How youth explore, experience

and think about their future

A new look at effective career guidance

BETTER POLICIES FOR BETTER LIVES

 Career readiness
in the pandemic
Young people have never left education more qualified or
ambitious, but in many countries they face persistent barriers
in securing good work.
Young people often struggle in comparison to older people because they typically have less understanding,
less experience and fewer useful contacts than older people in the search for work.

Ratio of youth to adult unemployment

In Costa Rica, Hungary, Luxembourg, New Zealand,
In 2019, across the OECD, young
people under Norway, Sweden and the UK, young
adults are
25 were 2.5 times more likely to be three to four times more likely to be
unemployed than older people. unemployed than older people.

2.5x 3-4x

Modern societies expect individuals to navigate choices and manage their own careers, but results from the OECD's 2018
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that students in many countries are poorly prepared to
develop the individual agency needed for their transitions. Students vary considerably in the extent to which they are able to
visualise and plan their futures, with the most disadvantaged at greatest risk.

Lowest and highest academic performers at 15 expecting

80 to work as a professional or in management, but not
70 planning to attend tertiary education
60
Low performers High performers
50
40
38%
30
20
10 Across the OECD,
0 38% of lower
achievers have
United States
Chile
Canada
Mexico
Korea
Turkey
Colombia
France
Spain
Israel
Norway
Lithuania
Australia
Sweden
Ireland
Slovak Republic
Finland
Greece
Czech Republic
OECD average
Japan
Italy
Portugal
New Zealand
Iceland
Estonia
United Kingdom
Latvia
Luxembourg
Denmark
Belgium
Netherlands
Slovenia
Switzerland
Poland
Austria
Hungary
Germany

career ambitions
that do not
align with their
educational plans.

New OECD work provides education systems and secondary schools with
the diagnostics and a checklist for effective career guidance.
2 Source for all figures: OECD PISA 2018 Database - https://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/2018database/
 How do we know what
really works in career
guidance?
Longitudinal studies follow the same cohort of people from school to early adulthood. Aside
from commissioning extensive randomised control studies and waiting a decade for the results,
longitudinal studies provide the best available evidence of the long-term consequences of school-
age career-related interventions. An initial review of the academic literature identified numerous
beneficial relationships that cluster around how student explore, experience and think about their futures in work.
Now, new analysis has been undertaken by the OECD using data from 10 countries.

Regression analysis was used to identify relationships

The Career Readiness team
between career guidance-related attitudes/activities
undertook new analysis of: overwhelmingly at ages 14-16 and better outcomes in
employment 10-15 years later in terms of:

1. Lower rates of youth not in education,

employment or training (NEET)
12 From 10 Involving some
2. Higher wages
datasets countries 67 000
students 3. Greater job, career or life satisfaction
Full analysis is available in the papers listed at the end.
In the tables that follow, statistically significant
associations (at up to a 10% confidence level) between teenage
career-related activities/attitudes and better employment outcomes generally relate to the whole sample. In the case of the
indicators related to thinking about the future, they may relate only to subgroups of students (e.g, boys/girls, high achievers/
low achievers).

Denmark

Germany
Canada
United Korea
Kingdom
People's Republic
United States Switzerland
of China
Australia
Map
highlighting the
countries where Uruguay
the analysis was
undertaken

OECD PISA 2018 provides us with much useful information on how student
career-related experiences up to the age of 15 compare between (and within)
countries. Only a minority of countries however, completed the Education
How do countries compare? Career Questionnaire which includes many relevant questions.
3
 Exploring the Future
The review of existing and new analyses of longitudinal datasets look
for evidence of associations between six career guidance activities that
are commonly undertaken by secondary schools and better employment
outcomes. Surprisingly, the existing research literature provides relatively
few studies that make use of longitudinal surveys.

