When I think about the future, as a graduating senior, the possibilities are overwhelmingly limitless, and while this may be terrifying, free-falling is what the whole adventure is about—excuse the cheesiness, but embrace it please. (In the wise words of Buzz Lightyear, “Reach for the stars.”)

I’m bringing this up because of an article by Laura Pappano called ‘Career Coaching for the Playdate Generation,’ which discusses the interesting cultural shift among graduating college students, and the increase in competition to locate the “right” job out of college.

This is where “career coaching” comes into play—a currently developing industry of executive coaches who have cultivated services for college students seeking aid in “choosing majors, landing internships, exploring careers and seeking first jobs,” said Pappano.

Career coaching offers a service for those who are willing to do anything to obtain leverage over their equally aggressive peers.

That also means this extra help comes with a price, about $5,000 for the leading “career discovery” package.

I was torn after reading the article, because both sides of the argument had viable explanations for why or why not they would support the use of a professional career coach.

On one hand, “students have reason to fret. There are more choices, and a furiously evolving career landscape,” says Pappano.

In order to maintain solid footing, I can understand why it would seem appealing to seek outside help for security in the job hunt.

On the other hand, it bothers me that in this day in age, searching for a job now entails spending copious amounts of money to have someone holding your hand, guiding you through the world in which we are supposed to work hard, to possibly fall down flat on our faces, pick ourselves up, and keep going.

I’m specifically concerned with the aspect of needing someone’s help in order to face a world full of similarly competitive, hard-working individuals in the work force—it means we’re willing to give in when things don’t come as easily as we want them to.

As Pappano mentions in the headline, the playdate generation has moved from one point to the next, never knowing what it’s like to make decisions for themselves without a firm grip on someone else’s hand.

From organized playdates, to college advisors, and now on to career advisors, how are we able to claim we’ve ever actually achieved anything? This is also intertwined with the influence of technology, and how easy it makes our lives.

With the touch of a button, we can effortlessly search the name of the actor you just can’t remember, or the population of Paraguay, or how many calories are in a gummy bear.

So when there’s no immediate result, there’s an instant detachment–why waste time on one thing when we can easily move on to the next?

Therefore, while the use of career coaching is meant to be used to help fledgling job seekers, the idea of immediate gratification has evolved negatively with each generation.