the face of a world more uncertain?
Far from caricatures, our study paints the portrait of a generation who does not turn away from business but pushes it to reinvent itself. A generation that offers, for employers who are willing to listen, a unique opportunity to rethink their models, ensuring they remain attractive and competitive.
Happy reading,
Manuelle Malot, Director NewGen Talent Center, EDHEC Business School
Michaël Giaj, Insight Manager, JobTeaser
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Methodology
Target surveyed
The Gen Z Lab by JobTeaser and EDHEC's NewGen Talent Center have joined forces and carried out a major European study to decipher the latest trends in the future careers of young talent.
Generation Z
Norway
Finland
The survey was carried out from May 2 to June 10, 2024.
Sweden
Denmark
501 students and recent
graduates from the Nordic area (Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark) were interviewed Including :
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
What do they think of work?
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
In 2025, work remains a cardinal value for Generation Z.
However they are rather pessimistic about the future.
judge the future of the labor market to be unfavorable for young people 53 %
Perception of the future of job market
Contribution of work to personal fulfillment
93 %
consider work as a factor of personal development
↗ ↗
To what extent do you think your current or future work will contribute to your personal development?
How favorable do you think the future of the job market is for your generation?
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
The corporate world, a land of challenges and uncertainties!
Youngers have a divided opinion of the corporate world.
62 %
positive perception
Vision of the corporate world
Quelle est votre vision actuelle du monde de l’entreprise ? ↗
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Their portrait of the company is striking: collaborative and captivating, yet standardized, complex, and stressful.
For you the business world is…
For you the business world is… ↗
What is your current vision for the company?
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
What do they expect from work?
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Work-life balance and remuneration are the main expectations of future graduates for their next job.
Top 5 expectations in their next job
1
2
3
4
5
What do you expect from your future job? ↗
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Whether by choice or by necessity, fixed-term contracts are no longer the only option for for Nordics students.
Contracts mainly sought after graduation
Following your studies, what type of professional contract seems most inte- resting to you for your first job? (Student base) ↗ permanent contract upon leaving study. 1 in 2 Nearly students does not envisage a
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Small and medium-sized private companies are favoured by young people
Future graduates largely prefer small and medium-sized businesses:
2 out of 3 young talents consider working in a private company as a priority.
employees. 40 %
want to work in companies with fewer than 250
Ideal type of organization
Ideal company size
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Once they're in, next? The future
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Young talent aim to stay just one year in their first position
12 months
In total
93
%
do not plan beyond two years
Ideal median duration for a first position according to students & recent graduates
What do you think is the ideal length of time for a first job ? ↗
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Upgrading quickly in the company is the N°1 priority for future graduates
Ideal professional development in the coming years
Choose the priority item. ↗
How do you see your professional development in the coming years?
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Over the long term, professional reorientation is already a strong consideration, by choice or by constraint
More than 1 out of 2 already think to reorient by choice and 1 out of 3 to consider by constraint.
Anticipate having to change professional fields during their career
Anticipate having to change professional fields by constraint
52 %
34 %
Net Yes
Net Yes
career? - By constraint (development of professions, etc.) ↗ ↗
Do you anticipate having to change professional fields during your career? - By personal choice (reorientation, new projects, etc.)
Do you anticipate having to change professional fields during your
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
Young people are convinced of AI contribution to boosting their productivity, but are not worried about the potential long-term impacts on their profession.
AI will profoundly change the way you do your (future) job
Your (future) job could become obsolete in the coming years
83 %
22 %
Net Yes
Net Yes
next few years? ↗ ↗
Do you think that... - AI will profoundly change the way you do your (future) job?
Do you think that... - Your (future) job may become obsolete in the
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
In summary
A mitigated vision of their future and the world of work
The ideal first role in 2025
Future of careers: Uncertainty as a driving force
In 2025, work remains a strong source of fulfillment for young talent (93%).
Work-life balance (62%) and remuneration (61%) are the main expectations of future graduates for their next job.
European graduates aim to stay just 12 months for their first position, revealing a clear lack of projection at the start of their career.
However they are rather pessimistic about the future. 53% judge the future of the labor market to be unfavorable for young people.
Whether by choice or by necessity, fixed-term contracts are no longer the only option for European students. Almost half of them prefer another type of contract.
They already anticipate the profound impact of AI on job (83%) but do not feel concerned about a potential obsolescence of their profession in the coming years (22%).
Companies are perceived positively (62% positive opinion), described as collaborative and captivating but also as stressful, complicated and hierarchical.
Over the long term, professional reorientation is already a strong consideration, whether by choice (52%) or by constraint (34%).
Once in position, European graduates want to prioritise specialising in a specific field (34%).
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
About JobTeaser JobTeaser, European leader in the recruitment and orientation of young talents, was founded in 2008 to facilitate the transi- tion between the academic and professional world. With the mission of supporting young people in their professio- nal integration, JobTeaser offers an integrated platform in more than 800 schools and universities across Europe. This platform is used by 5 million students and recent gra- duates to discover internship and job opportunities, and by more than 250,000 recruiters to communicate and recruit talent.
About The Gen Z Lab Launched in 2023, The Gen Z Lab is an observatory de- dicated to the analysis of future generations and their re- lationship to work. Bringing together our resources on the characteristic trends of Generation Z, our ambition is to demystify preconceived ideas about this youth, to stu- dy their behaviour, and to better understand their aspira- tions. Studies, testimonies, forums, detailed and prospec- tive analyses: find all our content developed by JobTeaser experts to decipher those who will shape the world of work of tomorrow.
To learn more, visit:
To learn more, visit:
The GenZ Lab
corporate.jobteaser.com
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Starting careers · What Nordics future graduates want in 2025
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