Results of new OECD analysis

Student exploration
of futures in work and
employment outcomes:
No No new
the longitudinal evidence Beneficial Detrimental associations analysis
association associations found available

School-based career reflection CAN, URY GBR AUS, DEU, CHE, CHN,
? activities, including career KOR DNK, USA
questionnaires and career
Indicator – with summary of previous academic literature

classes – 0 of 1 previous study

in GBR evidence beneficial
associations

Career conversations – 3 of 4 AUS, CAN, DEU, KOR CHE, CHN,

previous studies in GBR and USA, GBR, USA DNK, URY
evidences beneficial associations

Engaging with people in work AUS, CAN, DEU, GBR, CHE, CHN,
through career talks or job URY KOR, USA DNK
fairs – 1 of 1 previous study in GBR
evidences beneficial associations

Workplace visits or job AUS, CAN, DEU, GBR CHE, CHN,

shadowing – 0 of 0 previous KOR, USA DNK, URY
studies evidence
beneficial associations

Application and interview skills AUS, CAN, DEU CHE, CHN,

development activities – 0 of 0 GBR DNK, KOR,
previous studies evidence URY, USA
beneficial associations

Occupationally focused short CAN, USA AUS, CHE,

programmes – 9 of 12 previous CHN, DEU,
studies in AUS and US evidence DNK, GBR,
beneficial associations KOR, URY

AUS (Australia), CAN (Canada), CHE (Switzerland), CHN (People’s Republic of China), DNK (Denmark), DEU (Germany), KOR (Korea), GBR (United Kingdom),
USA (United States), URY (Uruguay)

In Canada, students who reported In Uruguay, students who had In Korea, students who visited a
career conversations with a teacher attended a career talk by 15 were workplace by 15 were 23% less likely
by 15 earned 3% more at age 30 than 3% less likely to be NEET at 25 than to be NEET at 25 than comparable
comparable peers who did not. comparable peers who had not. peers who had not.
4
 “ Students – even from the most
disadvantaged backgrounds – have no
lack of aspirations, but those they have
“
I’d have loved it if, at school,
one day a week, we’d heard from
people doing different professions.
often remain dormant. It is not until you It would’ve been brilliant to get
engage with them that those aspirations people to tell us about what their
come to the fore. When people come job was all about, what you need
into the school to talk about their jobs, it to do to get into it, what sort

”
encourages students to voice their own of life you can expect...

”
ambitions, perhaps for the first time.
Jazzo (19), Ireland. Left
Beth Nalter, Careers Advisor, Green Bay education at 18, now working
High School, Auckland, New Zealand as an apprentice butcher

What it means 2 Greater exploration 3 It is especially important 4 Students gain authentic

1 To visualise and plan
underpins the capacity for
demonstrating personal that they have opportunity
to engage directly with insights into the working
their futures, students need agency through transitions.
employers and workplaces. world, challenging,
to actively explore the jobs
clarifying, and confirming
market.
their career ambitions and
how they can be achieved.

Percentage of students taking part in three core guidance activities

(speaking with a career advisor, attending a job fair and visiting a
50
workplace with their school) by the age of 15

40

30

20

10

0 58%
Belgium
Hong Kong (China)
Panama
Costa Rica
Spain
Ireland
Hungary
Italy
Morocco
Brunei Darussalam
Poland
Germany
Brazil
Greece
Lithuania
Serbia
Albania
OECD average
Korea
Slovenia
New Zealand
Slovak Republic
Kazakhstan
Australia
United Kingdom
Thailand
Bulgaria
Chinese Taipei
Austria
Malta
Iceland
Denmark

Only half
of
students on
average across
Only four out of ten
the OECD have
students on average across
spoken to a
the the OECD report having
career guidance
taken part in a workplace. counsellor in
school.

Fewer than one in five

students have taken part
in all three core guidance
activities.

5
 Experiencing the Future
OECD analysis builds on the existing research literature and identifies
three ways in which teenagers can gain valuable experience of the
workplace while still in school:

Part-time Work Volunteering in

employment placements/ the community
internships
All three activities are associated in the research literature with better outcomes
in adult employment.

