The New Secret to Job Security: Going to School Twice

When Bob graduated third in his graduate-school class, he assumed that he was headed into a glorious four-decade career in his field. Two decades later, he finds himself not just laid off, but also among the 26% of US workers (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) currently unemployed for more than 27 weeks. He’s considering what once would have been unthinkable: going back to school.

As AI continues to disrupt the workforce, increasing numbers of white-collar workers are expected to find themselves jobless. But the outlook is not dire: An enormous shortage of 4.5 million college-educated workers is expected by 2032, according to data from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The catch? Many experts believe that nearly all of those jobs will require another spin through graduate school. “Many people will need to reinvent themselves,” says HR expert Louis Montgomery Jr., principal at the HR Center of Expertise at Korn Ferry.

The millions of jobs will become available in large part due to boomers retiring much faster than younger workers can replace them. The projected shortages in 2032 include: 285,000 architects and engineers; 457,000 educators and librarians; 735,000 healthcare workers; 655,000 financial and business workers, like accountants; and 184,000 legal workers, such as attorneys. Yet all of these positions require one- to three-year stints in graduate school. For white-collar workers considering a second career, the practical considerations are enormous: Grad school costs $30,000 or more per year; meanwhile, one in four US workers are already carrying some form of school debt. What’s more, in addition to economic and logistical hurdles, a real mind shift is required to retrain oneself to study and do assignments. “It’s easy to forget how hard it actually is to study,” says Kendra Marion, vice president of global assessment services at Korn Ferry.

Above all, a second career returns an employee to a sense of starting from scratch after many years of professionally identifying as a knowledgeable expert. This said, HR experts say that they don’t necessarily penalize second-career applicants for their perceived lack of experience. “Returning to school shows a level of intellectual curiosity and initiative, as well as adaptability,” says Ron Porter, senior partner at Korn Ferry. Hiring managers might correctly assume that a candidate who can successfully shift careers can also quickly pick up new skills, he says.

Returning to school in middle age is particularly common among military veterans, says JP Sniffen, practice leader at the Military Center of Expertise at Korn Ferry. He suggests that candidates target hard-to-fill roles—especially those with below-market average salaries or in regions with few qualified candidates—and emphasize that they’re embarking on a new career. “It’s second nature for us to talk about them as lifelong learners,” says Sniffen.

Increasingly, a return to school might not be optional—and the key, say experts, is aiming for a field with abundant job openings and opportunities, rather than a temporarily hot space that might eventually shed workers. As a rule of thumb, jobs that require human interaction are a smarter bet, says Montgomery. “The risk is choosing wrong.”

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