[andyish]

Total over saturation of that end of the market, and given it seems CompSci and SoftEng degrees are still in vogue it seems the trend will continue. Coupled with companies cutting back and wanting to maximize value they end up focusing on the upper end of the market (experience-wise).

Anecdotally, and from the companies I know that do have a graduate program, they've reduced the number of available positions, so there are still positions, but it's just much more competitive.

My advice would be to find any role roughly related to your target job and then pivot to what you really want. The difference in interviewing a candidate with no experience vs 12 months is night and day.