Education, disrupted: Embedding career education in shifting learning pathways

Post-secondary education is no longer the linear four-year journey it once was. Students increasingly navigate a disrupted landscape shaped by remote learning, micro-credentials and expanding options that demand choices for a job market likely to change before they reach it. 

Emerging adults face pressure to continuously upskill while still discovering who they are. They may enter university with a plan but often must re-evaluate their decisions as they grow and encounter obstacles. This disruption creates risks and opportunities, as undergraduates struggle to integrate fragmented experiences into coherent and meaningful career trajectories that also lead to desirable employment. 

If education is disrupted, we cannot assume students will find coherence on their own. The erosion of predictable pathways highlights universities’ need to equip students with adaptive career skills and resources. When pathways are non-linear and links to employment are unclear, the ability to construct a workable career narrative, rests with the student. 

Students need more than academic training: they need to explore, reflect and align evolving skills with labour market demands. This is the domain of career development professionals who play a pivotal role in student success. Research links career service use to higher retention (Hubchen et al., 2022), yet awareness and utilization remain low (Flaherty, 2024). Embedding career education into academic curricula helps bridge fragmented learning to meaningful futures. It can normalize uncertainty, reframe it as openness, and reach students who might not seek support independently, expanding the scope of academic career development practice. 

My research addresses this challenge by developing and evaluating a career education intervention embedded in large, mandatory first-year courses. The program emphasizes career as a lifelong, multi-role journey rather than a job after graduation. It equips students with “planned happenstance” skills (Mitchell et al., 1999) to leverage unplanned experiences while grounding them through reflection on interests, values, and transferable skills. It includes introductory career content, an interactive workshop with a career professional, orientation to campus career services, and a reflective assignment connecting personal development to future possibilities. 

I believe students who receive this education will be more likely to persist academically and thrive professionally. Yet, effective interventions must be empirically tested, not assumed. Universities invest heavily in student success programming, but without evaluation, resources may be wasted on ineffective approaches. Rigorous research can determine whether interventions improve outcomes, and for whom. 

This work examines outcomes of this intervention using validated measures of career development and student success in a controlled, quasi-experimental study. I will gather qualitative student feedback and track long-term use of career services. Demographic data will reveal how the intervention performs for students from at-risk groups. 

Disruption in education does not have to mean disorientation. With intentional, evidence-based career education intervention, undergraduates can translate diverse learning into purposeful careers. 
 

Tanya Bilsbury is a PhD candidate in the Social Attitudes Psychology lab at Saint Mary’s University in Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Her research explores how career education embedded in first-year university courses can strengthen students’ adaptability and employability in a disrupted educational landscape.  

References  
Flaherty, C. (2024). Student career desires: 3 Survey findings to know and 2 areas to act on. Inside Higher Ed. 

Hubchen, J., Sang, A., & Burnett, M. F. (2022). Career Development among College Students: Determining the Influence of Career Services on Student Persistence to Graduation. Journal of Student Success and Retention, 8(1). 

Mitchell, K. E., Levin, A. S., & Krumboltz, J. D. (1999). Planned happenstance: Constructing unexpected career opportunities. Journal of Counseling & Development, 77(2), 115–124.