Results of new OECD analysis

Student experiences
of futures in work and
employment outcomes:
No No new
the longitudinal evidence Beneficial Detrimental associations analysis
association associations found available

Part-time work – 15 of 18 CAN, GBR, DEU AUS, KOR CHE, CHN,

Indicator – with summary of
previous academic literature

studies in AUS, GBR and USA USA DNK, URY

evidence beneficial associations

Volunteering – 4 of 4 studies AUS, CAN, USA CHE, CHN,

in AUS and USA evidence DEU, GBR DNK, KOR,
beneficial associations URY

Work placements – 1 of 1 study DEU AUS, GBR, CAN, CHE,

in GBR evidences beneficial USA CHN, DNK,
associations KOR, URY

Did you know:

In the UK, students who experienced paid work by 16 earned 6%
more at age 26 than comparable peers who had not worked.
What it means

1 Workplace experience 2 It helps students clarify 3 It helps them 4 As students stay

gives students the their career ambitions, get demonstrate that they are in education longer, work
opportunity to learn new perspectives on their a good fit for a chosen placements can be most
about the culture of work education, and gain extra career and helps secure effective if they take place
and develop knowledge, value if they experience employment by providing before high-stake decisions
technical and social skills workplaces linked to their first-hand experience and on upper secondary
valued by employers. career aspirations. professional networks. enrolment and in the years
before leaving school.

“ “
Experiential learning is very effective... I did quite a lot of volunteer work
Students gain most from reflection and during secondary school, which was
dialogue after their experiences, including a useful when I applied for jobs. Along with
better understanding of their own preferences strengthening my communication and soft
and how these [relate] to their decisions about skills, volunteering definitely helped fill

”
careers of interest and training pathways. some gaps in my CV. It makes you seem
like a more well-rounded and interesting

”
Michael Openshaw, Director, person to work with.
All Saints’ College, Perth, Australia
Bianca (24), from the UK,
6 now working in finance
 Percentage of students working
70 on a part-time basis or during holidays
60 (excluding those working just occasionally and for family)

50

40

30

20

10

0
Portugal

Spain

Italy

Georgia

Brazil

Chile

Latvia

OECD average

United States

Lithuania

Poland

Finland

Serbia

Canada

Russia

Slovak Republic

Bulgaria

Peru

Indonesia

Autralia

Estonia

Netherlands
On average, four out of ten
students across the OECD work
on a part-time basis or during the
holidays (excluding those working
just occasionally and for family).

In the United States, students who worked part-time at ages 14-16 were 22% less
likely to be NEET ages 27-29 than comparable peers who had not worked as teenagers.

90
Percentage of students reporting participation in a work Only 1/3 of
80 placement or internship students on
70 average across
the OECD report
60 having taken part in
50 an internship by the
age of 15.
40

30

20

10

0
Korea
Belgium
Brazil
Costa Rica
Hong Kong (China)
Poland
Malta
Brunei Darussalam
Panama
Italy
Spain
Thailand
Slovenia
United Kingdom
Bulgaria
New Zealand
Albania
Slovak Republic
Iceland
OECD average
Kazakhstan
Greece
Ireland
Morocco
Hungary
Lithuania
Chinese Taipei
Serbia
Austria
Australia
Denmark
Germany

Did you know:

In Australia, students who volunteers by 15 earned 8% more at age 26
than comparable peers who had not volunteered.

7
 Thinking about the Future
The research literature exploring the link between student
career-related attitudes and employment outcomes is rich. Existing
literature and OECD analysis identifies five aspects of teenage attitudes
about their futures in work that often link with better actual
employment outcomes:
Career alignment
Where students' educational plans are typically
sufficient for desired careers
Career certainty
Students knowing the type of job they
Career ambition
expect in 10-15 years
Students expecting to work in
managerial or professional careers
Instrumental motivation
towards school Career originality
Student belief that their education is relevant Students aspiring to occupations outside of the
to their imagined futures in work top ten most popular desired jobs among fellow
teenagers in their country

