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

Internship programs are about more than just getting quality hires in the door: Retention metrics reported in NACE’s 2026 Internship & Co-op Report demonstrate the long-term ROI of having a program.

Employers are going into the classroom to share expertise and establish relationships with students and faculty, according to results of NACE’s 2026 Internship & Co-op survey.

Results from NACE’s 2026 Career Services Benchmarking Poll on AI show a big shift in just a few years in how AI is integrating into the work of career centers. Eighty-six percent of career centers are using AI as an assistive tool when working with individual students—up sharply from just 20% in 2023 and 76% in 2025.

Overall, employers say new college graduates are reasonably well prepared for the jobs they will enter after graduation—and more than 20% say they are very well prepared, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update.

AI is increasingly becoming an expectation for early career talent, shaping both the job market and entry-level work, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update.

Employers expect to increase new college graduate hiring from the Class of 2026 by 5.6%, a projection driven upward by the more than one-third of respondents reporting plans to bring in additional hires, according to results of NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update.

When reviewing the resumes of Class of 2026 candidates for entry-level positions, employers are seeking graduates who provide evidence of polished teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills, according to results of NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update survey.

Approximately one-half of employers responding to NACE’s 2026 Internship & Co-op Survey report that they provide financial relocation assistance to interns, a benefit that they say also boosts their experiential education programs.

Key metrics for internship programs—offer, acceptance, and conversion rates—all increased among 2024-25 interns compared to 2023-24 interns.

Employers expect to bring in 3.9% more interns in 2025-26 compared with 2024-25, according to NACE’s 2026 Internship & Co-op Report.

Although the average hourly wage for interns has continued to rise over the past 10 years, due to inflation, it has declined in real terms. Meanwhile, the average hourly wage for co-ops dipped slightly but is up in terms of inflation rates.

Nearly 56% of employers expect to offer signing bonuses to their new college hires from the Class of 2026, according to results of NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 survey.

Students hoping to demonstrate their skills during a skills-based hiring process should share examples and situations when they used their skills to solve problems, according to employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 survey.

With a projected overall average salary of $94,212, computer sciences graduates are expected to be the top earners among Class of 2026 master’s degree grads.

Employers regard having an internship with their organization or within their industry to be the most influential factors when choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates.

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.

Starting salary projections show promise for the upcoming Class of 2026. Nearly all categories of reported majors are showing healthy increases that range from 3.1% for engineering majors to 6.9% for computer sciences majors.

Several schools that have attained high First-Destinations Survey knowledge rates shared their strategies for doing so.

Employers looking to ensure they have a robust pool of college candidates consider several factors when selecting the schools at which they recruit.

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.

Among employers participating in NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 survey, 70% report using skill-based hiring, up from 65% last year. Furthermore, among this year’s employers, 71% use this approach at least half of the time.

Uncertainty surrounds the use of artificial intelligence among university relations and recruiting professionals and, to a lesser extent, among career services practitioners.

Approximately 86% of bachelor’s degree graduates and 89% of master’s degree grads from the Class of 2024 were employed or enrolled in further education within six months of graduation, according to NACE’s First Destinations for the College Class of 2024 report.

Employers looking to maximize their campus recruiting efforts should establish and grow relationships with career services. There are several key steps they can take to do so.

Students embrace hands-on skills development through experiential learning and report that employers are helping them develop key skills they need as they prepare for the workplace.

Reflecting an uncertain job market for college graduates, employers are projecting just a 1.6% increase in hiring for the Class of 2026 when compared to the Class of 2025.

The use of AI in career centers to help students in their employment journey has grown substantially in recent years, according to results of NACE’s recent Quick Poll on Career Services Benchmarks.

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.

Although there remains a salary advantage for college graduates earning master's degrees, the differential in starting salaries between bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees among top majors is diminishing.

Employers made more offers to candidates this year, but they took longer to make decisions about these offers, according to NACE’s 2025 Recruiting Benchmarks Report.

