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Recent college graduates are struggling to find work as a degree is not always translating to immediately finding a job.
Skill requirements for entry-level roles are much higher today than in years past and the labor market is more challenging too with plenty of competition. However, some hiring managers say the generation of graduates today aren't built up yet for a career after school.
According to a survey from Intelligent.com, one in four hiring managers say recent graduates are unprepared for the workforce. On top of that, 27% feel that recent graduates are easily offended and 25% say they don't respond to feedback very well.
Brenda Siri is a hiring and workplace expert. Siri is also the President and CEO of Corporate Connections and an adjunct professor at the University of Texas in Dallas. She said hiring managers nowadays don't always want to hire someone right out of college with no or little work experience.
"It's not so much that students were having trouble finding jobs but hiring managers didn't want to hire people right out of college," said Siri.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added an average of 186,000 jobs per month in 2024. Those numbers are similar to pre-pandemic levels. Expectations from employers of their employees and hiring candidates have shifted in recent years and hiring levels have leveled out slightly ever since the boom a few years post-pandemic.
Siri, who teaches a professional development course at UT Dallas, said some attributes more common among Gen Z'ers are deal breakers for employers, leading to them finding an employee elsewhere.
"They feel that Gen Z lacks motivation and they don't communicate or take feedback well," Siri said of employers.
Something that could help both parties, hiring managers and those seeking employment post-college, is if employers ask college graduates more behavior-based questions to see if that person being interviewed has what it takes to fulfill that role.
"They should ask targeted questions that may help them find if that person would be a good fit and not an unmotivated and unable-to-communicate human being," Siri explained.
Siri also said for a young person to obtain a good work ethic and make going to college worth it in the long run, parents too should make sure it's the right investment for them to make.
"In my opinion it starts at home," she said. "It starts with parents setting expectations that if you're going to go to college, you're going to work."