Results of new OECD analysis

Student exploration
of futures in work and
employment outcomes:
the longitudinal evidence No No new
Beneficial Detrimental associations analysis
association associations found available
Indicator – with summary of previous academic literature

Career certainty – 10 of 12 CAN, CHE, KOR AUS, CHN DEU, URY

studies in AUS, GBR, NL and USA DNK, GBR,
evidence beneficial associations USA

Instrumental Motivation – AUS, CAN, URY CHE, KOR CHN, DEU

5 of 5 studies in US and GBR DNK, GBR,
evidence beneficial associations USA

Career alignment – 5 of 6 AUS, CAN, DEU CHE, DNK,

studies in AUS, GBR, NL and USA CHN, KOR GBR, URY,
evidence beneficial associations USA

Career ambition – 11 of 11 studies CHE, CHN, AUS, DEU, CAN, GBR,

in AUS, GBR and USA evidence KOR DNK, USA URY
beneficial associations

Career originality – 0 of 0 AUS, DNK CAN CHE CHN, DEU,

previous studies evidence GBR, KOR,
beneficial associations URY, USA

What it means

1 Young people with clear, 2 Students' chances of 3 Assumptions about 4 Students have access
high and considered job a successful future are work start very young. to different family resources
ambitions can be expected greatly enhanced if they Schools should encourage to help them visualise and
to do better in work later on, are thinking seriously about and enable students plan their futures. Effective
because they are building their futures and share those from the primary years to guidance levels up the
the agency needed for their thoughts with guidance reflect on how educational playing field and directly
transitions. counsellors and other adults experiences relate to addresses inequalities.
as they progress through imagined futures in work.
8 education.
“ “
My secondary school did not prepare me Often, students have an idea of what they
enough to get a job. There were no activities might be interested in, but don’t know the
around career education or career readiness, names of certain jobs. They cannot aspire
and I wish there were. I had to seek that to be what they don’t know. I encourage

”
guidance elsewhere my lower-secondary students to maintain a
Everly (19), from Chile, currently 'career journal', to keep track of what they
at university might or might not like as they discover new
career interests
”
Niya Stateva, career counsellor,
American English Academy,
Sofia, Bulgaria

Did you know:

In Australia, students who were career aligned at 15/16
earned 8% more at 25/26 compared to average earnings.

50
? Career uncertainty: percentage of students not naming the sort
? ?
of job they expected to work in at age 30
40

30

20

10

0
Turkey
Korea
Greece
Colombia
Poland
Ireland
Spain
Hungary
United States
Luxembourg
Estonia
Slovenia
Belgium
Portugal
Japan
New Zealand
France
OECD average
Chile
Latvia
United Kingdom
Iceland
Switzerland
Sweden
Italy
Norway
Austria
Lithuania
Mexico
Slovak Republic
Canada
Australia
Czech Republic
Finland
Netherlands
Israel
Denmark
Germany

Did you know:

In Denmark and Switzerland, high-performing 15 year olds who were uncertain
about their occupational plans earned 11% and 20% less respectively at age 25 than
comparable peers who had a job ambition as teenagers.

10
Percentage of students with an occupational expectation planning
90 on working in one of the most popular 10 jobs for their gender in
80 their country
70 Girls Boys

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Hungary
France
Netherlands
Poland
Switzerland
Lithuania
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Latvia
Estonia
Germany
Italy
Slovenia
Australia
New Zealand
Sweden
United Kingdom
Finland
Belgium
Iceland
Austria
Portugal
OECD average
Spain
Korea
Greece
Denmark
Canada
Japan
Norway
Mexico
United States
Ireland
Colombia
Chile
Luxembourg
Israel
Turkey

9
 How exploring and
experiencing potential
futures in work link to
more informed thinking
Analysis of national longitudinal data shows that, when students explore, experience
and think about potential futures in work, they can often expect to achieve better
employment outcomes as young adults.

More beneficial career thinking reflects the agency expected of students. PISA shows strong relationships
between participation in career-related activities and the types of career thinking associated with better
employment outcomes.

