This study explores 20 online news articles, which comprise statements from soon-to-be graduates (n= 33) on the difficulties faced or perceived in the current hostile labour market in both European and non-European countries. The students are under the age of 25 of a bachelor or master’s degree in hard or soft fields of education. Preliminary findings reveal four situations that we label as 4Ds, Discouraged, Dismissed, Delayed, and Distanced. The first group have a negative perception of their employability; the Dismissed is made up of students whose job offer has been cancelled; the contracts of the Delayed group have been suspended; and the Distanced group’s jobs have changed to remote work. The sampled soon-to-be graduates describe the multiple consequences of the unfavourable labour market in their lives, notably psychological distress, administrative issues, and economic burden.

We gratefully acknowledge the comments and suggestions by Abdul Suleman, Pedro Videira and Paulo Marques. This work was financed by Portuguese funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology in the framework of the project BRIGHET.

soon-to-be graduates,perceived employability,job cancellation,pandemic context.