A heavy reliance on undergraduate and graduate degrees made sense in a world where people stayed in the same job for decades and skills had a long shelf life. My father had three jobs over a 40-year career. Today, the average professional may have up to 15 jobs over that time span. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employees stay at one job for around 4.5 years on average. The younger the worker, the shorter the stay. Millennial workers (aged 25 to 34) typically stay in a role for 3.2 years, while Gen Z workers (aged 18 to 24) average just eight months in a role.
