Pathrise Review: Career Advice for Students and Recent Grads

Finding the job that will put you on a career ladder is tough. While I never struggled to find high-paying side hustles during my university years, finding my first corporate job took months of networking, online job boards, and despairing that I would be stuck working night shift at a warehouse forever.

Despite following the advice of all well-meaning career books (and having my résumé reviewed by the career counseling center), I was floundering. However, once I had my feet firmly on the career ladder, I’ve found new opportunities abound.

Simply put, the first job is the toughest job to find. But, according to Pathrise, a career advisory service for students and recent graduates, finding that job shouldn’t be lonely or overly complicated. That’s why the company created a “career accelerator” program that helps people define and refine career goals and take steps toward finding their first job.

The service promises to be amazing, and it’s free until you find a job. But after you land that job, you have to pay a hefty price. Will it be worthwhile? This article explains what Pathrise does, how much you’ll expect to pay, and our final take on whether or not it may make sense for you.

Pathrise is a career advisory service. It connects students and recent grads with career advisors who will help job-hunters land that all-important first job. But the service isn’t just about finding a first job, it’s about finding the right first job — a job that doesn’t leave you feeling like you’re settling for something boring, unimportant, or uninspiring.

The program covers things like creating and building your online presence, building out your network (especially to include hiring managers and employees at high-growth companies), interview prep, building out a portfolio of existing projects, and salary negotiation.

Reading books and taking courses are some of the least expensive ways to gain knowledge and develop career plans. However, courses cannot provide one-on-one attention, and that’s what Pathrise promises. Managing one’s own emotions and expectations is a huge issue for job seekers, and I think that Pathrise could really help with those issues in a way that books and courses cannot.

Pathrise claims to have exclusive interview questions and notes for 60 different companies, a custom framework for how to approach and model behavioral interviews, and information about the rubrics of technical interviewing at larger companies.

Pathrise doesn’t make any promises about when you’ll land a job, but it promises that you won’t pay until you start working. Once you start working, you’ll pay 9% of your first year's salary to Pathrise over the next six months.

Assuming you land a job for $100,000 (a reasonable starting salary for those in the tech world), the cost of the program will be $9,000 paid over six months. If you land a $60,000 job as a designer, you’ll pay $5,400 over six months.

Essentially, the higher your starting salary, the more you’ll pay for the program.

Given the price tag, it’s clear that Pathrise is a luxury coaching service. Normally, these services cost a few hundred dollars per hour, and they are for mid-career professionals who want to enter the C-level or who may be contemplating a complicated switch to another industry.

Good coaching services have massive ROI results, so I’m not opposed to recommending Pathrise to some people. However, paying for this level of coaching should be part of a plan and not taken lightly. Before signing up with Pathrise, consider reading and taking action from today’s best career and job-hunting books:

• What Color Is Your Parachute? 2018: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard Bolles
• The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do by Jeff Goins
• Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

If you follow the advice in those books (especially related to networking and creating value before you’re hired), you’re likely to land a great job in short order. However, if you feel that these books fall short and you are in need of more personalized support, consider Pathrise.

Again coaching services might not be for everyone, especially Pathrise since their program is specific to those seeking jobs in software engineering, product design, product management, and data related fields for now. However, if you are looking for unlimited personalized support from experienced industry professionals or the most up to date insider information about the recruiting process, then you should consider Pathrise.