Unemployment rates for recent college graduates are on a steady rise, as artificial intelligence reshapes the workforce and panic sets in among students nationwide. At NYU, this means its Wasserman Center for Career Development is working to give graduates a leg up in the job market by helping students develop interpersonal skills and gain experience.
“It does make me more anxious,” CAS sophomore Thomas Woodrow said. “I’ve been applying earlier and being less picky, basically sending in as many applications as I can.”
A study from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that computer and mathematical occupations faced some of the highest unemployment rates and AI exposure between 2022 and 2025. The issue has become increasingly prevalent in recent months — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 911,000 fewer jobs were given between March and September 2025 than in the same period in 2024. August only saw 22,000 additional jobs, about one-third of expectations, as the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% — the highest since November 2021.
In an interview with WSN, Wasserman Center executive director Paulette Gonzalez-Sierchio said that the department constantly monitors studies from the National Association of Colleges and Employers to track what employers are looking for and how to prepare students for the everchanging market.
Bethany Godsoe, vice president for student and organizational development, also said that while it’s essential for students to learn technical skills, it’s just as important for them to strengthen their soft skills — such as problem solving and collaboration — which are not as replaceable by AI.
“It’s those underlying skills that you’re actually learning that are going to help you thrive in the long term and be resilient in the job market in the long term,” Godsoe said. “Because they really do teach those essentially human skills of critical thinking, communications, problem solving [and] empathy.”
Gonzalez-Sierchio and Godsoe said that students should refrain from only setting their eyes on full-time internships, but also consider “micro-internships” that could be found by attending Wasserman Center events. Gonzalez-Sierchio said that the center partners with companies such as Lululemon and JP Morgan to initiate programs where “students can experience what might be like to take advantage of an opportunity in that organization.”
Both administrators said that it is inevitable that the job market “will continue to evolve.” To improve their job prospects, they recommended students start in a growing industry where they can leverage their strengths, before transitioning into their desired field — and prepare to have at least three pathways.
“Some folks may be raising alarms that whole categories of jobs are getting bipeded down. If you bring to the job market more experience, you have a greater chance of getting a role that has tasks that can’t be easily eliminated by AI,” Godsoe said. “AI isn’t necessarily replacing people or jobs, but people who can use AI critically and effectively and ethically are going to replace people who cannot.”
Contact Julian Torres at [email protected].
