How prepared are students really for the post-graduate job market?  Nearly 98% of students feel confident in their professional communication and 85% feel they’re ready to learn new tools on the job; however, 60% of employers have fired a Gen Z employee, according to a recent study.

“Clearly there’s a disconnect between the actual skill-readiness and the perceived skill-readiness,” said Stéphanie Durand, VP of strategic partnerships at CodeSignal, a skills assessment and AI-powered learning tool company. 

Durand shared insights on this solvable disconnect during a thought leadership spotlight titled, “Students Feel Ready. Managers Disagree. What Now?” at From Day One’s Midtown conference. 

New innovations that occur daily increase pressure on candidates to have the right job skills. At the same time, employers may rely on traditional hiring methods, such as CVs and the applicant’s school, rather than focusing on actual skills. “This career readiness gap, as I like to call it, has a real impact,” said Durand.

Especially amid advancements in AI and other workplace shifts, many entry-level hires feel unprepared, according to recent research. “You can imagine the type of pressure it causes from a performance perspective,” said Durand. 

The data shows it’s more around soft skills than technical skills, she says. “We keep talking about technical skills evolving every day and AI, but soft skills are actually a real gap.”

Another impact of the career readiness gap, says Durand, is the cost of hiring and retraining as someone who may be less prepared will require more mentoring. 

The Reality of Being Lifelong Learners 

Another big change is that we’ve all become lifelong learners. In the past, we used to go to school, get a degree, and choose our career path. Today, skills are quickly evolving, says Durand.  

“I think the average shelf life of a skill is 18 months,” she said. “This may have even gone lower with GenAI.”

With this in mind, it’s important to continuously upskill to keep up with the skills and even go beyond what universities offer by providing avenues for employees to continuously learn, says Durand.

However, Durand cautions that the learning options available to employees may not always be effective. “There’s too much training that is very off-the-shelf, video-based, theoretical, and really doesn’t align to the skills that employees need,” said Durand. 

Durand highlights the point by providing the example of learning to play an instrument or to play tennis and how you need to practice these skills to really learn them. Simply watching a video on the topic won’t be enough. 

How Companies Ensure a Ready-to-Work Hire

There are three main ways that companies turn a ready-or-not hire into a ready-to-work hire: skills assessment, closing the skills gap, and AI leverage, says Durand. 

Skills verification is the first best practice, whether for hiring or evaluating your early talent that joins the team. Focus on core skills, not as much on specialized skills, because you may overlook some great hires otherwise. 

Next, try to avoid multiple choice questions, as these may not really give you an objective assessment of a skill. You should also ensure that when using an assessment that it’s fair and consistent. Durand states that any assessments that are validated by I/O psychologists may be good options. 

Once you’ve assessed your future hires and noted any skills gaps, you want to close the skills gap. This can be accomplished by hands-on, practical learning interventions rather than multiple choice questions as the former provides a good way to close the skills gap and evaluate potential hires, says Durand.

AI can also be a game changer, Durand says. Using an AI tutor enhances learning by providing active feedback, helping individuals prepare for job roles or improving experiential learning for new hires. Unlike passive videos, this approach guides users on how to improve specific skills and job duties.

The Future Looks Bright

“There’s a lot of uncertainty but also a lot of opportunity ahead,” says Durand.

To illustrate the impact of hands-on learning, Durand shared a case study. eBay runs a program for potential interns where participants complete a coding skills assessment before and after the program, and the results are striking, with scores showing a significant jump after the hands-on experience.

“Pairing the assessment of skills of your workforce, really being intentional about the type of learning you deploy, and then reassessing again is really where we see eBay as an example, but a lot of companies are going in that direction, too,” said Durand. 

There is so much happening in universities and in the workplace that gives Durand hope and confidence, including competency-based education, real-world experiences that prepare students for employer expectations, and helping future graduates understand the language of the corporate world.

Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, CodeSignal, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. 

Kristen Kwiatkowski is a professional freelance writer covering a wide array of industries, with a focus on food and beverage and business. Her work has been featured in Eater Philly, Edible Lehigh Valley, Cider Culture, and The Town Dish. 

(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)