Driven by job market anxiety, parents are spending up to $15,000 on career coaching years before their children graduate

(SeaPRwire) –   While career coaches typically advise college students to begin their job search months before graduation, the increasingly challenging job market has led some parents to plan years in advance of their child receiving a diploma.

With average college tuition exceeding $38,000 annually, concerned parents are investing thousands more, believing it will provide their children with a competitive edge in the job market.

Next Great Step offers services ranging from $4,200 to $15,000, aiming to give students, as early as their sophomore year, an advantage in the increasingly difficult job landscape.

“We have a lot of parents who are very concerned and will reach out to us saying, ‘can you please help my kid?’” Beth Hendler-Grunt, president and CEO of Next Great Step, told .

Today’s college graduates face a perilous journey to secure employment. Beyond the complexities of the increasingly AI-driven application process—where some applicants report submitting thousands of résumés—the unemployment rate for recent college graduates now surpasses that of the general workforce, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

Next Great Step is one of several companies that promise job seekers a quicker path through the difficulties of “ghost jobs,” AI-automated applicant tracking systems, and a highly competitive labor market.

Other firms, including Reverse Recruiting Agency, Find My Profession, and Career Agents, handle job applications on behalf of their clients.

 What up to $15,000 can provide

Founded in 2015, Next Great Step has experienced a significant increase in demand over the past couple of years, Hendler-Grunt noted. 

While many colleges and universities offer career services, such as résumé reviews and interview preparation, Next Great Step provides personalized mentorship and group coaching sessions.

Additionally, Next Great Step offers company and industry analysis, along with networking assistance and research on individuals. 

“We’re kind of offloading it from the parents,” she said. “They’re kind of relieved that there’s someone else who can help because a lot of times it becomes the friction point between parents and their young adult.”

The six-month program aims to help students secure desirable summer internships and move closer to their ideal careers.

Hendler-Grunt stated that Next Great Step also assists clients in mastering AI. Coaches instruct students on how to build custom agents or utilize platforms like Claude and Perplexity for information analysis.

“That skill of understanding [AI] is becoming more and more important even for non-technical roles,” she said.

Indeed, a recent study by Anthropic indicated that AI is already theoretically capable of performing a majority of tasks associated with roles in engineering, law, business, finance, and management.

Many colleges currently have not integrated AI into their learning, with professors often outright banning its use in the classroom. This occurs even as an increasing number of employers are offering bonuses based on AI proficiency. A striking 77% of executives believe employees who do not become proficient in AI will not be considered for promotions or leadership roles, according to a survey from AI platform Writer and Workplace Intelligence.

Still, Hendler-Grunt emphasized the importance of what she terms “luxury” skills, such as critical thinking and communication.

“The most important piece about success in landing a job is building relationships,” she said, “because people hire people, not technology.”