Survey: Over Half of Rising Seniors Feel Pessimistic About Starting Their Careers

Entering senior year can be a stressful time for college students as they prepare for their next step after graduation. Inside Higher Ed’s 2024 Student Voice survey found 68 percent of fourth-year students (n=703) are at least somewhat stressed when they think about their life postgraduation, with 25 percent feeling “extremely stressed.”

This year’s graduating class is feeling less hopeful than their peers before them, with almost three in five students sharing that they feel pessimistic about their immediate future, according to new data from Handshake.

Two-thirds of students say this is tied to a competitive job market, and over half worry about a lack of job security. Similarly, 54 percent of students say student loans contribute to their pessimism about the future, as do today’s political climate (45 percent) and generative artificial intelligence (45 percent).

“There’s already, naturally, anxiety when you’re a senior and you’re about to graduate and think about your next job, much less when you’re hearing all of these other pieces buzzing around you,” says Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer.

The results highlight a challenging job market for new graduates, the role of affordability in higher education and how institutions are supporting students as they launch into careers.

What’s the sitch? The Class of 2025, similar to their 2024 peers, faced several disruptions to their education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Class of 2024 was slightly more optimistic about their short-term future, with 49 percent of students feeling pessimistic about starting their careers.

Despite the low numbers, when asked about their long-term career future, more students report feeling optimistic, Cruzvergara says.

Job creation on Handshake has declined year over year, according to the report, which is consistent with national trends.

“Things have definitely slowed down, particularly in certain sectors,” Cruzvergara says. “Tech jobs, for example, are down 20,000 [positions] this year over last year … for someone who maybe started college thinking, ‘That’s where I was going to work,’ they have to pivot now.”

The number of applications per job has been significantly higher, however, far exceeding trends over the past five years. As of last month, students in the Class of 2024 had submitted about 64 percent more applications per job compared to the Class of 2023. This year’s graduating seniors have further increased the number of applications submitted, with a 24 percent increase in applications per job compared to the Class of 2024.

Cruzvergara attributes this frenzy of applying to both students’ pessimism and the social pressure to have a job lined up before graduation, as well as a view on quantity of applications over quality.

“I actually think there’s just bad job advice out there, where people say, ‘It’s a numbers game; you just need to apply to as many jobs as possible,’” Cruzvergara says. “What that results in is that students are firing off their résumé to all of these different places, not having done their research, not having tailored their materials, and then they wonder why they don’t hear back.”

ROI: Handshake’s survey revealed that graduating seniors believe their college career contributed to personal growth, but less to their ability to improve their socioeconomic standing. While 88 percent of students say their college experience aided their personal growth and development at least a fair amount, only 68 percent of respondents say college contributed to their ability to secure a well-paying job.

“The No. 1 reason why students and their families send them to college is to get a better job and have a better career, because they equate that to a better life,” Cruzvergara says. “Now, ‘better’ is obviously subjective. But the point being is that’s the reason they’re going, and the first thing schools can do is actually acknowledge that.”

From a list of options, four in five students also say college helped them understand their own career goals (85 percent) and their ability to reach personal goals (80 percent). Seventy-two percent of students believe college helped their ability to secure a meaningful job.

The Student Voice survey asked students if their education and college experiences are preparing them for success after graduation, with similar positive findings. Among fourth-year respondents, 77 percent are “somewhat” or “very” confident that their education and college experiences are preparing them for success after graduation. Fewer than half of students, however, said their colleges’ efforts to support their career exploration and development are good (34 percent) or excellent (11 percent).

Working for the future: To stand out in the job market, survey respondents say they have been attending career fairs and networking events (68 percent), applying to more jobs (63 percent), working part-time (62 percent), pursuing an internship (61 percent), and considering more industries, companies and roles (57 percent). Less popular responses are participating in student organizations (48 percent) and taking additional courses (36 percent).

Seniors also say they’ve spent over 30 hours researching potential career paths, as well.

Not all learners are engaging with the institutional offerings around career development, however. Among Student Voice respondents, one-third (36 percent) of fourth-year students shared they had no experience with their college career center or career staff. (The next most popular response was the 31 percent of seniors who said their career center was “welcoming.”)

How to help: To combat students’ pessimism, Cruzvergara says career center staff and other higher education practitioners can assist graduating seniors in their job hunting by:

• Collecting job market data. One of the greatest factors that weighed on students’ pessimism was a competitive market. Career professionals can collect and distribute up-to-date information about different industries and the roles available for students to combat misinformation and encourage career decisions. This information is also useful for those working in academics, such as the provost, deans or faculty members, and can be spread universitywide.
• Providing scaffolded support. Colleges can help students stand out in their job hunt through offering intentional career services throughout the student’s life cycle, not just in their senior year. This could include reflection on their values and skills, experiential learning or guided conversations in student employment about their work-based learning.
• Encouraging students to do research. Prior to applying to a job, students should research the role, the company and how this job would support their longer career goals. Not only will this make the applicant more competitive from the start, but it will save them from having to do the research later in the application process. “I think, for a lot of students, they’re sometimes short-circuiting the actual search process and they’re not doing as much research, networking or self-awareness [work],” Cruzvergara says.

Do you have a career prep tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it.