Since graduating from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2024, Menasha Thomas has learned to navigate the swirl of networking and referrals, online job-search groups and interview processes. But after 14 months of soldiering through scores of applications, the 23-year-old has yet to put her urban planning degree to use in a full-time job.

In the meantime, she took professional certification and real estate courses to make herself more hireable while working as a nanny and at New York City cafes. It has been challenging but not “entirely isolating,” she said, because she knows many other recent grads also are struggling to get started professionally. She recently landed a paid internship with a real estate company, for which she feels “extremely grateful.” READ MORE