Content Type: Blog Post

  • How We Can Empower Gen Z to Find and Follow Their Passions through Youth-Centered Mentorship

    How We Can Empower Gen Z to Find and Follow Their Passions through Youth-Centered Mentorship

    Gen Z is a remarkable generation. As digital natives with a collective desire for agency and independence, young people today want to drive the conversation when it comes to their career goals, instead of passively following paths provided to them. At ASA, we’ve conducted extensive research on how Gen Z makes decisions, and what motivates this…

  • Career Readiness for Gen Z (and Beyond): Expanding Opportunities and Removing Stigmas

    Career Readiness for Gen Z (and Beyond): Expanding Opportunities and Removing Stigmas

    If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it’s that the “rule book” as we know it needs some serious revisions. While we’ve been presented with numerous challenges and disruptions to the ways we live and work, there is also substantial opportunity to grow and adapt our approaches—particularly when it comes to young…

  • How Gen Z Engages in Activism Online

    How Gen Z Engages in Activism Online

    Today’s young people are socially aware and want to take a more active role in the conversations that will shape their futures. Following up on my initial article on what ASA has learned about how Gen Z engages in advocacy, this second piece looks at how Gen Z engages in activism on social media, as well as…

  • Ensuring Gen Z Teens are Well Equipped to Make Informed, Confident Choices to Achieve Education and Career Success After High School

    Ensuring Gen Z Teens are Well Equipped to Make Informed, Confident Choices to Achieve Education and Career Success After High School

    Kids today are not adequately prepared to make informed, confident decisions about what they want to do after high school. To address this challenge, ASA makes research a key component of our ongoing efforts to help Gen Z teens know themselves, know their options, so they are prepared to make informed, confident decisions to navigate…

  • High School Work-Based Learning: An Essential Tool for Career Readiness and Workforce Development

    High School Work-Based Learning: An Essential Tool for Career Readiness and Workforce Development

    Work-based learning opportunities, such as apprenticeships, internships, and co-ops, are proven to help students gain not only real-world experience but a sense of whether or not a particular career field is something they want to pursue.  Research shows that 79% of high school students say they’re interested in a work-based learning experience, but only 2% have completed one. If…

  • Gen Z Interest In and Behaviors Around Activism

    Gen Z Interest In and Behaviors Around Activism

    From gun control to climate change, it’s no secret that today’s young people are passionate about social causes, so much so that oftentimes their interest impacts their future plans. As part of extensive research on Gen Z decision making as it relates to future planning conducted by American Student Assistance ® (ASA), we know that their interest in social…

  • Career Readiness: How Can We Impact Millions of Teens Immediately?

    Career Readiness: How Can We Impact Millions of Teens Immediately?

    Sadly, many of our kids today are just not adequately prepared to make informed, confident decisions about what they want to do after high school. For the last few years, as part of our mission to change the way kids learn about careers and navigate a path for postsecondary education and career success, we‘ve funded promising…

  • Best Practices and Considerations for Career Readiness Learning

    Best Practices and Considerations for Career Readiness Learning

    It’s estimated that Gen Z will comprise about 30% of the workforce by 2030. Are we doing enough to ensure that the next generation is career-ready? What can we, as caring adults, do to ensure that we’re setting young people up for success? And how do these considerations change specifically for female-identifying youth? While in-class…

  • The Impact of Early Career Exploration

    The Impact of Early Career Exploration

    During the recent SXSW EDU Conference in Austin, Texas, ASA’s Julie Lammers, SVP of Advocacy and Corporate Social Responsibility, sat down for an interview with the “Better Careers, Better Lives” podcast host, Doug Donovan, founder and CEO of Interplay Learning. The podcast features “leaders in education, technology, and the skilled trade industries, and how they…

  • How We Can Scale Gen Z’s Entrepreneurial Spirit into Fruitful Careers

    How We Can Scale Gen Z’s Entrepreneurial Spirit into Fruitful Careers

    There’s no denying Gen Z has an entrepreneurial spirit. In fact, more than half of Gen Z students say they aspire to be entrepreneurs. As digital natives with greater access to information and resources than previous generations, it’s no wonder this generation is particularly fired up about starting their own businesses over working in traditional nine-to-five jobs…