The US college Class of 2025 has already lived through more upheaval than most generations experience in a decade, with their formative educational years marked by a global pandemic and remote learning, inflation, political unrest, and a fluctuating job market.
Now, they’re apprehensive about graduating into a world of work defined by uncertainty. Some 56% percent of current college seniors polled by Handshake are somewhat or very pessimistic about starting their careers in the current economy, and for good reason. The Class of 2025 faces a number of economic headwinds in starting their careers, including:
- Companies have announced reductions or freezes in hiring, and hiring for new grads is down 16% compared to last year and 44% below 2022 levels, according to new data from Gusto.
- Job seekers are struggling to secure their next job, with rising long-term unemployment. Even many who are currently employed feel stuck in their current roles, meaning little movement in the job market freeing up roles for new grads.
- AI adoption is already changing entire functions, workers’ career paths, and the essential skills workers need to succeed. Responsibilities traditionally assigned to junior employees in many white-collar industries are now effectively being completed by AI, leading 62% of graduating seniors to express concern about the impact of AI on their careers, according to Handshake.
- While the full impact of a possible recession and AI automation is still uncertain, there’s a chance that the combination of a potential economic downturn and accelerating AI technologies could usher in a full-blown jobs crisis for workers across generations.
In spite of these realities, there are reasons to be optimistic about the Class of 2025’s future. Everything they’ve already endured has already exercised one of the most critical skills workers need—resilience. The ability to adapt, stay grounded through uncertainty, and to keep going when the path isn’t clear will guide them through a potentially rocky start to their careers.
Plus, many career paths remain open and are even expected to grow within the next few years: manufacturing is predicted to add millions of jobs in the coming years, healthcare and education employment typically remains stable during recessions and is relatively insulated from the effects of AI automation (though cuts to government benefits could result in job cuts), and some of the fastest growing job titles are “middle-skill” roles that come with a six-figure salary and do not require a college degree.
Even grads who end up taking temporary jobs can expect to develop skills that can serve them later on in their careers. There are no shortage of former bartenders, servers, and baristas who point to their early experiences as foundational to leading teams, delegating responsibilities amid competing deadlines, and building relationships in high-stress environments.
With that in mind, we shared our advice for graduating seniors in a new essay you can read and share with younger workers, based on our assessment of the likely scenarios for how things could play out. We focus on a few of the essential skills for young people, including:
- AI use as an essential workplace skill. Most college students are already regularly using AI tools, and 77% of new grads expect to use genAI in the workplace, according to Handshake. Not only can thoughtful AI use make work more productive and rewarding, research shows that mastering how to direct AI agents may also help you practice key leadership skills and behaviors for managing human teams.
- Critical thinking and judgement. Because genAI makes it easier than ever to create reports, ideas, and even prototypes, discernment can set young workers apart from their peers. “Sharpen your opinions and taste, because it matters even more when AI can do the drudgery and do the mundane work,” says Aparna Chennapragada, chief product officer of experiences and devices management at Microsoft. “What makes a difference is the why… And that’s where your human judgment comes in.”
- Agility and adaptability. Staying curious not only helps young workers navigate rapid change and develop new skills, it also can jumpstart a portfolio career, an increasingly common model of career development that recognizes that the average worker switches jobs a dozen times and picks up a diversity of skills and experiences doing so.
- Generosity. The value of building trust and deepening relationships becomes more important during times of uncertainty. Plus, research in organizational psychology suggests that one of the best ways to get ahead is to lift others up. “As you make other people more visible, you also become more visible,” Carnegie Mellon researcher Rosalind Chow told Charter.
Read our letter to graduating seniors here and share it with the people in your lives who are graduating or early in their careers.