5 Things New Graduates Should Do to Plan Their Careers

College graduates should try and focus on the longer term, looking at their first job as a means to an end, and not the end itself.

As you progress forward in your career, utilize mentors and friends from different points in your career as sounding boards for future moves. Dmytro Zinkevych/Shutterstock

Today’s graduates start their job search with a belief that they should enter their company or industry of choice immediately after graduation. At least that’s what we’ve observed in our experience advising thousands of college students over the years on how to launch their careers.

Research has shown that younger millennials and older Gen Zers—that is, those born between 1990 and 1998—are motivated by roles that are meaningful and where they can be given responsibility quickly. They tend to change jobs often and are looking for ways to move up the ladder and increase their salary at a faster pace than other generations currently in the workforce.