Career Readiness Gap: How Academia Can Help Fill the Void

Today’s college students are facing a career readiness imperative. Stakeholders are increasingly focused only on the value proposition and outcomes of higher education (HE). However, career readiness “takes a village” — coaching and mentoring support from family and friends, faculty and staff, alumni and employers. Some stakeholders are evolving their strategies and efforts to make career readiness more intentional. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), career readiness encompasses both technical and soft skills. This is not an entirely new topic. The question here is whether — and how — HE can rise to the emerging challenges and opportunities. 

The Career Readiness Imperative

Every week, more is said or written about entry-level hiring challenges and increasing employer expectations. Employers say the career readiness of new hires is falling short.  Today’s entry-level candidates need to demonstrate academic success, career readiness and professional skills, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) literacy. 

Studies and surveys indicate that professional skills represent as much as 75% to 85% of job success. American Institute of CPAs’ (AICPA) analysis cites that some 80% of business transformation success is attributable to people and key professional skills, including mindset and leadership, so we “learn faster than the rate of change and faster than the competition,” according to its Faculty Hour Presentation from Sept. 18, 2026.

Here are four ways organizations are addressing these issues:

1. The AICPA established a Profession Ready Initiative focused on professional skills. The research-backed effort identifies the skills early career CPAs need to succeed in a rapidly changing environment, focusing on a framework of several domains (technical, professional and technology (including AI)) and 19 competencies. The initiative is a collaborative effort amongst stakeholders, including educators and practitioners, and is intended to address skills gaps through training and development, learning solutions and curriculum, and teaching resources. 
2. EY introduced an 8- to 12-month student program that combines real-world experience with coaching and future-focused skills development. It’s designed to accelerate careers beyond traditional entry points and create value in a technology-driven future. In addition, EY established a significant incentive compensation pool to reward human skills. 
3. Some employers are expanding their student program and academia partnering offerings focused on career skills (e.g., PwC, KPMG and RSM). 
4. Others, with an increasing focus on skills-based hiring, are introducing “work trials” in which candidates perform actual role-specific duties to help both develop and evaluate the potential and career readiness of entry-level hires.

Emerging Trends in HE

HE, facing many challenges as well as opportunities, is much more complex than most people realize. It is highly regulated, there are labor agreement restrictions, perhaps too much academic and staff freedom exists, it is relatively inefficient and it operates within a complex business model heavily reliant on part-time adjunct professors who instruct a substantial portion of courses. Adjuncts are not always integrated or compensated well, often resulting in some turnover. All of this makes the career readiness and professional skill challenge complex.

We are now seeing an emerging trend in HE to more strategically focus on careers and professional skills, supporting student success and outcomes.

Here are some relevant education initiatives where educators are actively planning for students’ careers:

• Both Bucknell University and Boston University have recently increased strategic focus on careers and professional skills. 
• Kean University’s Office of Career Services is leading the roll-out of an innovative “career champions program,” which is a grassroots effort where faculty and staff are working together to integrate career readiness across the student experience by working to embed it into the existing course curriculum and making skill competency development more intentional. This involves incorporating learning outcomes in syllabi, classroom discussions and cases/scenarios, assignments and assessments to connect classroom and campus experiences to careers.
• At other institutions, professional clubs and organizations are also playing an important role by expanding career readiness events for students, bringing professionals from industry to campus. While HE “career offices” often have capable and committed professionals and play an important role, they sometimes operate with limited staffing and funding, which can constrain the 1x1 and other support they can provide.

AI Impact

Employers are expecting entry-level staff to have AI literacy and familiarity with the strategic and responsible use of AI to drive value. Given the “human-in-the-loop” considerations (e.g., human genius, strategic thinking and analysis, problem-solving and decision-making, communication, trust, relationship management, leadership), AI is actually putting a premium on professional skills. 

As AI is leveraged for more routine tasks, career models and matriculation will change, moving new hires into “review” roles faster, including human oversight of AI. Today’s college students will need to develop the professional skills needed to play at a higher level.

Much like we saw when business transformation incorporated “offshoring” and business process outsourcing, early-career professionals begin to do higher-level work earlier in their career — which is more challenging and rewarding — and they need professional skill development to do that effectively (e.g., critical thinking, judgement, communication, process orientation). AI is poised to bring this same “seniorization,” including the need for supervision and review capabilities.

Here are some relevant AI-focused initiatives that are gaining ground:

• UBS recently announced that 2027 entry-level hires in its global banking and markets division must demonstrate practical AI proficiency during the hiring process and will then receive further training in an AI Fluency Pathway. Santander is also recruiting for some roles based on advanced AI skills.
• Ohio State University and Saint Joseph’s University are shifting their overall strategies to focus on AI and the closely related “human-in-the-loop” professional skill competencies. 
• Within HE, computer science programs are actively considering how to change the curriculum in response to AI. Faculty are considering how to "teach up the abstraction ladder" — letting students delegate low-level coding to AI after they've learned fundamentals, and refocusing instruction on problem specification and problem-solving.

Considerations for HE

While all of this activity amongst stakeholders is very encouraging, if we are to deliver next-generation career readiness, there is more to be done.

Key strategic considerations for educators include:

• To what extent is career readiness and professional skill development HE’s “job” 
• Whether and how to respond and deliver next-generation career readiness and professional skill development
• Whether the HE “business model,” which is heavily reliant on part-time adjunct professors, needs to evolve in this regard
• How additional initiatives will be funded, given the budgetary constraints most institutions face

Many adjuncts are already making important career readiness contributions by embedding their business experience and professional skill learnings in their instruction and campus activities.  Not only do they bring real-world experience and applied knowledge as well as professional skills, but they bring leadership, coaching & development, relationship management, and partnership & teamwork skills.  The departmental programs and students benefit greatly.  As it explores how to deliver next-generation career readiness and professional skills, HE will need to consider the business model implications and how to strategically advance a somewhat unmanaged talent pool and outdated model by better integrating adjuncts.

The Career Readiness Imperative is Real 

After all, college is a significant investment, and career readiness and professional skills are “difference makers” in successful entry-level pursuits.

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David H. Sharpe David H. Sharpe, CPA, is an adjunct professor of accounting at Baruch College and Kean University, and instructed accounting and auditing at Berkeley College following a 38-year career at PwC (including 28 years as a partner). More content by David H. Sharpe: Current College Students are Facing a Career Readiness “Imperative” Adjuncts Help Accounting Pipeline and Are Great Opportunities for Retirees