This study aimed to examine whether perceived career barriers and job-seeking anxiety sequentially mediate the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and career preparation behavior among university students. To this end, an online survey was conducted among university students enrolled in four-year universities nationwide. Path analysis of the relationship between variables was performed using 333 collected data, and SPSS PROCESS macro were used for analysis. The results are as follows. First, the mediating effect of perceived career barriers was significant in the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and career preparation behavior. Second, the mediating effect of job-seeking anxiety was significant in the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and career preparation behavior. Third, in the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and career preparation behavior, the sequential mediating effect of perceived career barriers and job-seeking anxiety was significant. This study confirms that as the tendency for socially prescribed perfectionism increases, they perceive career barriers as higher, which leads to challenges in initiating career preparation behaviors. On the other hand, when experiencing job-seeking anxiety induced by their socially prescribed perfectionistic tendencies or by perceiving career barriers to be high, the opposite effect was found to occur, whereby promoted in order to cope. Therefore, to assist them, it is essential to help them adjust their perceptions of career barriers and job-seeking anxiety to realistic levels, preventing excessive procrastination or anxiety-driven behaviors.