Many students may want to negotiate after receiving a job offer but don’t know how, so it's up to career services staff to prepare them for this process.

Class of 2026 graduates are looking for employers that will invest in their future by providing opportunities to grow and advance in their career.

For decades, one of the pervasive arguments in college recruiting has been the effectiveness of high-tech versus high-touch practices. According to research conducted by Mary Scott, that argument persists with the integration of AI into college recruiting.

Despite the prevalence of AI in the national dialogue, its use among graduating seniors as a job-search tool is not as widespread as many believe as students have strong concerns about using AI.

When it comes to offering experiences that interns find beneficial, what are employers doing well and what can they do better? According to respondents to NACE’s 2025 Student Survey, interns valued their colleagues who were friendly and helpful and made the internship a good experience.

To understand the needs and attitudes of nontraditional students, defined here as students who are age 25 and older, we analyzed results from our 2025 Student Survey. Among our findings: Nontraditional students use AI differently from their traditional-aged peers, don't use the career center as frequently, and have a deep sense of pride in their institution and feel connected and supported by their peers and faculty.

Students appear to be unfamiliar with the concept of skills-based hiring, despite being asked to demonstrate their skills and working to develop them, according to results of NACE’s 2025 Student Survey.

Although the Class of 2025 faced a tough job market, they responded in ways that suggest they were aware of the challenges they were facing. A number of results from NACE’s 2025 Student Survey support this.

Research conducted by Mary Scott shows candidates’ increasing “lack of enthusiasm” about employer use of AI as a screening tool.

What do Class of 2025 college graduates want most in a job? According to NACE’s annual student survey, they are looking for stability. They also would like a healthy workplace culture and friendly coworkers.

Hybrid and in-person remain the preferred work modalities of employers for both their overall and entry-level positions, which matches the ways students prefer to work, NACE research has found.

LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for students preparing to enter the workforce, but it can also cause students to miss out on opportunities if not used responsibly.

By using a gamified approach to career development, college career services can create scenarios that simulate the workplace and encourage active student participation.

For many, success is shaped by external factors, but career services staff can help guide individuals to reflect on what success means to them through their own lens.

Over the past five years—and maybe because they weathered the pandemic and got a giant taste of how quickly things can change—new grads’ wish list has largely reflected one thing: their desire for security.

When students responding to NACE’s 2024 Student Survey were asked to identify the obstacles preventing them from participating in internships, their responses revealed they attributed their decision to a lack of time, concerns over pay, and scant opportunities.

There are several factors linked to the decision to convert for Class of 2024 graduating seniors, according to results of NACE’s 2024 Student Survey.

There is a clear and persistent disconnect between how students and employers perceive students’ development of the competencies they need to be career ready as they enter the workforce.

While some of the experiences of nontraditional-aged students mirror those of their traditional-aged peers, there are important areas where they diverge. This information can help career service professionals and recruiters better serve this growing group of college students.

Graduating students weighing job offers heavily consider the cost of living in each job’s location when making their decision, according to NACE’s 2024 Student Survey report.

Career fairs are relatively effective means for students to convert connections into jobs, according to NACE’s 2024 Student Survey report.

The percent of graduating seniors who participated in an internship is the highest that NACE has recorded in the past six years, according to results of NACE’s 2024 Student Survey.

With professional pursuits, quality invariably outweighs quantity, so career services staff should work with students to find good fits rather than trying to meet arbitrary deadlines.

One important question for career services staff who hope to support racial equity in their work: How does race and racism show up in the student experience?

Nearly 90% of the college Class of 2024 indicated that their institution prepared them for the next step in their career, according to results of NACE’s 2024 Student Survey.

The college Class of 2024 is looking for economic security in a job, according to results of NACE’s annual student survey.

Recruiters who foster a sense of belonging among potential hires have a positive impact on the candidate’s view of the organization.

When it comes to the attributes of a job and an organization and the benefits the organization offers, there are some differences in student preferences by race and gender.

The University of Dallas career development office listened to student feedback to pivot from texting students career-related information to sending messages via email. The results have been impressive.

Despite calls to “return to the office” from employers and the prevailing media narrative, the hybrid work modality appears here to stay.

Although new college graduates looking to enter the workforce and employers hiring these graduates agree on which competencies are most important for job candidates to hone, their perception of student proficiency in them differs.

NACE President & CEO Shawn VanDerziel shares NACE research, which indicates that both employers and college students and graduates view higher education and the college degree as valuable.

New college graduates embrace the value of higher education, with 91% reporting that, if they had a chance to do it again, they would opt to pursue a college education.

Mary Scott compared data from 2016 to that from 2022 to gauge students’ assessment that an employer “made it seem as though they were interested in me.” What she found was astonishing.

The research suggests that, long term, we will likely work in and out of the office. Research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows that new college graduates want to be in person at least part of the time, but also want the flexibility to work remotely some of the time.

Not only does PathwayU offer student assessments, but it also provides guidance based on predictive knowledge that accounts for the user’s sense of purpose and meaning.

Data provided by more than 2,300 bachelor’s degree-level graduating seniors who took part in NACE’s 2023 Student Survey demonstrate that systemic inequities continue to exist in internships—not only in terms of who takes part, but also in terms of who gets paid.

Students’ expectations around authenticity in recruiting have remained constant, but the pandemic created job-search challenges that affect how they assess employers and their opportunities.

New graduates and their potential employers can agree on which skills are most important for job candidates, but differ on how proficient new graduates are in those abilities.