Landing a first internship or full-time job has become markedly harder for many young Americans, and employers increasingly say the newest entrants to the corporate workforce are not equipped to thrive. One national nonprofit is trying to close that gap before students even graduate from high school.

Genesys Works has been helping underserved high schoolers secure their first work opportunities since 2002. The organization pairs skills training and long-term coaching with paid corporate internships to prepare students for professional careers. Before participants step into roles at any of the nonprofit's hundreds of partner companies—including Accenture, JPMorgan, and Mayo Clinic—they complete an eight-week summer program covering communication, critical thinking, digital literacy, Excel, and office etiquette.

The crash course is designed to do more than build confidence. At a time when managers frequently complain that Gen Z workers lack interpersonal, professional, and technical skills, Genesys Works participants arrive having already practiced the routines of a work life to which they may never otherwise have been exposed. For students without corporate role models at home, that early exposure fills a gap that family networks alone often cannot.

“I don't believe [it] when employers say that they can't find the talent. The challenge is they do want someone who's ready to go to work,” Byron V. Garrett, chief executive officer of Genesys Works, tells Fortune. He adds that “Oftentimes our young professionals don't come from backgrounds where folks call [their] mom or aunt and say, 'Hey, I ran into this problem at work. What do I do?'…Because they don't know anyone who actually has done that before.”

The eight-week crash course teaches Gen Z the workplace basics—and AI

The summer before their senior year, teenagers across Genesys Works' nine regional markets complete universal training. They build résumés and LinkedIn profiles and sit through mock interviews to fine-tune their speaking skills. They are taught to keep phones away during meetings, drop abbreviations from emails, and stay on top of meeting documents.

Garrett says “core professional skills” such as critical thinking, logic, and reasoning have “become so important right now.”

“[Employers] may not be looking for practical skill sets related to the actual position,” he explains. “We're giving you those office professional skills so that you know what it means to go to work, to be on time, to report into a structure.”

The curriculum also digs deeper into artificial intelligence, an area Garrett says many schools have yet to incorporate into their teaching. Today's teenagers are already deeply familiar with chatbots, but Genesys Works stresses the importance of fact-checking AI output, understanding the technology's limitations, and protecting proprietary information.

“We also give you the other technical skills,” he continues. “Let's make you proficient in the office suite…How do we now help you understand how to use AI? Not just from a personal perspective, but how do you improve business efficiency utilizing prompt engineering? You can [use] Chat[GPT], but here's a way to do that in the context of business.”

Paid internships that outpace the college benchmark

Over the past two decades, Genesys Works has served more than 14,000 students nationwide, and in 2025 alone it helped 2,161 teenagers launch their professional careers. The nonprofit has worked with 205 corporate partners across 27 industries, including healthcare, technology, finance, and construction.

The financial benefits extend well beyond a first paycheck. While unpaid internships have become the status quo for young workers, Genesys Works places students only into paid positions, with senior-year interns able to earn up to $14,000. Garrett says the pay provides a “different sense of dignity,” particularly as money remains tight for many Americans.

Alumni who are seven or more years out of the program earn an average salary of $67,000 per year. By comparison, the typical starting salary for similarly aged recent college graduates stands at $56,153, according to 2026 data from Clever. Genesys Works estimates that 73% of surveyed alumni earn more than at least one of their parents—and 20% even own a home. The comparison offers a rare hard number for students weighing paid work experience against the standard college route.

Healthcare and construction companies remain all-in on Gen Z talent

The program's gains come as Gen Z broadly struggles to land entry-level work, with employers reining in hiring and intensifying the competition for openings. Garrett acknowledges that some companies partnering with Genesys Works have had to tighten their belts, but he points to bright spots for young talent.

Healthcare employers have ramped up hiring of Genesys-trained teenagers. Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, has doubled the number of interns in its cohort this new cycle. Garrett has also witnessed a surge in demand as physical construction ramps up: while the interns are not doing on-site hard-hat work, they are taking on back-office, procurement, and quality assurance.

The nonprofit is also eyeing growing industries where it wants its students to be competitive. As AI data centers spring up across the country, Garrett says there is an opportunity to help fill shortages of data engineers and HVAC technicians.

The tech sector, however, remains the biggest opportunity, according to the CEO. With companies increasingly looking for workers who can navigate both technology and the office environment, Genesys-trained students bring technical skills and professional experience to the table. For anyone tracking the entry-level market, those demand pockets—healthcare, construction back offices, and data-center-adjacent technical roles—stand out against the broader hiring pullback, marking where doors are still opening for young applicants.

“Where we've had the most success historically [is with] folks who really want a career in technology,” Garrett says. “They really see us as a viable opportunity for that, because there have been so many young professionals that have gone on to work at the IT help desk.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.