University student Harry Dong has spent more than two months sending out roughly 30 to 40 job applications across Hong Kong’s event management, technology and education sectors, but has secured only one interview so far.

The 23-year-old University of Hong Kong student, who will graduate in December, said he had only applied for internship positions.

“It’s too hard for us to find a full-time job directly. Each company has opened only one to three positions because AI has taken the rest,” Dong said.

He added that he felt AI-generated work was inferior to what humans could produce, but said this distinction rarely mattered to employers.

Employers had become too “utilitarian” and believed artificial intelligence could help them save money, he said.

Dong is among a growing number of local graduates who have been squeezed out of an entry-level job market that has contracted sharply in recent years.