The entry-level picture in engineering is tighter than it has been in years. In engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a 9-percentage-point gap a 2026 GOV.UK snapshot of entry-level hiring. That gap tells you something important: the junior end of the pipeline is shrinking faster than the top.
Across tech more widely, the retreat from early careers is sharper still. The UK tech sector cut graduate jobs by 46 percent in the past year, with a further 53 percent drop projected, according to figures from the Institute of Student Employers The Register, reporting ISE figures. Postings tell the same story: Adzuna has seen a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT's launch, with graduates facing the toughest job market since 2018 techUK analysis of Adzuna data.
So employers are cutting graduate intakes while still needing to grow their own talent. That tension is exactly why the way companies build junior teams is changing.
Apprenticeships are moving from a side option to a central strategy. Apprenticeships have risen from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 the GOV.UK AI Labour Market Survey 2025. In five years they have gone from a rounding error to nearly one in five hires in the most competitive corner of the sector.
The reason is practical. Apprenticeships let employers train software skills against their own tools and codebase, rather than hoping a graduate arrives job-ready. When the market is this unpredictable, growing talent in-house is a way to control quality and keep a pipeline flowing even as graduate schemes contract.
And the skills pressure is real. 76% of engineering employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist sustainability skills topping the list the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Apprenticeships are one of the few routes that let you build those scarce skills rather than compete for them.
Start with potential, not polish. A strong apprentice often has little formal experience, so look for aptitude, curiosity and the way someone solves a problem rather than a long CV. Set a clear, structured task that mirrors real work, and judge how they think, not just what they already know.
Widen the net. The best early-career talent rarely sits in one channel, and the people who could thrive as apprentices may not be actively applying. Reaching beyond the usual pool matters most when entry-level postings are falling and competition for raw potential is rising.
Then move quickly. Promising junior applicants get snapped up fast, so a slow process loses the people you most want. Keep your stages tight, give feedback early, and make the first conversation easy to book. Speed and a clear plan to develop someone are what turn an apprentice hire into a long-term team member.
This is where we help. We search a database of 15 million people to surface early-career engineering talent fast, so you can spot apprentices with the right aptitude without waiting for them to find your advert. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. Ready to build your apprentice pipeline? Start hiring with us today.
