The job market is cooling

The National Alumni Survey is a nationwide survey conducted every two years among Master’s graduates, roughly one to two years after they obtain their degrees. A total of 1,216 alumni from Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Twente and Wageningen University (WUR) completed the survey for the 2025 edition. UT specifically, there were 193 UT alumni who completed the survey. The gender breakdown was 57 per cent men and 43 per cent women. Most respondents were aged 25 to 27 and were at the start of their careers.

According to Silvia Blok of the Quality & Strategic Information team at WUR, who was involved in analysing the figures, the results suggest a shift. ‘The job market for graduates of the four technical universities has been exceptionally favourable for many years. We’re seeing that fall away a bit now. That’s also in line with the figures from Statistics Netherlands: the tight labour market is easing a bit.’

That does not mean that prospects for graduates of the four technical universities are a cause for concern; 92.4 per cent of respondents are in paid employment. For the UT alone, that percentage is slightly higher and is 94 percent.

‘There are rather fewer vacancies than during the peak,’ says Blok, ‘but we’re still in a good position.’ The vast majority of alumni still find jobs relatively quickly after graduating, in other words. UT alumni spend an average of 2.7 months looking for their first job.

There is little change too in the types of contracts offered by employers. Almost half of the people in work now have permanent contracts, with a further 27 per cent on temporary contracts with the prospect of a permanent position. Only a fifth of alumni are on temporary contracts with no prospect of a permanent job.

That stability helps create satisfaction. For example, 78 per cent of alumni say they are happy with their jobs. On average, UT alumni give a four (out of five) when asked how satisfied they are with their job. Looking purely at the content of the work, that percentage is actually even slightly higher. The respondents were also largely positive about career prospects and development opportunities, with average scores well above the midpoint on a five-point scale.

The figures show that things work out fine for most graduates in the end

Silvia Blok

Graduates are more critical of their salaries than they are of other aspects of their work. Around 65 per cent say they are satisfied, but that figure is clearly lower than the satisfaction scores for job content and development opportunities, for instance. The average gross monthly salary is around 3,500 euros, but Blok thinks this is not always in line with what job market entrants expect beforehand.‘The gap between expectations and reality is an issue for some graduates,’ says Blok, ‘as you can see in their behaviour: they keep looking around.’ For instance, 27 per cent of respondents are actively looking for a new job, with salary being one of the key reasons – followed by career prospects and then the nature of the work. ‘For a lot of new entrants to the job market, the first job isn’t where they’ll end up.’

The fit between education and employment is also a mixed bag. Over three quarters of graduates feel that their role is a good fit for their personal qualities. However, that percentage is lower when looking at specific skills acquired during the Master’s programme. Some alumni feel there is a discrepancy there. According to Blok, that difference is not necessarily problematic. ‘You can see that graduates leave with a wide range of skills that can benefit them greatly. At the same time, they often still need to develop that further in their work, to apply specific knowledge. That’s a normal process in the early years of a career.’ (Text continues below picture)

The sectors that alumni find jobs in demonstrate just how versatile science and technology graduates are. The industrial sector (such as the food, chemical or technology industries) is by far the largest employer category, followed by education and research, healthcare, the public sector and the construction industry. In short, science and technology graduates are still ending up in a wide variety of jobs.

How quickly graduates find employment varies by subject area, though. Some specialist fields, such as electrical engineering, civil engineering or the energy transition, lead straight to specific roles, whereas others require a longer learning curve. ‘That may mean that graduates need longer to find a job that really suits them.’

Shortage
That search is perfectly normal too, according to Blok. ‘People sometimes need time to find the right spot. The figures show that things work out fine for most graduates in the end. So the picture is actually much rosier than some job market entrants perhaps think when the search takes a bit longer.’

The survey’s main conclusion therefore remains intact. Despite a bit of a slowdown in the job market, science and technology specialists are still very much in demand. ‘There’s still a shortage of professionals in these fields,’ says Blok, ‘and that’s not expected to change in the future.’

Text: Willem Andrée