- Recent Gen Z graduates feel underprepared for today’s AI-driven job market, despite 9 in 10 educators believing otherwise, according to a Cengage report. It comes as employers are hiring fewer entry-level workers and reporting frustration with recent grads’ lack of workplace readiness—and students blame inadequate career prep, limited internships, and poor real-world exposure during their education.
While it may be assumed that recent college graduates aren’t ready to take on the AI-burdened job market, the ones prepping them for the workforce feel otherwise.
Nearly nine in 10 educators believe their students are prepared to enter the workforce, but students disagree.
Almost half of graduates don’t even feel prepared enough to apply for an entry-level job in their field of study, according to Cengage Group—an education and technology company that provides digital learning materials, platforms, and services for higher education for workforce training.
Additionally, only half of graduates feel confident in their AI skills when job-hunting—a skill that’s increasingly important in this tech-driven era.
The disconnect between students’ post-school reality and professors’ approach stems from a mismatch in priorities. The report says that educators are focused on soft skills like critical thinking and problem solving, while employers are ranking candidates based on job-specific technical skills with AI as their top priority. And the discrepancy is leaving job seekers unprepared for what workplaces actually want after graduation.
“While schools often focus on soft skills like communication and critical thinking, employers consistently stress the importance of job-specific technical skills—training that more than half of unprepared graduates say they lacked,” Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage Group tells Fortune.
As a result, more than a third of degree holders wish their institution had worked more closely with employers to build career-relevant courses and skills, according to the study. And employers aren’t helping the situation by shrinking their headcount, with one in 10 bosses admitting they’re hiring fewer entry-level workers than last year.
Recent graduates are underprepared for the real world of work—and they’re getting fired for it
The job market is already tough for unprepared Gen Z, and there’s another hurdle once they actually land a job: their bosses aren’t afraid to lay them off if they’re not up to speed.
After experiencing a raft of problems with young new hires, one in six bosses said they’re hesitant to hire recent college grads again, according to a survey from Intelligent.com. Meanwhile, over one in five recent graduates say they can’t handle the workload.
The main reasoning of bosses who fired their underprepared entry-level employees was that they lacked motivation, were late to work and meetings, didn’t wear office-appropriate clothing and weren’t using appropriate language.
But many recent graduates blame this on a lack of work experience. Early-career opportunities like internships provide in-person connections, networking and shadowing opportunities for Gen Z, while also preparing them to be more comfortable and familiar with office environments after graduation.
But the pandemic wiped away many of those exposure opportunities. Case in point: Gen Z workers have just 16 strong business relationships on average, compared to 21 for millennials and 40 for Gen X.
Unfortunately, colleges didn’t recognize this issue early enough, as one in five graduates say their education program did nothing to help foster in-person connections, according to the Cengage report. Students of that group also reported having no assistance in the form of career services, networking advice, resume prep, or real-world employer introductions.
“Stronger partnerships with employers are critical to co-design relevant courses, embed hands-on training, and expand access to internships and apprenticeships,” Hansen added.
“By aligning soft skills, technical training, and professional access, educators and employers can share responsibility for ensuring graduates leave school ready and confident to thrive in a rapidly changing economy.”
