Hi, Reader!
I meet a lot of people in my work, but every now and then, someone stops me in my tracks.
That was Jillian Ferry.
After 15 years leading people operations, she’s seen firsthand what happens when bright, capable graduates enter the workforce… and realize they weren’t fully prepared for how work actually works.
Instead of just talking about it, Jillian decided to do something about it. She co-founded Durable Minds Everboarding, an organization dedicated to helping young adults build the durable skills and self-awareness they need to thrive.
I invited her to share her perspective in this guest post, because career services professionals need to hear what she’s seeing on the other side.👀
The unspoken side of career readiness
(Guest post by Jillian Ferry)
We all start our first job with expectations, but reality feels very different.
Your first boss, your first mistakes, the first time you speak up (or don’t)… those moments shape a career. I learned this the hard way. On my first day in corporate America, the nerves, excitement, and uncertainty felt so big it barely fit inside the building. Training lasted one day. After that, I was on my own.
This isn’t just my story. It’s the story of countless graduates. Onboarding is often an afterthought. If you are lucky, you get a single day. A whole week would be a dream, and even then, it is rarely consistent across roles.
Most graduates are handed a laptop and a mandate: “add value,” with no roadmap and a job description that does not reflect the reality of day-to-day work.
A recent Gallup study found that only 12% of employees strongly agree their organization does a great job of onboarding. We are graduating capable people into ambiguous systems.
From small businesses to billion-dollar corporations, the pattern is the same: graduates are left to figure out the unwritten rules on their own. When they fail, employers question not only the hire, but the pipeline.
How is career services preparing students for limited-to-no onboarding?
Preparation Isn’t Readiness
In my 16 years leading people operations, I’ve onboarded hundreds of new hires.
What I’ve learned is this: graduates are not failing because they cannot do the job, but because no one has prepared them for how work works. These gaps drive early exits and terminations.
Here is what I see most often:
- Culture shock. Meetings, email tone, and workplace politics are brand new terrain.
- Feedback fear. Students think feedback is like a grade, final and fixed, instead of a growth tool.
- Confidence gaps. Many shrink when they should speak up, or overcompensate in ways that hurt them.
- Boundary issues. They say yes to everything, believing it will earn approval, but it leads to burnout.
The impact shows up fast. I have seen new hires skip meetings, leave cameras off, or treat remote days like time off. One graduate from a top university told a VP they would not stay late to finish a high-stakes project because they were going to the company happy hour.
There are gaps in preparation, and students are getting fired because of them.
If schools don’t step in, graduates risk being labeled unprepared. Employers remember which schools send students who are ready and who are not.
What You Can Do Right Now
If the first 90 days define the next 900, what are we preparing them for?
You are already doing impactful work, but between employer outreach, job fairs, workshops, and one-on-one advising, time is short.
Even small shifts can go a long way in closing the durable skills gap.
Here are a few areas worth reinforcing with your students:
- Feedback as growth. Reframe feedback as a tool, not a grade that defines them.
- Confidence as a skill. Confidence is not fixed; it is developed through reps and reflection.
- Reading the room. Noticing cues in meetings, adjusting tone, and knowing when to listen and when to contribute matter as much as technical knowledge.
- Alumni voices. Invite recent grads to share the surprises of their first year. Students lean in when they hear peers.
- Self-leadership. Traits like resilience, curiosity, and judgment help students grow and navigate uncertainty.
These touch points can be woven into conversations or alumni panels. Lean on early talent recruiters to highlight what stands out in the first 90 days, making expectations tangible beyond the résumé.
Resources to Extend Your Work
Career readiness takes a village. Readiness accelerates when students have access to resources beyond your office, and the most effective approaches blend advising, alumni voices, employer partners, and scalable tools. Yet adding “polish” can feel impossible when just getting students through the door is a challenge. Good support does three things: it scales across cohorts, integrates seamlessly with what you already run, and builds the durable skills students need from day one.
That is exactly why Durable Minds Everboarding was built as a plug-and-play support through:
- DurableME™ — a self-leadership deck built on 24 research-backed traits, each designed to spark reflection and build the durable skills every student needs. Advisors can drop it into workshops or 1:1 sessions with no prep.
- DurableSuccess™ — a digital playbook that teaches the “life at work” skills no syllabus addresses: navigating tough dynamics, asking for feedback, handling mistakes, and building confidence step by step.
Both tools can be licensed institution-wide, and they are designed to lighten your advising load while ensuring students leave with resources they will actually use beyond graduation.
When the moment comes—the intimidating boss, the high-stakes email, or the first meeting where they need to speak up—your students will have tools they can reach for.
Final Words of Encouragement
Career services is the quiet hero of a student’s journey. Your work matters, and your most precious resource—time—is limited. Career centers are often understaffed, overextended, and asked to do more with less. Yet you continue to show up for students in ways that change their lives.
The world does not just need more graduates with jobs; it needs prepared, resilient professionals who navigate the workplace with clarity and courage. That preparation starts with you. I am grateful for the work you do every day.
That is why I am committed to redefining career readiness and making it more accessible. If you would like to continue the conversation or explore a small pilot, seminar, or student engagement, I’d love to connect.
Email me at jillian.ferry@dmeverboarding.com, visit www.dmeverboarding.com, or connect with me on Linkedin.
Together, let’s redefine career readiness and prepare the next generation for success.
Final thought
Jillian’s insights are a powerful reminder that career readiness doesn’t end at securing that first role—it’s lived and tested in those first 90 days.
Big thanks to Jillian for bringing such clarity and compassion to this conversation. I’m inspired by her work—and I hope you are, too.
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