It’s a brutal hiring market for new grads. Hiring has slowed across multiple industries, and competition is especially fierce, given that AI has recently begun to take on tasks usually associated with entry-level roles.
According to a recent analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the unemployment rate for college graduates ages 22 to 27 is up, hitting 5.8% at the end of 2025. Overall, hiring is down 7% year over year, and still well below pre-pandemic levels, says Kory Kantenga, LinkedIn’s head of economics.
In an effort to help new graduates manage the intimidating start to their career journey, LinkedIn just released its 2026 Grad’s Guide, which analyzed millions of LinkedIn profiles to find which jobs were hiring new grads, which industries are growing the fastest, and the best cities to find jobs.
The five fastest-growing roles for new grads are:
1. AI engineer
2. Marketing coordinator
3. Recruitment assistant
4. Legal specialist
5. Human resources operations specialist
The five fastest-growing industries for new grads are:
1. Technology, information, and media
2. Real estate
3. Financial services
4. Utilities
5. Construction
As far as where grads should be looking for jobs, tech hubs like San Francisco and Seattle are still hot spots. However, a few more surprising cities showed up on the list, including Orlando, Florida, which was also recently ranked in the No. 2 spot on WalletHub’s list of best cities to start a career in 2026, given that it has the second-highest number of entry-level job openings per capita and a low unemployment rate.
The top five cities for new grads are:
1. San Francisco, California
2. Orlando, Florida
3. Atlanta, Georgia
4. Charleston, South Carolina
5. Tampa, Florida
However, some new workers are eschewing traditional jobs entirely. “We’re seeing a lot of new grads turning to more alternative types of employment, whether they do gig work or work in retail or a restaurant,” says career strategist Hanna Goefft. “There’s more scrappiness in Gen Z and more visibility online of people taking different paths.”
According to the report, a separate LinkedIn survey found that 68% of Gen Zers in the U.S. are considering starting their own business. Likewise, more than half of Gen Zers surveyed said they’re pursuing freelance or contract roles rather than more traditional full-time gigs. Kantenga says the pivot is “a reflection of how early careers are evolving, with Gen Z adapting quickly and finding opportunity where it exists.”
While there’s a ton that’s changing about the job market and where the youngest generation of workers are finding jobs, some sage advice still holds up, the report explains. Building connections, focusing on your skills, and learning as you go are all important parts of landing a job after college.
However, there’s one skill that job seekers may not want to overlook, because companies certainly won’t. That, of course, is the ability to use AI to improve work, solve problems, and “build something tangible.”