Designing Career Readiness Through a First-Gen Student Lens

Across the country, students are navigating a workforce reshaped by automation and AI. In October 2025, Ourmedia partnered with Evergreen Valley College’s Hawk Gaming Club to host a Career Readiness Design Lab, inviting students and recent graduates to collaboratively explore:

  • What barriers keep first-generation students from feeling career ready?
  • How can colleges create stronger bridges between learning and work?
  • What tools, programs, or relationships would help students thrive?

Insight Report

By using human-centered design methods—interviews, empathy mapping, and rapid prototyping—students surfaced their own insights and built tangible solutions to real challenges in career readiness. The participants built unique prototypes to address their challenges, and surfaced three key areas to improve career readiness outcomes.

Click to see report