Jordanne Lindo thought she did everything right. The recent Wesleyan College graduate earned strong grades, completed solid internships and started her job search early, applying for full-time positions since last November while still in school. She even submitted applications within minutes of seeing job postings go live on LinkedIn. Yet, after dozens of valiant attempts, she faced rejection after rejection.
“It felt like I was trying to throw anything at the wall and see what would stick,” says Lindo, who will now pursue a doctoral degree in global health equity at Meharry Medical College. Her experience reflects a broader crisis. According to a recently published report by Oxford Economics, unemployment for recent college graduates now exceeds the base unemployment rate for the entire country.
This historic inversion highlights how dramatically the entry-level job market has shifted. The toxic combination of widespread layoffs, artificial intelligence (AI) driven displacement and reduced hiring has created what career experts call a fundamentally broken system where traditional pathways to career launch no longer work. Even computer science degrees, long considered the golden ticket to long-term career success, have seen dramatic hiring freezes and widespread layoffs as AI reshapes the workforce. The situation is creating a perfect storm where entry-level candidates now compete against seasoned professionals for the few remaining positions.
Despite the pervasive doom and gloom, some career professionals believe it’s still possible to break through and launch a successful career. They propose that Gen Z students adopt three transformational strategies: leveraging non-traditional entry points like contract work and project-based roles to gain experience, building skills that demonstrate immediate value rather than long-term potential and creating personal visibility systems that cut through the noise of an oversaturated job applicant market.
Strategy 1: Leverage non-traditional entry points
My uncle said if you can’t get something with the direct approach, don’t stress. Every building has two doors. If the front door is locked, go kick in the back door. With the front door to landing their first jobs blocked, savvy job seekers must rely on alternative routes.
“The entry-level market today, as we know it, is broken,” says Patrice Williams Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad and workforce futurist who’s worked with several major corporations, including KPMG and Deloitte. “We’re asking 22- and 23-year-olds to have five years of experience, a master’s degree and of course, the patience of a saint just to land a job that probably doesn’t even pay your rent.”
Williams Lindo advocates for what she calls the “freelance-to-full-time funnel.” She recommends starting with freelance platforms like Upwork or other gig work platforms to try and land project-based or contract roles. These short-term positions serve as extended auditions where candidates can demonstrate their value and, ideally, convert temporary work into permanent employment. Unlike internships, where companies expect to provide training and tolerate learning curves, contract work positions you as a professional who can deliver results from day one.
The approach mirrors how many big-name consulting firms operate internally. Williams Lindo says that as full-time consultants move up the ladder, they are likely not being assigned projects to work on—they have to hunt for new projects on their own. That means you’re always selling yourself and your abilities to managers, directors and partners so they keep you in mind when new projects are about to kick off.
The key to success with this strategy is creating a clear value exchange from day one. Meet with your project lead early to establish project deliverables and professional expectations. Frame your conversation to show you’re committed to delivering exceptional results on the project. In return, you will appreciate being considered for any full-time opportunities that arise in the organization. Using this positioning helps ensure you can turn every contract into a potential career catalyst.
The bar for entry-level has been raised dramatically as AI reshapes the workforce. While this creates unprecedented challenges, it also opens doors for those strategic enough to seize them. New graduates possess unique advantages that set them apart from previous generations. They are digital natives who intuitively understand new technology that intimidates older workers. Instead of relying on broad skills that merely signal potential, they can enter the workplace with specific technological capabilities that companies desperately need but struggle to find. Few middle-aged managers, directors and partners have the time or bandwidth to master niche AI platforms that can multiply their on-the-job performance times 10. The irony is stark: the same generation being displaced by AI is uniquely positioned to help organizations use it effectively.
“No one told a 22-year-old college grad… that they would have to battle it out for an entry-level job role with the most advanced computational model that humanity has ever produced,” says Colin Rocker, a career coach and educator. The solution isn’t to compete with AI, but to complement it and demonstrate skills that deliver immediate impact rather than promise future potential.
Based on current market trends, the most in-demand immediate-value skills span technical and human capabilities. On the technical side, companies are desperately seeking employees who can create, implement and manage AI workflows, build automated systems and translate complex data into actionable insights that deliver measurable results from day one.
Beyond technical skills, Rocker also notes that at this critical point in time, soft skills like storytelling and relationship-building remain irreplaceable differentiators. New grads can harness these uniquely human capabilities to solve technical and non-technical problems that demonstrate their value and position them as indispensable team members.
Strategy 3: Create visibility systems that cut through the noise
Most job boards like LinkedIn are oversaturated with applicants thanks to easy one-click applications. The situation has created an impossible noise-to-signal ratio, forcing job seekers to find new ways to increase visibility and build direct relationships with decision makers.
Harleny Vasquez, a Gen Z career coach and college speaker, acknowledges that for many Gen Zers, the thought of cold pitching themselves to employers can be intimidating, especially if they’re shy and introverted. “Allowing yourself to be seen could be as simple as, I’m going to put my photo on LinkedIn, I’m going to put a headline on LinkedIn and I’m going to put my jobs and my school. That’s allowing you to allow yourself to be seen,” she explains. “If that’s the first step, celebrate that. Give yourself some grace, see how that feels and then do the next step.”
Vazquez emphasizes that visibility doesn’t require becoming a content creator or influencer. “Your LinkedIn profile is another marketing tool,” she says. “Don’t worry about posting on there. First, start with optimizing your LinkedIn profile because recruiters are going to search you up. And you’d rather them search you up having a LinkedIn profile than finding you on TikTok or Instagram.”
In recent years, we’ve seen that visibility has become the new currency. People have leveraged their visibility to launch new careers, raise business funding and even run for political office. If this strategy can work for entrepreneurs and politicians, it can work for you in your job search. The goal isn’t to become famous or infamous, but to be at the top of mind when the right opportunities arise.
The job market may be broken, but you’re not. Every crisis creates new pathways for those willing to embrace the challenge and do what doesn’t come easily. Take these strategies, adapt them and make them your own. The professionals who thrive in these turbulent times will create their own rules and solve problems as they go. What feels like surviving today is preparing you for leadership tomorrow.
Photo by Shift Drive/Shutterstock
