| By Gale Staff |
In early 2024, the Strada Education Foundation published a study revealing concerning metrics about recent college graduates and underemployment. According to the research, 52% of graduates are underemployed within a year of earning their bachelor’s degree, and 45% remain underemployed 10 years after graduation.1
The problem isn’t that jobs aren’t available—in fact, it’s quite the opposite. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the number of current job openings (8.0 million) far outpaces the number of unemployed individuals in the country (6.8 million).2,3
If there are so many jobs available, why is underemployment such a big issue for recent graduates? Additional research reveals that 50% of graduates feel underqualified for entry-level jobs, barring many from even applying for positions that utilize their degrees.4 And, unfortunately, many employers agree. In a survey of over 1,200 business leaders, 40% said recent college grads are unprepared for the workforce.5
So, where’s the disconnect between colleges and employers? Survey respondents noted that graduates are missing essential skills for the job market, citing poor work ethic and ineffective communication.6
It’s clear that interventions are necessary for colleges and universities to remedy this divide and ensure graduate employability. Most institutions have programming to support workforce preparedness, but what more can faculty do to support students? Consider these four strategies to strengthen career readiness in your classroom and beyond.
1. Emphasize Skill Building in the Classroom
While skill building is intrinsically tied to college coursework, it’s easy to miss opportunities to encourage practical application in the classroom. This is evident in the preference for lecture-focused courses and the use of exams to assess how much students have learned. The best curricula ensure that skill building is also a focus, giving students opportunities to put their knowledge to practical use.
When it comes to skill building, developing technical skills relevant to industry employability is a top priority. While this is easy for courses in subjects like allied health, it may be more challenging in a field like the humanities. Yet many skills learned in the humanities are essential in the workforce, including creativity, critical thinking, and communication. The key is having students practice how they would use these skills in the real world, from developing marketing campaigns to curating museum exhibitions.
Soft skills like analysis, collaboration, and problem-solving are essential for success across industries. Take opportunities in your classroom to build student confidence in career-focused skills, such as project management and public speaking. Help students visualize how developing skills across disciplines better prepares them for their futures. If they can give a presentation to their peers, they can also present to a boardroom. If they can complete their science lab work, they can become better problem solvers.
Instilling students with a sense of agency in their own learning is also a powerful workforce readiness tool. Remind them to be active participants in their educations, from reaching out early if they need help with their grades to choosing their own research topics to participating in extracurricular activities that help them build more skills like leadership and time management.
2. Make Real-World Experience Integral to Learning
Real-world experience is invaluable when it comes to preparing graduates for the workforce. It can help students learn how to apply knowledge in workplace environments and stand out on their resumés. Incorporate real-world experience into the classroom with relevant content or motivate students to take advantage of various work experiences.
To create hands-on classroom experiences, focus on practical applications of real-world knowledge. Review current events, case studies, and statistics to enhance student understanding of complex topics and discuss contemporary issues. For example, with a tool like Gale Business: Insights, students can explore real-world business data to analyze company financials, competitors, and more.
Bring the real world to your classroom by inviting industry speakers, giving students insights into potential careers. Or get out of the classroom entirely, using site visits to expose learners to new ideas by visiting companies in relevant industries or a museum. Identify other ways students can learn outside of the classroom, including becoming involved in campus groups or study abroad programs.
Research shows that college-level employment rates are higher for those who complete an internship.7 To help students gain valuable work experience, connect them to resources to find internships or apprenticeships in industries that interest them. If students don’t have a lot of time to commit to real-world work experience, encourage them to seek job-shadowing or volunteer opportunities instead.
3. Offer Career Exploration and Planning Support
Many college students aren’t sure what career they want to pursue, let alone what path they’ll need to take to get there. You can help students identify career paths based on their interests and make realistic plans to achieve their goals.
If you serve as a faculty advisor to students, lead discussions about future career options in addition to current course selections. By talking about post-graduation plans, you can help students consider various pathways and plan for their futures. If you aren’t an advisor and your students come to you for advice, you can suggest they form mentor relationships with professionals in industries that interest them.
Additionally, you can connect students to the tools they need to independently explore their career options with a resource like Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep. This comprehensive solution includes career assessment, career advice articles, and job search tools. Students can also find test-prep content to prepare for certification, credentialing, and licensing exams in areas like accounting, information technology, law enforcement, nursing, social work, teaching, and more.
4. Place Value on Learning Lifelong Career Skills
Preparing students for the workforce isn’t just about giving them skills to do the job, it’s also about giving them skills to get the job. From building a personal brand to developing an effective resumé, learning career skills can help graduates navigate life after college and achieve lifelong success in the job market.
Encourage your students to keep up with your institution’s career center resources and events. Opportunities to learn workforce skills through mock interviews, networking events, and career fairs are highly valuable for soon-to-be graduates. Provide the support your students need to take advantage of these experiences, even if that means excusing absences or adjusting deadlines to accommodate scheduling conflicts.
Additionally, connect students to digital resources to help build lifelong career skills. Students can find self-paced courses on personal branding and networking in an upskilling resource like Gale Presents: Udemy. Plus, they can access tools to build resumés, cover letters, and even personal websites in a career tool like Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep.
In today’s rapidly changing job market, it’s crucial for colleges and universities to prepare graduates to excel. By improving career readiness, we can help instill confidence in recent grads and decrease staggering underemployment rates.
Ensure students are equipped with the skills and experiences they’ll need to start and thrive in their future careers. Implement these workforce preparedness strategies to help bridge the divide between education and employment—and help every graduate find success.
Notes:
- “Talent Disrupted: College Graduates, Underemployment, and the Way Forward,” Burning Glass Institute and Strada Institute for the Future of Work, February 2024.
- “Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey News Release,” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2024.
- “Employment Situation Summary,” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2024.
- “New Cengage Report Finds Recent College Graduates Feel Underqualified to Enter the Workforce,” Cengage Group, May 2021.
- Donadel, Alcino. “40% of business leaders believe graduates aren’t prepared to work. Are they right?” UniversityBusiness.com, August 2023.
- Donadel.
- “Talent Disrupted.”