It can be anticipated that students with access to appropriate resources will be better placed to demonstrate the
agency needed for their transitions through education into work.

Student participation in three core career guidance activities

(speaking with an advisor, visiting a workplace, attending a
job fair) and the ratio of youth to adult unemployment
4.5
GBR
Ratio of Youth to Adult Unemployment 2020

POL As shown in Denmark, the higher

4.0 the percentage of participation
NZL in career development activities,
ITA
3.5 HUN IRL the more young people (relative to
older people) are employed. OECD
SVK
BEL average
SVN
3.0
KOR
AUS
ESP
2.5 LTU DNK
ISL AUT
2.0

1.5 DEU

1.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
% participation in all three career development activities

“
I think my high school did a great job of preparing
us... They set up lots of programmes to transition
kids into full-time work after school, or onto a
pathway towards their future careers. [But], I wish
the careers centre at our school was more honest

”
about [what] careers would be like.

Blair (18), from Australia, who is

a construction apprentice
10
 Relationship between student participation in career-related
exploration and experiential activities and more positive career
thinking - significant associations identified
in PISA 2018 data (all OECD countries)

Career Career Career Instrumental Career

Activity certainty ambition alignment motivation originality

I spoke with a
Career Advisor (at
all)

I talked to someone
about the job I
would like to do
when I finish my
education

I completed a
questionnaire to
find out about
my interests and
abilities

I researched
the internet for
information about
careers

I visited a job fair

I attended a job
shadowing or work-
site visit

I did an internship

I earned money
from working
outside school
hours (e.g. a
holiday job, part
time work)

I undertook
voluntary work

Statistically significant positive relationship at 1%, 5% and 10%

Statistically significant negative relationship at 1%, 5% and 10%

11
 ?
Career guidance in
the post-COVID era
Nine insights from the OECD Career Readiness project...

?
?
?
1 We can now be confident about the characteristics
of more effective career guidance.

Longitudinal data highlight activities that link with more positive employment outcomes for students. New
OECD analysis, combined with reviews of existing longitudinal literature, find evidence of beneficial outcomes
in three of more countries linked to 11 of the 14 potential indicators. Students who explore, experience and
think about their futures in work often experience lower levels of unemployment, receive higher wages and
are happier in their careers as adults. Beneficial results are found in relation to both students who continue
to tertiary education and those who enter the labour market directly from school. The findings are strongest
in countries where high proportions of secondary school students are in general, rather than vocational
education. Countries are encouraged to develop longitudinal resources and to ask young adults how useful
they feel their schools were in preparing them for work.

2 Too few students show signs of being "career ready".

PISA 2018 tells us that the career thinking of many students is narrow, confused and influenced by gender
and socio-economic background. Labour market signalling about jobs is weak, raising concerns in a period of labour
market change due to automation, COVID-19 and the growth of "green jobs". Countries increasingly expect students to
navigate their own way through complicated education and training choices, but PISA tells us that their individual
agency to do so is often constrained by lack of relevant information and experiences.
By age 15, on average, across OECD countries, only:

58% 39% 41% 18%

of students visited a participated had undertaken
have spoken job fair. in a workplace all three
to a guidance visit or job activities.
advisor. shadowing.

3 Career guidance should begin well before age 15.

Effective guidance is as much about personal reflection as it is about access to information, and because career
opportunities are influenced by study choices, attitudes towards learning and educational experiences from the
beginning of schooling, guidance should begin well before aged 15. Students need time and encouragement
to explore, experience and think about their futures in work and how they relate to their educational choices.
From primary school, children should be helped to understand the value of learning in different fields of
study as well as links between education and employment, and to challenge stereotypical career
thinking through direct encounters with people working in non-traditional roles.

