Most Recent College Grads Underestimate Their Earning Potential By $10,000

By Nathalie Voit

A survey by ZipRecruiter found that most recent college undergraduates underestimate their starting salaries–by far.

According to a ZipRecruiter 2019 Annual Job Seeker and Employer Survey, new college undergrads underestimate their starting potential by a whopping $10,000. When ZipRecruiter surveyed the annual pay of full-time workers with bachelor’s degrees, the career employment website found that the average starting salary for workers ages 25 to 34 was about $55,700.

However, most new graduates surveyed by ZipRecruiter said they would only need around $45,900 to accept their first job.

The survey also found that, surprisingly, less-educated job seekers have less trouble finding a job than those who are more educated. While 62% of college graduates who applied for a job in 2019 did not hear back, just 46% of non-college graduates did not hear back.

Additionally, job seekers with only a high school diploma or GED are 25% less likely than those with a bachelor’s degree to say they’ve lowered their salary expectations in the past year to increase their chances of finding employment. Less-educated job seekers are also 8% less likely to say it is taking a long time to find a job than the college-educated and 5% more likely to be interested in a job when they hear back from an employer.

The ZipRecruiter findings contrast a recent survey by Real Estate Witch that found that most college students overestimate their post-graduate starting salary by more than $50,000. In the March 2022 study, Real Estate Witch said that while the median starting salary for recent graduates is $55,260, the average college student expects to make $103,880 in their first job.

However, ZipRecruiter’s chief economist Julia Pollak said those survey’s findings were biased by how the questions were framed (i.e., what your ideal salary would be vs. what you would settle for).

“It’s a more conservative way of asking the question and causes people not to think about their pie in the sky, sort of wildest dream or expectation,” she said, according to CNBC.