Gayle Hanrahan Coaching

Thought this was a relevant online article I found on The Street.

It focuses on the tough job environment for recent college grads...helpful food for thought...

The job market is brutal, but some parents have found a cheat code
The job market is squeezing new grads so hard that parents are trying to buy a shortcut.

By Tobi Opeyemi Amure
Personal Finance Journalist
Edited by Dana Sullivan Kilroy

Key Points
• Entry-level job postings have fallen sharply; youth unemployment rates remain high and persistent.
• Parents increasingly pay thousands for private career coaching to boost their kids’ job prospects.
• Experts recommend internships, networking skills, and financial boundaries over costly coaching services.

You know the old script.

Work hard in school, get into a decent college, keep your grades up, then walk into a respectable first job that lets you move out, pay your bills, and start building a life.

That story has not matched reality for a lot of recent graduates.
Global entry-level job postings have dropped by twenty-nine percentage points since January 2024, according to Randstad data published by the World Economic Forum. Youth unemployment in the United States sits around 10.8%, more than double the overall rate of about 4.3%, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers compiled by High5.

Parents feel that pressure.

Nearly two-thirds of parents with Gen Z kids ages eighteen to twenty-eight are still providing financial support, and more than half say it is straining their own finances, according to the 2026 Wells Fargo Money Study covered by TheStreet.

Now, in a twist that feels very 2026, some of those parents are not just covering rent. They are paying thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, for private “early-career” coaching that promises to crack the brutal entry-level job market for their kids.
That is the cheat code.

Parents are paying thousands of dollars for private “early-career” coaching.

Job market reality for new grads

The uncomfortable truth is that new grads are running into a tougher hiring wall than older workers.

The proportion of jobless Americans who are new entrants, including recent college graduates, climbed to 13.4% in mid 2025, the highest level since 1988, according to the Richmond Fed data highlighted by Axios.

At the same time, global entry-level roles have fallen sharply, even as employers complain about “talent shortages,” Randstad’s analysis of 126 million job postings cited by the World Economic Forum found.
This is not just a temporary slowdown.
U.S. unemployment is expected to peak around 4.5% in early 2026, with hiring staying slow and the quits rate below pre-pandemic levels, a sign that workers do not feel confident about finding better jobs, according to J.P. Morgan.

BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink told attendees at the firm’s 2026 Infrastructure Summit that he is “worried that when this year’s college graduates enter the workforce, we could see the highest unemployment rate among them in years,” even without a recession, according to TheStreet’s coverage of his remarks.
When I look across that data as a personal finance reporter, what jumps out is not just a bad year for hiring. It is a slow structural shift that makes early career missteps more expensive and more visible than they were for prior generations.

Parents turn to career coaching
Against that backdrop, a new booming business has emerged.
Parents of college students are paying thousands of dollars, and sometimes more than $50,000, for early career coaching that starts as early as freshman year, focused on internships, networking, and landing that first job, according to Bloomberg.
Coaches like Beth Hendler Grunt, who runs New Jersey-based firm Next Great Step, now work with students in small groups and one-on-one, helping them polish résumés, practice interviews, and map out internship strategies.

Packages at firms like Next Great Step typically range from about $4,200 for group programs to as high as $15,000 for more intensive support, with some families spending upward of $50,000 once travel and additional services are included, according to Fortune’s coverage.

Those programs do not just target traditional soft skills.
In my analysis, this is the part that feels most like a “cheat code.” The value is not only in the coaching itself, but it is in compressing a messy, months-long trial-and-error phase into a highly structured playbook that wealthier families can just buy.

What high-priced coaching really buys
So what do parents actually get for that money, beyond a lighter savings account?
First, they buy time and structure.
A six-month program with Next Great Step is designed to help students secure a “coveted” summer internship and move closer to their target roles, essentially turning sophomore and junior summers into career assets instead of afterthoughts, according to Yahoo Finance.

Second, they buy a professionalized approach to a process many students would otherwise run on vibes and random job boards.
67% of Gen Z workers regularly receive career advice from parents, and 44% say their parents helped write or edit their résumé, according to a Zety report on “career co-piloting.” That support often spills into awkward territory, with 21% admitting their parents contacted a potential employer for them, according to the same survey.

High-end coaches offer a way to transfer some of that energy to a neutral third party who knows how hiring actually works.
But it is also true that these services sit on top of a stressful foundation, as shown by some recent data.
Early career stress by the numbers
• Global entry-level job postings have fallen by 29 percentage points since January 2024.
• Youth unemployment in the U.S. was about 10.8% in 2025, compared with 4.3% overall.
• The share of unemployed Americans who are new entrants to the labor force reached 13.4%, the highest level since 1988.
• Sixty-four percent of parents with Gen Z kids ages eighteen to twenty-eight still provide financial support, and 56% say it strains their finances.
When I line those numbers up against coaching price lists, the emotional logic makes sense.
If your kid is graduating into a market with fewer entry-level jobs, higher youth unemployment, and rising competition, a $5,000 or $10,000 package can feel like “insurance.”
The question, especially for personal finance readers, is whether it is good insurance.

