Recent college graduates are profoundly unhappy with their lack of workplace readiness—and so are their employers.
Higher education in America is struggling. Colleges are closing at the rate of approximately one per week, most often due to financial collapse. This fall, they’ll be competing for fewer students as the long-dreaded demographic cliff arrives. Not to mention that 75% of Generation Z say there are other ways of getting a good education than going to college.
Some of these struggles are beyond colleges’ control, but others are not. Historically, institutions of higher learning have been slow to pivot their offerings to meet current workforce needs. The inertia is real. The problem is, Gen Z is smart enough to know it.
Who loses when a college fails to deliver job-ready graduates? Everyone.
The college becomes irrelevant and may eventually have to close its doors. The graduate struggles to find their feet in the working world—maybe succeeding someday, maybe not. Many end up chronically underemployed.
But businesses also lose out in this scenario. New data released last week by Hult International Business School found that companies pay $4,500 more to bring an ill-equipped new hire up to speed, compared to someone who is able to hit the ground running. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
What follows is not an indictment of higher education, but rather a good, hard look at its current reality. College-degreed workers power vast sectors of our economy; they’re vital and we need more of them. The call here is simply for the higher education system to better align with what today’s students and employers need—before it’s too late.
Graduates: Did college fail me?
- 77%: ‘I learned more in 6 months at my job than in my entire 4-year education’
- 87%: ‘I received better job training from my employer than I did from my undergraduate education’
- 94%: ‘I have regrets about my degree’
- 43% ‘I feel doomed to fail because I chose the wrong degree’
- 85%: ‘I wish my college had better prepared me for the workplace’
- 24%: ‘I have all the skills I need for my current role’
- 55%: ‘My college education didn’t prepare me at all for my job
- 96%: ‘Colleges need to take more responsibility for training people for the workplace’
- 82%: ‘Colleges, not employers, should train people for the workplace’
- 75%: ‘Most college educations aren’t preparing people at all for their jobs’
- 91%: ‘It costs more to on-board and train recent graduates versus more experienced employees’ (69%: ‘It costs at least twice as much’)
- Lack of real-world experience (60%)
- Lack of a global mindset (57%)
- Lack of ability to work well on a team (55%)
- It costs too much to train them (53%)
- Lack of the right skill sets (51%)
- Lack of appropriate business etiquette (50%)
Soft skills and AI: A dynamic duo
With the speed of technological change, it’s not hard to see why many colleges are having trouble keeping up. Yet the data suggests a way forward for higher education: a twin focus on soft skills and AI capabilities.
Soft skills (or as I call them, professional skills) are in high demand and will only rise in value as AI continues to change the way we work. According to the study, the top five human skills that HR leaders are desperate to find in their new hires are communication (98%), a willingness to learn (93%), collaboration (92%), creativity (90%) and critical thinking (87%). People with these skills are able to adapt and grow as professionals, even if they don’t arrive at the job with all the technical competencies perfectly mastered.
The data also indicates that alongside these human skills, new hires would benefit from more AI training. Fully 97% of HR leaders want new hires to have a strong foundational understanding of technology like AI, data analytics and IT, but only 20% of recent graduates feel confident in those areas.
While almost half (44%) of recent graduates did receive some form of AI training or education in college, most (87%) wished it had been more in-depth. Of those who learned AI skills in college, 94% say it has given them more job stability (47%), more respect at work (42%), faster promotions (34%) and a higher starting salary (34%).
What else can colleges do to better prepare their graduates? An overwhelming majority of HR leaders want schools to focus on developing foundational business knowledge (98%) and skills in current high demand (92%).
They’d also like colleges to simulate team-based modern work environments (91%), implement challenge-based learning approaches to solving real-world business problems (91%), expose students to global perspectives (91%) and provide students with personal career and development coaches or mentors (90%).
Sadly, fewer than half of the recent graduates surveyed said their college offered any of these things.
Preparing for work at work
While data like this throws a harsh light on the state of higher education in the U.S., it’s also a wake-up call that will benefit the organizations that heed it. We can’t do better unless we know where we’re falling short.
But until colleges fully grapple with the massive changes they must make to thrive today, young people may find their best preparation for work at work.
With Gen Z’s drive to learn, they’re already moving in the right direction. Higher education can pivot to meet them halfway with work-ready training that assumes nothing, empowers growth and builds competence in the areas that matter most.
