The Career Readiness Gap Isn’t About Interest. It’s About Access.

For years, higher education has debated whether students truly value career preparation alongside their academic experience. That question is becoming easier to answer.  They do.

A recent Inside Higher Ed article makes that clear. Across institution types, backgrounds, and age groups, students are not only interested in work-integrated learning. They are actively seeking it out. Internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, and other hands-on experiences are no longer optional enhancements. They are central to how students define the value of their education.

And yet, while demand has surged, access has not kept pace.

A Demand-Supply Mismatch in Higher Ed

A significant share of students still graduate without ever participating in work-integrated learning. The gaps are even more pronounced for community college students, adult learners, and historically underserved populations.

Even among those who do participate, many report that they do not fully understand the range of opportunities available to them or how to navigate between them.

This is not an interest problem. It is a design problem.

Students are asking for clearer, more accessible pathways into career-connected learning. Meanwhile, institutions continue to rely heavily on models that are difficult to scale. Internships and apprenticeships, while valuable, depend on employer availability, competitive selection, and external coordination. As a result, they often reach only a subset of students rather than the broader population.

Why This Matters More Now

As AI and automation reshape the workforce, students are placing greater value on hands-on experience. They are looking for opportunities to build the human skills that technology cannot easily replace, such as communication, adaptability, and problem-solving.

This creates a new expectation for institutions. It is no longer enough to offer career services on the side. Career readiness must be embedded into the student experience itself.

Which raises an important question: Where can institutions create more opportunities for students to practice these skills at scale?

The Overlooked Opportunity on Campus

One answer may already exist on campus, hiding in plain sight.

Peer tutoring is rarely framed as work-integrated learning. It is typically positioned as academic support, designed to help students master course material and persist through challenging subjects. But this framing misses something essential.

Every tutoring session requires students to interpret complex information, communicate it clearly, adapt to different learning styles, and build trust in real time. Tutors take ownership of their work, manage relationships, and develop confidence as leaders.

These are not secondary outcomes. They are core professional competencies.

In this sense, peer tutoring already functions as work-integrated learning. We just do not consistently recognize it that way.

From Support Service to Workforce Strategy

The difference between peer tutoring and traditional WIL models is not just what students learn. It is how accessible the experience is.

Internships and apprenticeships are often limited in number and difficult to scale. Peer tutoring, by contrast, is embedded within the institution. It can expand across courses, departments, and student populations without relying on external constraints. That distinction matters.

If institutions want to close the gap between education and employment, they need models that are not only effective, but also scalable and equitable. They need opportunities that reach more than just a select group of students.

Peer tutoring offers exactly that.

The Knack Perspective: Build What Already Works

At Knack, we believe peer tutoring should not sit on the sidelines as a support service. It should be recognized and designed as a core part of how institutions deliver both academic success and career readiness.

When scaled intentionally, peer tutoring becomes more than help with coursework. It becomes a structured, paid, and repeatable form of experiential learning.

It mobilizes students as leaders. It creates flexible work opportunities. It builds the communication, problem-solving, and collaboration skills employers demand. And importantly, it expands access to these experiences for students who may never secure a traditional internship.

This is what makes peer tutoring uniquely powerful. It does not require institutions to build something entirely new. It allows them to elevate and scale what already exists.

Rethinking What “Counts” as Experience

The conversation around work-integrated learning is not wrong. But it is incomplete. Not every student will land an internship. Not every student will participate in an apprenticeship. But every student should have access to meaningful, skill-building experiences that prepare them for what comes next.

That requires a broader definition of what counts as career-connected learning.

For many students, the most impactful “foot in the door” will not come from a single external opportunity. It will come from consistent, real-world practice embedded in their academic journey.  And sometimes, that experience starts not in a corporate office, but in a tutoring session with a peer.

At Knack, we help institutions turn peer tutoring into a scalable engine for both academic success and career readiness. By expanding access to meaningful, skill-building experiences, campuses can better prepare students for what comes next. Visit joinknack.com to learn more.