By Kayla Landers, May 5, 2026
With graduation on the horizon, students are beginning to feel the pressure to enter the job market in their respective fields.
According to a 2025 study by TopResume, 52% of graduates don’t think their degree will earn them a job in the next 12 months, and 56% of graduates do not feel prepared to navigate the job market. Although it may seem daunting to take the step from college to a career, there are ways to make it easier.
In a Forbes article, there were fears discussed about how a degree is no longer enough to secure a job after graduation. In today’s changing job market, 81% of top executives are focusing on skills-first hiring rather than diploma-based hiring.
Beth Lee, lead career coach for the Business of Administration, said she is seeing an uptick in students in tech spaces express concerns about job attainment after graduation; however, she and other Career Center staff at CPP are trying to help them adjust their approaches to market themselves better in their ever-changing industry.
The unemployment rate for individuals aged 16 to 24 was 10.4% in December 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“I think the biggest thing I always want, whether it’s students or any applicant, to understand is that those national numbers don’t always tell the whole story,” Lee said.
Lee noted it’s important to understand the differences in national average versus age groups and the stages of employment, because they can all look entirely different. She added focusing too much on the numbers can also eat away at one’s confidence. For example, if the employment rate is low, a person in that group may be harder on themselves.
The Career Center offers a variety of student resources, such as the Career Development Plan, which Lee described as a general guide students can follow to figure out where they are in their college journey and what they need to work on. The document includes links that direct students to the resources they need.
Anna Do, a CPP civil engineering alumna who graduated in 2021, said that one of the biggest challenges she faced in the job search process was the interviewing stage. She noted she had a hard time expressing herself and answering some of the questions the interviewer asked because she was afraid to go off topic.
The College and Career Center offers a solution to this problem with the website Big Interview.
“We also have Big interview, which is an AI-powered interview prep tool that has questions for a lot of general topics like first-touch jobs, as well as industry-specific rules to really help you kind of build out your confidence as you prepare to kind of have those conversations,” Lee said.
On top of using these online resources, Lee said there are other steps students can take to make themselves more attractive to employers, such as networking and creating a strong resume.
“In my personal life, I’m doing a lot of engineering, so software engineering, web development,” said Ryan Beecham, a student studying computer information systems. “My thing is it’s super saturated, right? I don’t know how to make the right projects. I don’t know which events to go to. I think I’m a pretty sociable guy, right? But you have to definitely be in the right rooms to make the right connections.”
Do said students should try to get an internship while they’re still in school or communicate with professors to see if they can connect them with someone who knows about opportunities in their desired field. Do also said it’s important to join clubs in relation to your major to create more networking opportunities.
“Keeping in mind, employers ask really three main basic questions, like foundational questions,” Lee said. “Why should I hire you? What are you capable of? What are you going to do for me? So, sometimes it’s important not to overcomplicate the resume and really remember that those are their three main focuses.”
Lee noted it can also be beneficial to think of the job application process as a conversation. The employer begins by uploading a job post explaining what they need, and the applicant responds, explaining why they would be the best and most unique candidate for the role.
If students have career-specific or general questions for the coaches at the CPP Career Center, they can check out the walk-in hours.
Feature image courtesy of Kayla Landers
