Career Exploration, Understanding Gen Z

Careers Being Explored by Today’s Young People

Contributions by Alisa Wilke

The future is wide open for the next generation in the workforce. But it’s critical that we help guide today’s young people to find education-to-career paths that align with their skills and interests. To do this, it’s imperative that we meet them exactly where they are: on their mobile devices.

Enter FuturescapeTM, ASA’s mobile platform that has enabled more than seven million young people to explore careers — beyond the classroom — that match their passions and gain insight into what pathways they might want to pursue after high school. Through the mobile-first experience, we’ve been able to obtain invaluable data around which career fields are being explored by Gen Z, based on their interests, and which ones are just beginning to gain traction.

Not surprisingly, STEM fields continue to lead the way, and we’re also seeing growing interest in digital and social science fields, such as animation and psychology. Also noteworthy is that 78% of users said the high-quality career exploration experience gave them exposure and insights into a job they didn’t know had existed or previously considered.

Now more than ever, as they rebound from a period of years-long pandemic-related uncertainty during which millions of young people became disengaged and disconnected from their future planning, it’s encouraging to see how the use of technology is helping youth to discover career possibilities beyond the classroom. Doing so will ultimately enable them to build confidence and make informed decisions to achieve their postsecondary education and career goals. To learn more about the survey findings, read the complete survey results.

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