4 Students should extensively explore the world of work.

Through secondary education, students should explore their occupational interests through
counselling, career-interest exercises and discussion including with subject teachers. Guidance
activities that involve employers are particularly important in broadening and informing student
attitudes. Career talks (notably the carousel format), workplace visits, job shadowing and exercises
focused on developing the skills needed in recruitment have been shown to be especially
effective. Such activities should be regular, contextualised and initially mandatory to
optimise the chance of students encountering new and useful information.
As students get older, more personalised activities will help to challenge, enable and confirm
12 career thinking.
5 Students should experience the world of work.
First-hand experiences of the workplace help students explore and confirm their career aspirations,
gain valuable experience and develop useful networks. Such activities can be expected to be especially
valuable if they relate to career ambitions and take place before key decision-making points and in the
years prior to the conclusion of secondary education. Excessive part-time working (more than 10-15
hours a week) should be a concern to schools as it can undermine academic achievement.

6 Students should be encouraged and enabled to think critically

about their futures in work.

Students with their clear, high and considered job ambitions and who see the link between
their education and later employment, can be expected to do better in work as young
adults. The importance of career thinking as an indicator for adult employment underpins
the need for guidance being led by well-trained and impartial counsellors, skilled in
engaging with young people through secondary education.

7 More research is still needed.

Evidence is insufficient in relation to three areas, each of which has been
explored in only a small number of studies:

School-based career Work placements Career originality

reflection activities (experiencing) (thinking)
(exploring)

While initial findings and wider evidence suggest that these are aspects of teenage lives that can ultimately be
connected to long-term employment outcomes, it is not yet possible to highlight them as indicators.
Further research is encouraged to confirm and understand how beneficial impacts can be optimised.

8 For governments, guidance has a central role to play in the recovery.

New information is becoming available on the characteristics of more effective career guidance. Beneficial
effects are found in times of both high and low youth unemployment. As students stay in education
longer and the labour market becomes more turbulent, the need for effective career guidance grows.
Governments have an important role to play in clearly articulating expectations of schools, ensuring
the supply of trained counsellors and encouraging and enabling employers to work with schools. As
students from more disadvantaged backgrounds typically need greater support, schools serving them
should anticipate greater resource availability.

9 The OECD's work continues.

A continuing Career Readiness project will draw further on this new data to focus
particularly on effective guidance interventions to address inequalities and enhance
access to "green jobs", the identification and dissemination of effective practice in
schools that aligns with empirical findings, the use of online technologies in career
guidance and reviews of national practice to enhance provision.
13
OECD Career Readiness
Visit the Career Readiness website:
https://www.oecd.org/education/career-readiness/

Key publications
Cedefop, European Commission, ETF, ILO, OECD, UNESCO (2021), "Investing in Career Guidance",
https://www.oecd.org/education/career-readiness/collapsecontents/Investing%20in%20CG_booklet_EN.pdf

Covacevich, C. et al. (2021), "Indicators of teenager career readiness: an analysis of longitudinal data from eight countries",
OECD Education Working Papers, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Covacevich, C., et al. (2021), "Thinking about the future: Career readiness insights from national longitudinal surveys and
from practice", OECD Education Working Papers, No. 248, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/02a419de-en.

Mann, A. et al. (2020), "Career ready?: How schools can better prepare young people for working life in the era of
COVID-19", OECD Education Working Papers, No. 241, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/e1503534-en.

Mann, A. et al. (2020), "Dream Jobs?: Teenagers’ career aspirations and the future of work", OECD Publishing, Paris,
www.oecd.org/education/dream-jobs-teenagers-career-aspirations-and-the-future-of-work.htm.

Musset, P. and L. Mytna Kurekova (2018), "Working it out: Career Guidance and Employer Engagement", OECD Education
Working Papers, No. 175, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/51c9d18d-en.

OECD (2021), "Getting a job: How schools can help students in the competition for employment
after education", OECD Education Policy Perspectives, No. 35, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/9ac1ab37-en.

OECD (2021), "Getting the most out of employer engagement in career guidance", OECD Education
Policy Perspectives, No. 36, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/fbbc3788-en.

Stay in touch
To join the mailing list for monthly updates by the OECD Career Readiness team, email: [email protected]
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