Rachel Grandis has no shortage of work experience.
For the past five years, she has worked as a content creator for her school’s athletic department, managed the business school’s social media accounts, secured several social media and marketing internships, and also worked at a restaurant and summer camp.
But when the 22-year-old graduated from Elon University in May with a degree in strategic communications, she realized that her years of experience weren’t helping her land a full-time job offer.
“The new hires at these companies are people with three years of working experience,” Grandis told CNBC Make It. “It’s tough when so much experience is required, but there are no jobs that give you the kind of first experience you can put on your resume.”
Grandis wonders if an AI-assisted applicant tracking system would flag her as a Class of 2026 and automatically exclude her from being considered, despite her work history related to her college days. “If I had the opportunity to talk to someone and tell them all about my experiences within the school,” she says. “[I probably]would have had a better chance of getting a follow-up interview.”
Today’s graduates say they are exposed to unrealistic expectations from their employers. According to a new employability report from education technology company Cengage, 77% of recent graduates believe that companies are looking for too much experience for entry-level jobs, while 75% believe there are too few true entry-level opportunities.
Rachel Grandis graduated from Elon University in May 2026 with a degree in Strategic Communications.
Courtesy of the subject
The Cengage report is based on a survey conducted between April and August 2026 among 931 full-time hiring managers, 759 higher education instructors, and 1,100 recent graduates with four-year degrees, two-year degrees, certifications, or certificates across the United States. This report has a margin of error of approximately plus or minus 3 percentage points.
“The reality is that many employers are raising the bar on what they expect from their junior employees,” said Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage. Employers are particularly focused on younger workers with solid critical thinking and decision-making skills, he said, as they invest in AI and need employees to manage changing technologies.
In other cases, Hansen said, employers have told them that many new graduates don’t have the interpersonal skills they need, such as the ability to rally teams, organize projects, and solve problems. These are all skills that employers expect students to pick up from social settings like classrooms, clubs, and internships, but they don’t show up to work with them.
A majority of employers (72%) say the pace of change in the workforce is making it difficult for colleges to keep workforce preparation programs current, according to a Cengage report. Still, many business leaders expect their young employees to be ready to deliver results from day one, and “they no longer have the patience to train someone in the basic skills they might have had 10 or even five years ago,” Hansen says.
The gap between student experience and employer expectations
The proportion of graduates who think their degrees are worth the money is decreasing as they struggle to find jobs after graduation. According to the Cengage report, only 37% of graduates believe their education was worth the cost, down from 68% of new graduates who felt the same way in 2022.
Meanwhile, the job market for young professionals is tight. The number of postings on early-career job site Handshake from July 2025 to June 2026 remained flat after three consecutive years of decline, increasing by just 1% compared to the same period from 2024 to 2025. Employers posted nearly twice as many full-time job openings for 2022 graduates as for 2026 graduates.
As of August, entry-level hiring in the U.S. was on pace with the overall U.S. hiring rate, both down about 6.5% from August 2025, according to LinkedIn data. Young workers may feel the drop even further, as employment in industries that typically employ large numbers of entry-level workers, such as financial services, technology, information and media, and professional services, is down 33% to 43% since June 2021, according to LinkedIn.
Employers can’t just say “we’ve raised the bar” and say (and complain when they can) that they can’t find enough entry-level talent.
michael hansen
Cengage CEO
Many graduates say they felt unprepared for the rapidly changing demands of today’s job market while attending school. Slightly more than half (53%) say they have chosen not to apply for an entry-level job in their field because they feel underqualified, up from 48% in 2025 and a growing trend from 2023 onwards.
But who is responsible for ensuring that students are able to find a job after graduation?
Students (17%), instructors (11%) and employers (19%) say companies have minimal responsibility in ensuring new graduates enter the workforce. Most agree that the responsibility lies primarily with students, but added that academic programs and teachers also play a role.
Hansen believes employers should play a greater role in working with schools to ensure that the skills new employees need are taught to students in the classroom and through internships, apprenticeships and other training opportunities.
“Employers can’t just say, ‘We raised the bar,’ and then complain when they can’t find enough entry-level talent,” Hansen says. “They also have to make an effort to say, ‘I’m going to make those experiences available.’
Employers may also need to equalize expectations, Hansen added. “Interns aren’t necessarily productive employees from day one, so[employers]need to be more flexible.”
Many students seem to agree with this idea, saying they wish their institutions offered more internships and paid work opportunities as part of the curriculum. According to Cengage data, approximately one in three graduates say a lack of prior work experience has excluded them from job opportunities, and consider this the No. 1 factor in finding a job (24%) over a degree (14%).
Grandis says her education has given her the skills to work in her field, but she bemoans a competitive job market that favors those with even a little experience. Companies select candidates from a variety of fields, and as recruiting professional Bonnie Dilber previously told CNBC Make It, “employers aren’t going to consider someone who is overextending themselves for the role.”
Grandis hopes that by taking advantage of volunteer and part-time opportunities, she may be able to connect with the right people and quickly land a full-time job in marketing. She began documenting her job search on TikTok, and several videos detailing her struggles have gone viral, with users swapping stories about the horrors of the entry-level job market.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize how many people are in the same situation and how many new graduates are really struggling to find work,” she says.
