After years at college, you graduate with a degree and a wealth of knowledge you’re eager to put to work. Then you land your first job, and it doesn’t ask you to use any of it.
This is underemployment: working in a job that doesn’t require the degree you earned. It’s more common than most students know. According to the Talent Disrupted report from Strada Education Foundation, 52% of bachelor’s degree graduates are underemployed a year after they graduate.
That first job might seem temporary, but for many grads it sets the pace for the rest of their careers. The good news is that underemployment is easier to avoid when you understand how it works, and that starts well before graduation.
What is underemployment?
Underemployment means working in a job that doesn’t make use of the degree you earned or the knowledge and skills you have.
That’s a quick underemployment definition, but it can look different from one grad to the next.
Maybe the lackluster job market forced you to take a position in an industry completely unrelated to your degree. Or maybe the job is in the right industry, but the role doesn’t put your years of hard work to the test.
Underemployment is also different from unemployment. When you’re unemployed, you don’t have a job or a paycheck. You have those with underemployment, but the role just doesn’t draw on what you spent years learning.
It’s different from the part-time retail or food service job you might work while in school, too. Those jobs can give you good skills and experience, but their main purpose is to help you earn income and support yourself while you’re earning your degree.
With underemployment, you’re working at a job that may or may not financially support you, but either way, it’s not using the skills you paid to learn.
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Why is underemployment so common for new grads?
More than half of new grads start their careers underemployed, and there isn’t one single cause behind it. Several factors can push a grad into a role that doesn’t use what they learned, and many grads face more than one at once.
One of the biggest factors is money. Most grads leave college needing a paycheck right away, especially those who are trying to pay off student loans quickly while also balancing a budget. When the bills start arriving before the right job offer does, taking whatever job is available can feel like the only responsible choice.
Artificial intelligence is also changing what entry-level work looks like. Many of the tasks companies once handed to new hires, like research, drafting, and data entry, are tasks AI tools can now do on their own. These kinds of roles were often stepping stones for graduates looking to land roles in their area of study.
Your degree plays a role, too. According to the Fordham Institute, grads in fields with heavy quantitative work, like computer science, engineering, math, finance, and accounting, were among the least likely to be underemployed, along with education and health fields like nursing.
Grads in public safety and security, recreation and wellness, and general business fields like marketing were among the most likely to be underemployed.
Related:
Why underemployment in your first job is so risky
Starting out underemployed doesn’t mean you’ll stay there. Plenty of grads take a job that doesn’t use their skills and move into one that does later on. The risk is in how long it takes to get there, because every day you spend in a role that doesn’t use your skills is a day you could be falling behind.
Underemployment closes opportunities to learn on the job
College gives you the foundation, but most of what makes you good at a job comes from doing it. Your first job is where you start applying what you studied and learning from people who’ve been in the field longer than you.
When your role has nothing to do with your area of study, you miss out on that learning. The skills you built in school can also get rusty when you don’t use them, which makes the jump into a role in your field harder later on.
Underemployment sets you behind others you’re competing against for jobs
While you’re working a job outside your field, other grads from your class are building experience in it. A year or two later, when you apply for the same role, they can point to real projects and results. You may only be able to point to your degree and a list of soft skills you’ve developed.
Employers tend to favor candidates who’ve already done some of the work. In NACE’s “Job Outlook 2026” survey, employers said an internship with their own company or in their industry was the most influential factor when choosing between two equally qualified candidates, and 70% said they use skills-based hiring for entry-level roles.
Underemployment can lower your starting point for pay
Jobs that don’t require a degree often pay less than the ones that do. That might seem like a short-term tradeoff, but your first salary can follow you. Raises are usually a percentage of what you already make, and future employers may look at your current pay when they make an offer.
Starting lower means you could spend years catching up, even after you land a role in your field.
It gets harder to change course the longer you stay
The first job you take after graduation tends to shape the ones that follow. In the “Talent Disrupted” study, 79% of grads who were in a college-level job one year after graduating were still in one five years later, and 86% were after ten years.
The longer you stay in a role below your training, the more your résumé reflects that role instead of your degree, and the harder it becomes to show employers you’re ready for something else.
4 ways to get ahead of underemployment
If you’re still in school or a recent grad, or even if you’ve already started your first job, it’s not too late to get ahead of underemployment. Even if you aren’t able to find a job that’s directly in your line of study, there are creative ways to start building experience that will get you past the underemployment gap.
1. Get an internship or externship
Internships are one of the most reliable ways to build experience in your field. The “Talent Disrupted” study found that having at least one internship cut a graduate’s odds of underemployment by roughly half.
An internship places you in a real role inside an organization, so you get to apply what you studied and learn from people already doing the job. Many are open to recent grads as well as current students, and some lead to a job offer.
If you can’t commit to a full internship, an externship can still help. Externships are shorter and more observational, so you might shadow employees or sit in on meetings instead of doing the work yourself. You’ll still learn what the job involves and meet people who can help you get hired. Our guide to internships vs. externships explains how to choose between them.
2. Look for a paid apprenticeship
In an apprenticeship, you learn a job by doing it, you get coached by someone who’s already good at it, and you get paid while you learn. That makes it a strong option for grads who need a paycheck right away but don’t want to settle for a job outside their field.
Apprenticeships are best known in the skilled trades, but the model works in business too. Instead of studying selling, presenting, and leading, you do them, with real customers, real goals, and real feedback.
Vector Marketing’s sales program is one example of a paid business apprenticeship. Reps give product demonstrations to real customers, set their own appointments, and get coached along the way.
That’s a lot of repetitions in presentation, persuasion, follow-up, and time management, and those skills carry into almost any career (including careers outside the sales industry).
Because the work is hands-on from the start, you finish with real results and stories to share in interviews.
Whatever apprenticeship you’re weighing, ask three questions:
- How soon will I be doing the real work?
- Who will coach me?
- What will I be able to show for it afterward?
Our article on alternatives to college covers other apprenticeships and paths that build hands-on skills.
3. Choose jobs that build transferable skills
A job you take while you’re in school or job hunting doesn’t have to be in your field to move you forward. What matters is whether it builds transferable skills you can carry into the role you want, like communicating with people and managing your own time. Look for jobs where you take on responsibility early, get feedback, and can point to results.
4. Make the most of the job you have now
If you’re already in a job that doesn’t use your degree, it can still help you move forward. Ask your manager whether you can take on projects closer to your field, or volunteer for work that stretches the skills you studied.
Freelance projects and volunteer roles outside of work can also fill gaps on your résumé and give you examples to share in interviews. The goal is to keep building experience in your field, so that when the right job opens up, you can show you’re ready for it.
Underemployment is a common problem for new grads, but it doesn’t have to define your career. Every bit of practical experience you build now brings you closer to a role that puts your degree and skills to work.
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