It’s true, work begets work, according to a survey conducted by job site ZipRecruiter.
Work experience can often predict whether a college graduate will get a job right out of school, the survey showed. Working during college makes graduates twice as likely to land a job (81% vs. 40%), ZipRecruiter found after surveying, between Jan. 30 and March 16, 1,500 students who graduated last year and 1,500 students who will graduate this year.
In a sluggish job market where the share of entry-level positions is shrinking, competition among graduates is fierce, the report said. Knowing what makes a graduate stand out to employers can make the difference in landing a job, it said.
“In a tight market, results are not random,” ZipRecruiter said. “More competition for entry-level roles means employers can be more selective about who chooses to fill them. The data shows that the strongest predictor of graduate employment is whether a student worked in any capacity during college. It takes experience to make experience.”
Work experience not only helps graduates get a job, but it also speeds up the time it takes to get one, the survey said.
“The benefit of work experience compounds,” it said. “Working during school builds a resume, but more importantly, it speeds up the entire job search timeline.”
When employers are looking to hire for entry-level positions, they expect to have some training. So they’re looking to see if someone can “do the job and stop it,” said Corey Steele, senior economist at the job site Indeed. “If you work, show up every day and do a good job, businesses take that as a sign that you’re a potentially good employee.”
After analyzing 3,000 job postings in the last three months of 2025, business operations skills were the most sought after. The business operations skills most wanted by companies were customer service (37.1%) and administrative (35.8%) skills, it said.
So yes, checking IDs at the campus library, organizing and filing documents in the office, answering the phone or working at the mall all count, Stahl said. “It’s day in and day out to get a feel for how the business works and how the job works and get that exposure and communicate that to the employer,” he said.
Kids who work during college also start their job search before graduation (73% vs. 43%) and are twice as likely (20% vs. 12%) to land a job before the graduation ceremony, ZipRecruiter said. Part of that is networking, the job platform said. About 88% of recent employers said networking was important to securing their first job.
