By Kolin Kriner
After years of education — and thousands of dollars worth of debt — many soon realize that they were never taught basic life skills needed to survive in our day and age. Tasks such as filing taxes, salary negotiation, financial literacy and things as simple as properly writing an email tend to get forgotten about.
College tends to focus on theory and fails in regards to teaching practical skills to student education. This can quickly become worrisome in terms of employment opportunities. This is showcased in intelligent.com’s survey surrounding Gen Z new hires to the article, “Gen Z Lacks Job-Readiness Skills, Survey Shows” by Elizabeth Heubeck.
“Among the survey respondents, nearly 60 percent agreed that recent college graduates are unprepared for the workforce,” wrote Heubeck. “Close to 40 percent admitted to intentionally avoiding hiring Gen Z college graduates and instead hiring employees who are 27 and older.”
Another notable disadvantage recent graduates have seen is a lack of financial skills. Many don’t have a well established understanding of budgeting and managing long term finances. A 2024 survey done by Quizlet found that 56 percent of recent college graduates lacked confidence in these areas.
Another issue college students face is being taught to primarily focus on GPA by academic advisers. However, this should not be the case.
A study conducted by Inside Higher Ed found that there is no direct correlation between academic success and job performance.
What does tend to enhance hireability is experience, such as internships and employment during school. This shows parallel to many entry level jobs requiring two years of experience.
“That’s why it’s important to build experiential experiences right into our academic programs, so learners apply classroom skills to solace real-world problems for real workplace sponsors,” said Charles Kilfoye, EdD, according to Shayna Joubert’s article “Education vs. Experience: Which Do Employers Value More?”
Although many of the problems outlined come at the fault of the programs students are enrolled in, that doesn’t mean you can’t work to better your opportunity.
Just because your degree may not require an internship, it would still be beneficial to look into getting one. If not an internship, any employment is better than no employment, as it shows you have work ethic and experience in some capacity.
Ensure the investment you are making into your degree is going to have positive impacts on your life. If no one is going to tell you to look into work experience, you can always look into it on your own accord. Your degree on its own may not seem like much, but to ensure employment it’s never too late to look for ways to enhance your hireability.
