A new Cengage report finds entry-level jobs increasingly demand work-ready skills—pushing graduates toward internships, stepping-stone roles, and self-directed AI learning.
An entry-level job is supposed to be where experience begins. Increasingly, graduates say experience is required just to get through the door.
According to Cengage’s 2026 Graduate Employability Report, 77 percent of graduates believe employers expect more experience than an entry-level candidate should reasonably have. More than half—53 percent—have chosen not to apply for entry-level positions because they felt underqualified, up from 48 percent in 2025.
The findings expose a growing contradiction: employers want job-ready candidates, but graduates struggle to find opportunities that allow them to become job-ready. Three-quarters say there are too few genuine entry-level positions, while 64 percent believe the qualifications listed for those jobs are excessive.
Internships and work-based learning are becoming critical bridges. Among employed graduates who completed an internship, 81 percent said it helped them secure their current job. Graduates ranked internships or previous work experience as the greatest contributor to employment—well ahead of a college degree. Meanwhile, 56 percent want colleges to offer more internships, co-ops, and paid work experiences.
The disconnect is also changing how learners view higher education. Just 37 percent said their education was worth the cost, down from 68 percent in Cengage’s inaugural 2022 report. Nearly half of graduates still seeking relevant employment are considering a “stepping-stone” job, while 84 percent plan to pursue additional learning or skills training.
AI adds another dimension. Sixty-one percent of graduates believe they have sufficient AI skills for the jobs they sought, up from 51 percent last year. Yet 64 percent said they acquired most of those skills independently—not through their degree programs.
That creates a clear challenge—and opportunity—for education and edtech. Career preparation can no longer be treated as a final-semester service. It must begin earlier, giving learners opportunities to develop, apply, and demonstrate workplace skills well before graduation.
For school district technology leaders, that may mean connecting classroom learning with digital portfolios, industry credentials, career exploration, simulations, and work-based learning. For edtech founders and investors, the experience gap represents a consequential problem still waiting for better solutions: how can technology help students gain credible experience, demonstrate what they can do, and move more confidently from education into employment?
The emerging model of career readiness is continuous—and the tools connecting learning, experience, and opportunity may become an increasingly important part of the education technology landscape. Read the full report.
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