Career Exploration in Schools: Why It Matters for Students

What is Career Exploration—And Why Is It Important for Students?

Career exploration means more than just choosing a job. It’s about understanding a person’s interests, skills, values—and how they match up with opportunities for starting a career. For students, this is also an opportunity for self-discovery. A chance to build agency for their lives and test their long-term planning and adaptability skills.

Choosing a career is one of the most significant decisions a person will ever make—but when the world of work is so vast and ever-changing, how can students confidently chart their paths? By starting this journey early and making it an ongoing aspect of students’ education, they can gain the tools and confidence to plan for a future that truly fits them—while building essential life skills like adaptability, self-awareness, and long-term goal setting along the way.

Benefits of Student Career Exploration

The primary benefit of students exploring career options is that it helps students plan their futures and increase likelihood of a good fit between interests and skills. Other benefits of student career exploration include:

Increased motivation and engagement in school¹
Better alignment of education content with student goals through Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) and Career Academic Plans (CAPs)²
Students able to make better-informed decisions about what to do after graduation (e.g., attend college vs. start an apprenticeship—and if they want to go to college, which institution is the best choice for them)
Soft skill development (e.g., self-discovery, communication, problem-solving, adaptability, self-empowerment)
Overall benefits to mental health and well-being—as students have more purpose and direction, they tend to have lower anxiety about future³ and higher life satisfaction

Benefits of career exploration also expand beyond just student growth and opportunity. Broader society also benefits from giving students the chance to learn about potential career best-fits. Here are just some examples of positive societal outcomes stemming from student career exploration:

Workforce readiness and economic growth (richer pipeline, reduction in skills mismatch, easier filling of high-demand fields)
Higher likelihood of completing college programs (decrease in dropout rate, overall costs as students change majors/direction, and student loan default)
Reduction in unemployment/underemployment (ultimately meaning less reliance on social services)
Close opportunity gaps to increase equity and access for all communities
Deeper sense of community and civic responsibility for both students and local economy—career exploration programs can lead to earlier, deeper ties to community through mentorships, etc.

When Should Career Exploration Begin?

Ideally, career exploration for students should begin as soon as possible, introducing it through developmentally appropriate lenses based on student age.

For example, elementary school is a perfect time for early exposure. Beyond the basics normally introduced (e.g., doctor, teacher, firefighter, police officer), elementary school is a time to introduce broader fields like IT, medicine, or practical sciences.

Middle school begins a discovery phase. This is a time to start connecting the dots for students about their aptitudes and passions and the idea that there are careers that can allow them to work in that space for most of their adult lives.

In high school, students can begin to plan their future. Career exploration becomes much more meaningful when the next step is career launch—either through continued education to specialize in that career space or immediately stepping into an internship or apprenticeship.

As students grow and mature as people, and as they are exposed to more possibilities, career exploration will change. Ultimately, the goal is to incorporate career exploration into schools early, to ensure it’s an ongoing process, and that it allows for iterative exploration as students go through the discovery process,

How Do We Implement Career Exploration in Schools?

Steps in the Career Exploration Process

First, what exactly does career exploration in schools entail? Different programs will contain different strategies, but some of the common core steps include:

Self-assessment (evaluating skills, interests, values)
Researching career options
Setting short- and long-term goals
Trying out career options before long-term commitment (e.g., job shadowing, internships, volunteer work)
Reflecting and revising goals and plans

Support from Schools, Educators, Parents, and Community Partners

Ideally, each school offers a complete and heavily-encouraged career exploration program. However, for a number of reasons, not all schools are able to implement a full program. To help mitigate this, there are a number of techniques and tools schools, teachers, families, and communities can use to help students explore future career opportunities.

For teachers, a major technique is integrating career learning into academic content. This can be as minor as embedding career connections into existing lesson plans. For example, math problems can be tied to budgeting, and project-based learning can be tied into real-world professions. Career days and guest speakers for classrooms can also serve as effective platforms.

As children’s first career influencers, parents and caregivers can also help students explore career options. Parents can discuss their own work experiences and help facilitate informational conversations with friends and relatives to help expose students to the reality of different career options. These intimate conversations can also help career exploration feel more personal and accessible than curriculum alone.

Community-based organizations and businesses bring career exploration to life in a more hands-on, real-world capacity. Local businesses can offer job shadowing and internship positions. Non-profits can offer youth leadership or skill-building programs, along with volunteer opportunities. Both businesses and non-profits can visit classrooms for career and industry talks, helping to expose students to more path options.

Establishing long-term relationships and programs for all of these groups is critical. When the broader community is involved and engaged, students gain exposure, networks, and a deeper understanding of the world of work.

Policies and Systemic Support

Even if some schools are able to offer career exploration programs, and some communities are involved and engaged, nation-wide change is not possible without policy creation and systemic support at all levels. When backed by legislation, accountability measures, and funding, these efforts have the power to reshape student outcomes and close opportunity gaps.

