Ideas

First Jobs Matter More Than We Think

They could help us solve society’s biggest problems.

First published in The Atlantic on February 13, 2026.

by Wendy Kopp, The Atlantic

February 19, 2026 | reading time: 6 Min.

When Jack Waxman, a government major at Cornell, was a senior, he faced a choice. He could pursue a job in Senator Chuck Schumer’s office, where he had interned the previous summer. Or he could commit two years to teaching at a school in East Harlem.