Students who started college at the beginning of the pandemic are gearing up for graduation, and years of instability are changing how they approach their future careers.

With rising costs of living top of mind, more than half, 59%, of the class of 2024 say they're concerned about covering basic expenses after leaving school, according to a March survey of 2,687 students graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2024.

The data, gathered from the college and new grad career site Handshake, shows a similar share of seniors say the current economic news makes them feel pessimistic.

Their No. 1 priority in looking for a job is to find one that will offer stability, and they're changing some of their career preferences to find it.

New grads search for stable jobs

The share of students applying to government roles ticked up to 7.5% in 2024, up from the 5.5% of students in the class of 2023.

It's a small but noteworthy boost, says Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake's chief education officer. She adds that government agencies have increased their hiring in the last year just as other sectors scaled back.

For example, Cruzvergara says, "As big tech was laying off people, government, which has plenty of need for tech workers, increased their efforts to try and win a lot of the talent. And quite frankly, they've been really successful."

The share of computer science and business graduates increased significantly between the class of 2023 and 2024, but news-making layoffs in the last year are leading seniors to cast a wider net in their job search.

STEM graduates are looking less to dream tech companies and more toward stable industries that need tech talent, like health care and manufacturing. Drilling down by discipline, computer science majors for instance, are applying to fewer software engineer roles and diversifying their options with information security and computer hardware jobs, according to Handshake.

Elsewhere, students from the class of 2024 were more likely to apply to jobs in construction, agriculture and education, according to Handshake data.

Working more than a 9-to-5

Rising seniors are preparing to work more than a 9-to-5 in order to make ends meet.

They're highly motivated to create their own side hustle opportunities: Roughly 3 in 4 soon-to-be grads want to pursue entrepreneurship at some point in their career, with the majority drawn to generating passive income or starting a small business, and about one-third hoping to work as influencers or launch a startup.

These dreams are often grounded in the reality that many seniors don't believe a full-time salary will be enough to cover living costs while paying off student loans or saving for financial goals, Cruzvergara says.

Many are also hopeful that side-hustle income can supercharge their savings so they don't have to work a corporate job forever.

"This is a practical generation that wants to be able to have work-life balance from the start," Cruzvergara says. "And they want to be able to live their lives and not have to wait three decades, before they're able to actually begin to live the life that they want."

Young workers struggle with burnout and loneliness

Many soon-to-be grads express some trepidation about transitioning from college to the professional workforce.

They generally want a job with some in-person interaction at an office, and they're using employee review sites to suss out a good fit, Cruzvergara says. More students are paying attention to employer reputation compared to a year ago, according to Handshake.

And they're willing to move for the right opportunities — New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Salt Lake City are among some of the most popular destinations the class of 2024 applicants are applying to. Meanwhile, the share of applications submitted to hubs in California and Texas dropped significantly over the last year.

But, much like the class before them, a majority of 2024 grads are worried they'll experience burnout in their first jobs out of college. One in three are concerned about being lonely at work.

Cruzvergara believes young workers' eagerness to be in a physical workplace is, at least partly, to remedy their feelings of loneliness. To this point, she advises new workers to "take the initiative" and "look for connections with people that you genuinely are interested in."

"Don't be afraid to ask folks to go to coffee or to go to lunch, or maybe grab dinner after work," she adds. It can feel awkward, but she likens it to working out: "It's just a matter of doing it and practicing it, and it's the repetition that will help you get there."

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