When launching your career, one of the most common (and most stressful) dilemmas young graduates face is choosing between competing priorities: should you take a higher-paying role, or opt for a position that carries greater social prestige? Beyond pay and status, should you prioritize rapid career advancement, building meaningful connections with colleagues, creating positive impact in your community, or even getting the chance to move to a brand new place you’ve always wanted to live? Sorting through all these conflicting options can easily feel completely overwhelming.
As a business school professor, I spend most of my time mentoring Generation Z students and alumni — the cohort born between 1997 and 2012. As part of this work, I have surveyed roughly 300 of my former undergraduate students, and held extensive, in-depth conversations with 50 of them to learn about their early career experiences. Through these discussions, I have watched them navigate the classic, age-old conflicts of young adulthood: most notably, the challenge of balancing external rewards like high salaries against internal motivations like the desire to serve others and do meaningful work.
Recently, I revisited their personal stories and reflections, and compiled the most lasting, actionable insights to share with the next wave of graduating students. This is the collective advice these Gen Z alumni have for the Class of 2025:
1. Define what matters most to you on your own terms
Meaningful success always starts with intentional self-reflection. This step requires you to tune out the loud, unhelpful noise of societal expectations, and take the time to clarify your own personal values first.
1. Define what matters most to you on your own terms
