It’s a brutal time for college students entering the labor market. Unemployment rates for recent grads are rising, and the U.S. saw little job growth in 2025, with only 116,000 jobs added compared to 1.46 million jobs added in 2024.
In the face of shrinking options, many students resort to what they think is the solution: applying to more and more jobs, often using AI to generate their resumes, cover letters, and even emails. But those AI whizzes churning out hundreds of applications with one click all end up looking the same, sounding the same, and landing in the rejection pile.
Meanwhile, the young people I’m seeing get hired are the ones relying on the oldest of old-school tactics. They’re looking left, looking right, and building relationships intentionally.
Here are the strategies I share with the students I advise — especially the first-generation, low-income students who don’t have the parents, mentors, and older siblings sharing the “unspoken rules” of career building.
Don’t wait until the eve of graduation to start building toward a job you want. Today, more students than ever are showing up — or quickly filling their resumes — with research publications, non-profit leadership roles, competitive sports, side projects, startup experience, and corporate internships. Their less-savvy peers may have little beyond a transcript to show prospective employers.