NACE’s Career Services Benchmarks Quick Poll reveals the progress colleges and universities are making in implementing career readiness competencies on their campuses.

Employers continue to recruit in the fall but have made significant adjustments to the timing of their offers, according to NACE’s 2025 Recruiting Benchmarks Report.

The overall average salary for new college graduates has experienced a slight uptick as the final overall average salary is up 2.2% over the Class of 2023’s average.

In positive news for the Class of 2026, nearly 87% of employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update survey said their organization will be actively recruiting for both full-time and internship positions in fall of 2025.

In spring 2025, NACE conducted a follow-up poll to a 2023 survey to better understand the current mental health concerns of NACE members. In the latest poll, more than half of participants self-reported that their mental health was worse at the time of the poll than it was last year at the same time.

There has been much discussion about whether a degree is necessary for every job. The answer is “no.” About half of employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update survey said their organization has positions that are flexible in terms of degree.

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.

Almost two-thirds of employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update survey reported using skills-based hiring to help them identify candidates with potential.

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.

Although overall hiring projections are up just 0.6% from last year, nearly 90% of employers anticipate increasing or maintaining hiring for the college Class of 2025, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update.

In-person activities are the most widely used and effective means for recruiting interns, according to results of NACE’s 2025 Internship & Co-op survey.

More than 70% of organizations expect to increase or maintain intern hiring, according to NACE’s 2025 Internship & Co-op Report. However, overall intern hiring is expected to fall 3.1%.

The average hourly wage for bachelor’s degree level interns has increased each year over the past 10 years and now stands at $23.04, according to NACE’s 2025 Guide to Compensation for Interns & Co-ops.

Career center budgets for the 2024-25 academic year have increased across the board since 2022-23, according to results of NACE’s 2024-25 Career Services Benchmarks survey.

Class of 2025 engineering and business graduates at the master’s degree level are expected to see salaries climb 12.5% and 3.1%, respectively, according to results of NACE’s Winter 2025 Salary Survey.

Overall, starting salary projections for the Class of 2025 are something of a mixed bag as projected movement in salaries ranges from a gain of 2.8% for agriculture and natural resources to a decrease of 3.6% for the social sciences.

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.

College students from the Class of 2025 looking to enter the job market should highlight on their resumes the attributes and skills they developed in their classwork and through their various experiential assignments. But which attributes and skills are most important to employers?

Data suggest that providing interns with relocation assistance correlates to better conversion rates for organizations that hope to turn interns into full-time hires.

Close to two-thirds of employers responding to the Job Outlook 2025 survey reported that they use skills-based hiring practices for new entry-level hires, and more than half use these practices always or most of the time in their hiring process.

Hiring for the college Class of 2025 is expected to increase 7.3% over hiring for the Class of 2024, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2025 survey.

Nearly 85% of Class of 2023 bachelor’s degree graduates and nearly 90% of master’s degree graduates were employed or engaged in further education within six months of graduation.

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.

When done right, execution—meeting or exceeding students’ expectations throughout their candidate experience—helps drive success in early talent recruiting.

Because faculty are frequently asked by their current and former students for career advice, there is an opportunity to increase awareness among faculty of the resources available to them.

Salaries for college graduates overall continue to climb as, for the second straight year, the increase in average salary for a graduating class has surpassed 7%.

There are interesting data points from NACE’s 2024 Recruiting Compensation Report in terms of budgets, internship offers, and retention that provide insight into the operations and approaches of URR functions.

Recruiters are taking more time to extend an offer to a candidate following an interview, but the deadline for acceptance remains close to two weeks.

Lifted by average increases that ranged between 3.5% and 4.4%, salaries for all recruiting professionals increased in 2023, while the majority of respondents at all levels received bonuses.

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.

While nearly 20% of employers that responded to NACE’s Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update survey have had discussions about removing the college degree as a key requirement for entry-level positions, nearly 80% of respondents expect that there will be no change in the next two years.