Smarter ways parents can support their kids
There are real benefits to structured coaching, but you do not need a five-figure contract to give your kid an edge.
Many colleges already offer résumé reviews, mock interviews, and basic job-search training through their career services offices, which Bloomberg notes are often underused compared with private coaches.
Universum’s 2026 Talent Outlook describes the job market as “stabilizing, but not necessarily accelerating,” and points out that employers want new grads who can show concrete value, not just degrees, according to comments from executive Kortney Kutsop cited by Yahoo Finance.
That means parents can do three lower-cost things that still move the needle.
First, push for real work experience.
Internships, campus jobs tied to relevant skills, and project-based freelance work matter more in a world where entry-level roles are scarce and applicant tracking systems filter ruthlessly.

Second, help your kid build basic networking habits instead of doing the networking for them.
Zety’s survey shows that parents often contact employers or even complete test assignments, which may help in the short term but leave young adults underprepared to advocate for themselves once they are hired.

Third, set clear financial boundaries.
45% percent of parents with adult children provide financial help, with an average of $1,442 per month, often for essentials like groceries, rent, and cell phone bills, according to research from Savings.com. That generosity can be life-changing, but it can also quietly derail parents’ own retirement plans if there is no endpoint.
If you are already covering rent, groceries, or health insurance, a five-figure coaching package could be the difference between staying on track for retirement and working several extra years.

Tobi Amure is a journalist and freelance personal finance writer at TheStreet with more than seven years of experience in digital media. He writes about personal finance, credit cards, loans, mortgages, budgeting, investing, and emerging financial technologies. Previously, he held various journalism and content roles for finance and fintech publications and B2B SaaS companies, developing a focus on clear, practical guidance for everyday money decisions.

Why GenZ Struggle with Networking…and some tips
Scenario 1: Tyler graduates in May. He's smart, personable, has a solid GPA. His mom has already emailed three of her former colleagues on his behalf. Tyler doesn't know.
Scenario 2: Zoe has a networking event for her industry next Thursday. She's known about it for two weeks. She still hasn't registered. Her stomach hurts just thinking about it.
Scenario 3: Marcus's dad offers to "make a call" to his old boss. Marcus says yes — because it's easier than figuring out how to do it himself.
Sound familiar?
Here's what the research is telling us:
Nine in ten Gen Z employees report experiencing social discomfort or anxiety in work settings — with more than half saying they feel it at least half the time. And 61% of Gen Z have a medically diagnosed anxiety condition — which means walking into a room full of strangers and "working it" isn't just uncomfortable. For many of them, it's genuinely hard.
Why? A few converging reasons:
🔹 Texting replaced phone calls. Face-to-face conversations feel intimidating because there's no time to think before hitting "send." And the pandemic cost many of them two critical years of in-person social development.
🔹 Missing out on in-person interactions at school and at work, they immersed themselves in screens and technology — and now a room full of people feels like a foreign country.
🔹 62% of Gen Z globally struggles to build meaningful relationships — even though they desperately want connection.
🔹 And Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki's research found something fascinating: young adults crave closeness but misjudge how much their peers want that too. They think everyone else is comfortable. They're not.
So what do we do? As career coaches and parents, I mean.
We stop doing it for them. (I know. Ouch.)
Here's what actually helps:
✅ Let them practice low-stakes conversations. Have them call to make their own doctor's appointment. Order their own food when the waiter gets it wrong. Small stuff builds the muscle.
✅ Teach them the "one goal" rule. Before any networking event, write down ONE specific, measurable goal: "I will introduce myself to two people I don't know." Not "don't be awkward." That's not a goal, that's a wish.
✅ Give them the gift of curiosity. The best networkers aren't the most interesting people in the room — they're the most interested. Teach them to ask questions and actually listen. The pressure lifts immediately.
✅ Share your own cringe stories. Tell them about the time you blanked on someone's name. Or said something weird. Normalize the stumble. It makes them braver.
✅ Let them own the follow-up. Suggest they reach out to your contact. Give them the name. Step back. Their email, their call, their relationship.
Networking is a skill — not a personality trait. And like any skill, it has to be practiced by the person who needs it.
Our GenZers are smart and capable. They just need the room to try — and occasionally, magnificently fail.
What's one thing you did (or wish you'd done) to help a young adult in your life learn to network?

Call now to connect with business.

The best leaders I know are also great storytellers.😎

Not because they're performing — but because they understand that facts inform, while stories move people to action.

Recently, I had the privilege of performing two original monologues for the Lifelong Learning Institute of Rhode Island — a wonderful organization dedicated to curiosity, connection, and lifelong growth.

It reminded me how much storytelling and leadership have in common:
✦ Both require you to know your audience
✦ Both depend on authenticity over perfection
✦ Both create the conditions for people to see themselves differently

If you're curious what that looks like in practice, here's a peek at my performance:
👉 https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/ZWpsW1YjzMwLa--WEZsyBEMLG8P4F7aecmin6LOx9GpbZ7oVcbsn3OCSKE-gTNCp.rgvno2WpN3Yimeum

What story are you telling as a leader — and is it the one you mean to tell?

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