By Alana Roche’ |Staff Writer|

Students are not prepared for life after college—having a degree is not enough.

If you’re like me, you were told that as long as you go to college you will be able to get an amazing job. Well unfortunately that is turning out to be not true.

When my parents went to school 30 years ago, they knew as long as they received a college degree they would be guaranteed a job, but times have changed.

Seventy-three percent of employers don’t feel college is preparing students for the workforce, according to Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm.

The survey was conducted nationally among 2,978 respondents.

“31 percent of student respondents say a degree isn’t worth the cost, and 53 percent say colleges should be responsible for helping students get jobs,” according to the same survey.

Students are going to college to obtain degrees in hopes that there are jobs waiting for them in the field that they studied.

Maria Zubiate, a psychology graduate from San Diego State University, works for Blue Shield in marketing—which is completely different from what she studied.

“I wanted to be a high school counselor but because of my necessity to work I had to go into the health insurance/ life insurance industry as an account manager because that was the job that I found available to me,” said Zubiate.

“[Graduating in 2007] did prepare me for the work force… not for a particular job, but how to strive overall, it was a learning experience I gained from it,” added Zubiate.

If high school is supposed to prepare you for college, shouldn’t college prepare you for a job of your choosing?

A survey by the Workforce Solutions Group at St. Louis Community College found that more than 60% of employers say applicants lack “communication and interpersonal skills” — an increase of about 10 percent in just two years.

“A wide margin of managers also say today’s applicants can’t think critically and creatively, solve problems or write well,” according to Time magazine.

“More than 2,000 college students and 1,000 hiring managers (were surveyed) and more than 80% of employers want new grads they hire to have completed a formal internship, but only 8 percent of students say interning in a field related to their major is something they spend a lot of time doing,” according to a survey done by Harris Interactive.

This shows that having an internship can make a difference in the hiring process.

There seems to be a disconnect from what type of a employee an employer wants to hire as opposed to what a hopeful hire thinks the employer wants.

A study done by Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) says that students are well prepared “in their own eyes” but not in the employers eyes.

Young employees “are very good at finding information, but not as good at putting that information into context, they’re really good at technology, but not at how to take those skills and resolve specific business problems.” Jamie S Fall a vice president at the HR Policy Association, told The New York Times.

The job market is going to get better for the class of 2016, according to USA Today.

According to a survey published by the National Association of Colleges and Employees, 42 percent of employers ranked the job market for students as very good or excellent, up from 18% just two years ago.

“NACE also found that the 201 employers surveyed plan to hire 11 percent more new college graduates from the class of 2016 for their U.S. operations than they did from the class of 2015,” according to writer Brook Fox for USA today.

Since students now live in a time where obtaining a college degree simply isn’t enough.

Students need to be better prepared, focus on internships, gaining experience, and better job skills to ensure them a job after graduation.