Below are some examples of federal and state legislation helping to support student career development:

Federal: Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act⁴, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act⁵
State: Tennessee’s “Ready Graduate” initiative⁶, Individual Career and Academic Plans (Colorado⁷ and others)

Systemic support helps to ensure that career exploration is not left to chance or limited to students from privileged backgrounds. It becomes a guaranteed, structured part of every student’s education journey.

Barriers to Career Exploration Implementation

It is critical to note that there are barriers to successful and equitable implementation. Under-resourced and rural districts risk a lack of career diversity exposure, limited tools and opportunities, and few meaningful mentorship opportunities—among others. resources, mentorship – need programs to mitigate these.

Lack of Time in the School Day

Academics and standardized testing take priority for most American schools. While benchmarking is important, this focus nearly always crowds out dedicated, separate time for career exploration activities. As mentioned above, though, career education can be added seamlessly through existing schoolwork with a little ingenuity. For example, Language Arts assignments can include writing a resume or cover letter from a character’s perspective after reading a novel. A unit on environmental science can include research into careers fostering sustainability. In a section on government structures, students can explore and present on roles in public service, diplomacy, or law.

Limited Staff Capacity and Training

Many teachers and counselors do not have the energy, training—or resources—to facilitate meaningful career learning. This is especially true in under-resourced districts (see below). Fortunately, there are tools that can help—and in the age of AI, personalized career exploration tools will soon be more accessible than ever.

Outdated Perceptions

Unfortunately, there is still a stigma around non-college pathways. Alternatively, some young people and their influencers tend to narrowly focus on “dream jobs” instead of broader skill-building and exploration. Part of

Under-Resourced and Rural Districts

Schools in these areas also face additional challenges to implementation. Insufficient funding can mean fewer career interest tools and less live career exposure like field trips or guest speakers. This equity gap means students from marginalized backgrounds may have fewer opportunities for online research, exposure to diverse careers, networking, and internships. These districts also tend to have limited ability to form community or industrial partnerships. Without involvement from local businesses and community organizations, it’s more difficult to offer meaningful, diverse real-world trial experiences for students.

Resources and Tools

So how can we implement career exploration opportunities for students? Here are just some of the tools available:

Career exploration curricula and assessments (e.g., YouScience⁸, Naviance⁹, and ERA’s Life Discovery class)
Free career exploration tools (e.g., O*NET¹⁰ and My Next Move¹¹)
Career interest inventories (e.g., CareerOneStop¹² and O*NET/My Next Move’s Interest Profiler¹³)
Local workforce development organizations
Mentorship and job shadowing programs

Conclusion: How is ERA Helping Students with Career Exploration?

At ERA, Self and Career Discovery is our first core pillar. Helping students learn more about who they are—and what life path they can take that best aligns—is central to the Education Revolution Association as an organization.

To help students find their best-fit careers—and develop the soft skills needed for adulthood at the same time—we have created Life Discovery. Our custom-built life skills course focused on helping them become the best, most successful versions of themselves after graduation.

With programs like Life Discovery, we can help reinforce that idea that career exploration is not a one-time activity. It’s an ongoing journey that helps students discover where they are and where they want to go. By starting early, integrating career learning into the classroom, and connecting students with real-world experiences, we give them the tools to make informed choices about their futures. Ultimately, this investment benefits not only individual students but also our communities and the broader workforce, creating a more adaptable, skilled, and fulfilled generation ready to take on tomorrow’s challenges.

References

Education Resources Information Center. (2025). Fact sheet: Bolstering student attendance, engagement, and success through career-connected learning. U.S. Department of Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED665666.pdf ↩︎
Torre Gibney, T., & Rauner, M. (2021). Education and career planning in high school: A national study of school and student characteristics and college-going behaviors (REL 2022–127). U.S. Department of Education. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs ↩︎
Kleine, A.-K., Schmitt, A., & Wisse, B. (2021). Students’ career exploration: A meta‑analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2021.103645 ↩︎
U.S. Department of Education. (2025, May 12). Perkins V. https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/adult-education-laws-and-policy/perkins-v ↩︎
Employment and Training Adminstration. (n.d.). Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/wioa ↩︎
Tennessee Department of Education (2022, March 2). 2021-22 Ready Graduate data review and appeals: Frequently asked questions. https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/education/data/acct/2021-22_Ready_Graduate_Process_and_Appeals_FAQ.pdf ↩︎
Colorado Department of Education. (2025, July 8). Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP). https://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/icap ↩︎
YouScience. (2025). Career aptitude assessment for schools. https://www.youscience.com/education/brightpath/discovery/ ↩︎
PowerSchool. (2025). PowerSchool Naviance CCLR: Personalized pathway planning for every student. https://www.powerschool.com/solutions/college-career-and-life-readiness/naviance-cclr/ ↩︎
O*NET. (2025, July 1). O*NET OnLine. National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetonline.org/ ↩︎
My Next Move. (2025, May 20). My next move. National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.mynextmove.org/ ↩︎
CareerOneStop. (2025). Interest assessment. U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Careers/interest-assessment.aspx ↩︎
O*NET. (2025, July 1). O*NET Interest Profiler. National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip ↩︎