Avoid telling new grads these 4 common things

It’s the time of year when new graduates launch into the workplace. If you know one of them, you may be eager to share some sage wisdom to help them navigate the world. However, what worked for you and your generation may not work today. In fact, you could be giving them some bad advice.

“The graduating class of 2023 is entering the job market at one of the worst periods since the financial crisis of 2008,” says Matt Higgins, author of Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential. A Harvard Business School Executive Fellow and former Shark Tank shark, Higgins predicts that at least one million jobs will disappear before the end of 2023.

While your intentions may be good, Higgins says outdated advice could hinder a new grad’s chances for finding success in life. Here are four tips you should stop giving:

1. Have something to fall back on

Conventional wisdom says having a Plan B is a great idea, but it can negatively impact your Plan A by reducing your motivation, according to a study from Wharton School.

“It requires energy to achieve extraordinary results,” says Higgins. “Merely contemplating a backup plan creates leakage that would be enough to reduce the probability you’ll be successful [on your initial plan].”

Giving grads the advice that they need a backup plan also sends the message that what they want to do isn’t a safe plan. “You should really ask yourself, ‘What’s the worst that’s going to happen?’” says Higgins. “We underestimate our capacity to figure it out when things go wrong. When the time comes, they’ll know that they need to course correct. There’s nothing you break in your twenties that you can’t fix in your thirties. Post-grad is the time to take big swings and find the things that you want to center your life around.”

2. Cut down on your screen time

Few would agree that 10-hour daily video-game marathons will result in career success; however, the future of work is on a screen. Higgins recommends that new grads devote more energy to screen time when it comes to learning everything they can about AI.

Spend time playing around with the latest tools, he suggests. “That’s what’s going to give you a competitive advantage. With AI, there is no accreditation. You don’t need a ‘master’s in AI’ in order to build the next Shopify. The place to get your ‘PhD in AI’ is by tinkering online,” Higgins says.

3. Don’t sweat the small stuff

While anxiety can reach a state where it’s debilitating and requires medical intervention, not all anxiety is bad. An optimal state can be harnessed to help you achieve what you want, says Higgins.

“There’s so much awareness now about anxiety,” he says. “We’re so sensitive and concerned about our kids that we tend to think the answer is to extinguish all anxiety. In reality, we need to maintain equilibrium. The goal is having enough anxiety to motivate you to give it your all, but not too much that it hinders your capacity to function.”

Higgins cautions adults to be careful of the messaging they’re sending. “You don’t want to tell kids that there’s something wrong with you if you’re dealing with a degree of anxiety,” he says. “The reality is when you’re doing hard, uncomfortable things, you should be experiencing a degree of anxiety.”

4. Go work for a big company

Giving a new grad the advice to work at a big company presumes stability, but that’s no longer true, says Higgins. Instead of going with a big name, he encourages grads to go for the right role, ensuring that it aligns with their interests and skills. 

“The larger the company, the slower they are to embrace the thing that’s going to determine success or failure at most businesses, which is AI,” he says. “When you’re giving your advice to go to the incumbent, the incumbent could be picked apart very quickly by AI and the latest tools.”

In addition, Higgins says we’re entering a market where layoffs are going to become fast and furious. “Look at the Fed’s prediction,” he says. “They think unemployment will get to 4.5% by the end of the year. That means another million people are going to be let go, and the likely place they’re going to be let go from is larger companies. Innovation, growth, and job creation is taking place at smaller, scrappy companies that may have been founded last week.”

Higgins says adults need to be open-minded as they watch new grads enter the workforce. “There is a real possibility that your child could actually create something that you’d never dreamed possible,” he says. “Encourage that.”