The aim of the present study was to explore the experiences and constructed meanings that described counseling students' purpose in life in relation to their career development. After conducting semi-structured interviews with 22 students, we adopted an inductive thematic analysis approach to the data. Findings suggested four themes: a career is a…

Workplace learning practice opportunities provide a learning context for career specialists that may significantly determine their competence level and rate of professional growth in their career paths. This paper aims to explore how attending different workplace learning practice choices could have advanced professional career paths of career…

International students' job search experience encompasses cultural and learning experiences from home and host country living. The higher education-to-work transition of international students to meet their career goal of working in the United States requires the attention of both international students and higher education administrators. This…

Purpose: PhD graduates are entering an increasing range of careers, but past research has highlighted a lack of preparation for these careers. This study aims to explore the reflections of PhD graduates from science and humanities and social science disciplines regarding support for career development (CD) during their study.…

University-based teacher educators are key agents of educational and societal change. Yet their academic careers across institutions and countries have received insufficient attention. To bridge this gap, our empirical study collected data from 12 teacher educators in different Chilean and Finnish research-oriented universities. Drawing from…

Access to online career information increases the complexity of career decisions (choosing a major or job). When the number of alternatives is large, the first step is to compile a list of promising career alternatives for further exploration, often by using interest inventories (e.g., the Self-Directed Search). But what makes such a list useful?…

The present article proposes to broaden the understanding of the life courses of women executives to include an experiential perspective of meaning built around their different life projects. Our study is based on a qualitative approach employing narrative research methodology to analyze interviews with a sample of 51 women executives. Our…

Career pathways programs enjoy broad, bipartisan support as a way to give more young people the skills they need to thrive in today's workforce. But getting these programs off the ground can be difficult. Quickly scaling them to reach a critical mass of students and sustaining those efforts over nearly 10 years is almost unheard of -- except in…

"Dalits" are a historically marginalized caste group in India. In this study, we examine the impact that the institution of caste has on career change. Focusing on the shift from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to non-STEM careers, we ask why members of the Dalit communities in India leave their STEM careers. To…

Social identities impact the way individuals see themselves and their career options but career theories have been slow to the call in exploring how social identities interface with theoretical assumptions. The purpose of this study was to examine how social identities affect and inform specific dimensions identified by cognitive information…

Inspired by a Tolkien quote, "Not All Who Wander Are Lost," the authors introduce the concept of "career wandering" in the context of undergraduate student development. Proposing an alternative to traditional linear career trajectories, we conceptualize a dynamic approach that embraces nonlinear paths, indecision, and…

This study aims to unpack one element of the logics of gendered educational choices, namely how cultural beliefs about gender can shape young people's judgements about gendered educational tracks. Through a survey experiment conducted among secondary school students in Oslo, Norway, we assess respondents' judgements about fictitious students'…

Young people's decision-making about postschool pathways are influenced and shaped by parents, teachers, and other familiars. Yet, these familiars are often uninformed about vocational education as it has not been part of their personal experience. Instead, they may reflect and further embed the relatively low standing of that option. The lack of…

Providing long-term career guidance is an increasingly important role of public universities. Career services have become one of the most important evaluation factors for universities. This study used a mixed-methods approach to track and measure students satisfaction with career services in a public university in China. We designed and validated…

Transitions from education into work, or as part of career change and development, are increasingly central to policy debate and academic inquiry. However, the role that employers play in shaping transition is often overlooked. In this paper, we examine this issue through the experiences of a graduating cohort of 'degree apprentices'. We present…