5 Questions for Helping Gen Z Navigate the New Map of Opportunity

Young adults are anxious about their futures. The higher education landscape is shifting, entry-level roles are harder to access, and AI is reshaping work faster than our systems can keep up.

For learners, the path forward is anything but clear. New research from Schultz Family Foundation and HarrisX shows that a majority of employers believe sufficient jobs exist, but nearly half of young adults say they feel unprepared for future work (an equal proportion of employers agree). Employers often criticize readiness, yet less than half offer internships and job shadowing opportunities. AI fluency now matters more than ever, but learners aren’t sure how to acquire it. Nearly half of entry-level roles still require a bachelor’s degree, but a degree no longer guarantees a great job ( The Burning Glass Institute ).

While post-secondary pathways are increasingly diverse, few learners know about alternative credentials—including short-term certificates and work-based learning—that are often designed to be affordable, flexible, and aligned to the needs of the workforce. The good news: Research from Ellucian found that when informed, large majorities of graduates, current students, and even opt-outs say they see real value in these options. The challenge is not only alignment, then, but visibility—learners cannot pursue what they do not see.

As a father of six children (and four grandchildren so far ;-)), these headlines and matters take on a particular level of personal interest and importance. My counsel to them is the same as to those of their peers: 1) Learn of the opportunities and skills required; 2) Understand your particular gifts and talents, and with which opportunities your interests align; and 3) Prepare for the opportunity you desire by acquiring the skills and building the connections to open up the doors to them.

But the bigger responsibility is ours—as educators, employers, and policymakers—to design pathways that telegraph talent into the future of work. Here, I share five considerations for leaders to think differently about designing and communicating pathways to help learners purposefully navigate today’s fractured talent economy.

1.         How can exploration and early exposure be supported? For those still discovering their direction, what low-risk opportunities allow learners to explore interests, test skills, compare roles, and understand economic prospects? How might exposure to different pathways help learners assess accessibility and fit?

2.        Are pathways fit for purpose? Learners make better choices when they understand the full landscape of possibilities. As they evaluate options, what signals help them weigh near-term, mid-term, and long-term goals against their current skills and available resources? How might programs be structured to make those pathways more transparent, completable, and aligned with meaningful outcomes?

3.        How visible are competencies and career alignment? A bachelor’s degree still offers an individual the most optionality over a lifetime, but it’s not the only path to opportunity and advancing career success. For learners to select the education pathway that’s best for them, they need to understand how learning outcomes map to the competencies needed for today’s in-demand roles. How might Learning and Employment Records be designed to support this work, essentially acting as a “Google Maps” for one’s career?

4.         Where are the most relevant, most affordable, timely, and completable routes? Which pathways close skills gaps efficiently while still providing the experiences and knowledge necessary for success? Could flexibility and stackability make alternative paths more viable? Which are the most timely, in duration and relevance, to an individual’s next preferred role or job opportunity?

5.         How are we building networks of value? An estimated half of jobs and internships come from personal connections, but access to those networks is uneven. How can institutions and employers ensure learners gain access to social capital that translates into opportunity, whether for the first or next role?

The future of learning and work will be shaped by how well we bridge the gap between talent and opportunity. If learners are signaling anxiety and employers are signaling readiness gaps, the burden is on all of us—educators, employers, and policymakers—to design learning and talent systems that are relevant, transparent, completable, and equitable, i.e., that work for everyone. The question is: Will we continue to leave young people to navigate a fractured marketplace on their own, or will we build and help them find the right pathways that make opportunity truly accessible to all?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Until next time,

Scott

One chart that made me think

In their new report, “No Country for Young Grads,” Burning Glass Institute shows that unemployment is now higher among graduates with four-year degrees than those with associate degrees or “some college, no degree.” I caution readers to interpret this change as a meaningful trend—this data reflects the effects of COVID—but it’s still important to watch.  As for me, I’m still betting on education and credentials, even in an AI-native world, but AI fluency is a must-have learning outcome for credential pathways to differentiate their relevancy and worth.

Reader Spotlight: Education as a catalyst for collective upward mobility

Earlier this month, I reflected that when individuals invest in their education, it often enables broader long-term gains, citing research from Pew Research Center that shows children of college graduates are more likely to complete college themselves, and among those who do, second-generation graduates tend to earn more than their first-generation peers.

Sallyann Della Casa 🦓 offered a different perspective (edited for clarity and length):

“This is all based on historical information. I do not think most of this information will be applicable over the next 1-2 generations looking back. We are in a completely different time and place in human history and evolution and the role of college education as a tool for generational upward mobility is no longer the same as it was for the last five decades.”

I’m reminded of a refrain from the late Clayton Christensen, who often spoke on the fallible nature of data because it is backward-looking. But regardless of the form education takes, I remain convinced that any effort to learn, grow, and contribute enables impact for many. I know my parents’ investment in their education—both first-time college graduates—certainly paved the way for me, and I hear the same sentiment from the family members of our graduates, who feel inspired to pursue their own goals.

ICYMI: Here’s what caught my attention recently:

• 1 in 2 graduates say their college major didn’t prepare them for today’s market ( Carolyn Crist , Higher Ed Dive ): With too many graduates regretting decisions they made associated with their education, we must do more to help students make informed and purposeful choices.
• Why College Tuition Keeps Climbing—And Who’s Really Driving It ( Matt Scogin , Forbes): Misaligned incentives are driving costs—often at the expense of what may ultimately be best for students.
• Gen Z’s broken school-to-work pipeline ( Erica Pandey , Axios): The most relevant findings from the Shultz Family Foundation and HarrisX research I cited earlier, plus additional reporting, all in that short-brevity format I love.
• Affordability: Making Financial Wellness the Goal ( Bob Collins , WGU): An important reminder that affordability doesn’t just come down to price; it also depends on whether students graduate, whether their credential leads to meaningful work, and whether they are better off financially in the long run.