Results of a NACE quick poll identify barriers and accelerators affecting the career paths of career services and university recruiting professionals.

Hiring for internships is expected to remain stable this year, according to NACE’s 2024 Internship and Co-op Report. Overall, eight out of 10 employers taking part in NACE’s annual benchmark report expect to maintain (47.2%) or increase (32.2%) the number of interns they bring in for 2023-24 compared to the 2022-23 academic year.

Nearly 83% of employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2024 Spring Update survey anticipate increasing or maintaining hiring for the Class of 2024. This leaves just 17.4% of respondents planning to decrease hires, but their planned cuts mean overall hiring projections are down 5.8% from last year.

Belonging at work—feeling that one is valued, accepted, and supported—helps to ensure a healthy, productive, and positive work environment. NACE surveyed its membership to better understand their experiences with belonging in the profession.

For Spring Hill College, the work to attain a high knowledge rate on its first-destination survey begins in the fall.

Despite achieving a knowledge rate of 90.6% on its most recent first-destination survey, the Roanoke College career center is tweaking the survey’s process to improve it.

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

Centre College’s three-year average knowledge rate for its first-destination survey (FDS) stands at an impressive 98%. This is especially notable given that the survey wasn’t required for students until 2023.

Hourly wages for interns have kept pace with inflation, signaling the value of these programs to employers.

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.

Recent studies reveal that systemic barriers continue to limit progress on achieving pay equity for all, but there are tangible, proven ways that career centers and employers can make an impact.

Employers were slower in making offers to their candidates for their full-time positions than they were prior to the pandemic, although students who accepted the offers were quicker to do so.

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

There is good news for the Class of 2024: Salary projections for all reported groups of majors are higher than the projections reported for the Class of 2023

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.

Slightly more than 43% of employers plan to increase starting salaries to Class of 2024 bachelor’s degree graduates, and nearly all remaining employers anticipate keeping salaries at last year’s levels.

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.

The small dip in college hiring revealed by NACE’s Job Outlook 2024 survey is down from the last two years, when the college job market experienced brisk growth that, in 2022, reached record levels.

This study, a collaboration between NACE and Break Through Tech, provides evidence that career services can help level the playing field for women pursuing STEM careers.

Employers confirmed their belief in the value of higher education and higher education institutions in NACE’s latest benchmark survey.

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.

Career centers looking to increase FDS response rates might want to focus on communicating regularly with students, providing participation incentives, and ensuring the process is convenient for students.

Early data from a forthcoming NACE study indicate that the gender pay gap has widened over the past year, with female graduates now earning just 72 cents to every dollar earned by male graduates, down from around 81 cents.

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.

Research conducted by NACE and The Center for the Study of HBCUs underscores how important it is for companies to conduct audits to assess gaps and inequities in their recruiting efforts.

NACE’s research shows that career services has a quantifiable effect on students and their entry into the world of work. It’s hardly a new question: Over the years, many career services professionals have been asked to respond, often when budgets are tight and administrators are looking for where to make cuts, but even when that’s not the case.

College graduates in their early professional careers report significant mental health issues and view their jobs as a contributing factor. How can employers and colleges provide support?

Regardless of how employers ran their programs in summer 2021, the hybrid model is their favored modality for their 2021-22 internships, according to NACE’s 2022 Internship & Co-op Survey Report.

Schools that conduct an annual FDS to capture information on how their new college graduates fare following graduation can benefit their own institutions and demonstrate the value of higher education.

Free downloads from the NACE Center: These studies examine how internships impact the development and initial career outcomes of college graduates.

Students who took paid internships or co-ops were more likely to receive an offer of full-time employment and a higher salary offer from their employers than were students who took unpaid internships or co-ops, according to results of NACE’s Class of 2015 Student Survey.

Average starting salary projections for the Class of 2022 range from an increase of 5.4% to a decrease of 14.8%.

When choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates, employers deem having internship experience—with the organization or within its industry—to be the most influential factors.

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.