Gen Z has the wrong idea about college. Your career doesn’t start after you graduate 

With U.S. companies saying 2026 will be the worst college graduate job market since 2021, colleges and universities need to reframe career readiness. The answer isn’t better résumé workshops. It’s helping students recognize their careers have already started.

According to the Cengage Group’s 2025 Graduate Employability Report, 48% of graduates say they feel unprepared for entry-level roles. Too often, students are encouraged to “get ready” for their careers. When we reposition “career” as something unfolding now, not next, we invite students to turn inward, and to recognize, examine, and ultimately take ownership of the process of shaping their professional lives.

It’s time to challenge students to rethink the traditional notion of career as a fixed destination, a singular title, or an industry. Career is no longer a static noun but rather a dynamic process, a dialogue between who we are and how we contribute to the world around us. It evolves with each barrier we overcome, each win we celebrate, each identity we carry, and each expectation — both others’ and our own — we learn to navigate. Career isn’t something we reach. It’s something that continually unfolds. It’s not merely what we do; it’s who we are becoming.

Saying that students can have multiple careers isn’t enough. This framing still treats career as something external, implying a certain “otherness” that is separate........

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