More than half of new grads are worried about basic living costs—how they’re changing their job searches to cope

Students who started college at the beginning of the pandemic are gearing up for graduation, and years of instability are changing how they approach their future careers.

With rising costs of living top of mind, more than half, 59%, of the class of 2024 say they’re concerned about covering basic expenses after leaving school, according to a March survey of 2,687 students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2024.

The data, gathered from the college and new grad career site Handshake, shows a similar share of seniors say the current economic news makes them feel pessimistic.

Their No. 1 priority in looking for a job is to find one that will offer stability, and they’re changing some of their career preferences to find it.

STEM graduates are looking less to dream tech companies and more toward stable industries that need tech talent, like health care and manufacturing. Drilling down by discipline, computer science majors for instance, are applying to fewer software engineer roles and diversifying their options with information security and computer hardware jobs, according to Handshake.

Elsewhere, students from the class of 2024 were more likely to apply to jobs in construction, agriculture and education, according to Handshake data.

These dreams are often grounded in the reality that many seniors don’t believe a full-time salary will be enough to cover living costs while paying off student loans or saving for financial goals, Cruzvergara says.

Many are also hopeful that side-hustle income can supercharge their savings so they don’t have to work a corporate job forever.

“This is a practical generation that wants to be able to have work-life balance from the start,” Cruzvergara says. “And they want to be able to live their lives and not have to wait three decades, before they’re able to actually begin to live the life that they want.”

But, much like the class before them, a majority of 2024 grads are worried they’ll experience burnout in their first jobs out of college. One in three are concerned about being lonely at work.

Cruzvergara believes young workers’ eagerness to be in a physical workplace is, at least partly, to remedy their feelings of loneliness. To this point, she advises new workers to “take the initiative” and “look for connections with people that you genuinely are interested in.”

“Don’t be afraid to ask folks to go to coffee or to go to lunch, or maybe grab dinner after work,” she adds. It can feel awkward, but she likens it to working out: “It’s just a matter of doing it and practicing it, and it’s the repetition that will help you get there.”

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