New research reveals a significant discrepancy between young people’s dream jobs and employment reality.
Kevin Hoff, an assistant professor of psychology, suggests helping kids identify ambitious, yet realistic, career goals by exposing them to a variety of occupations that they might not naturally encounter in their daily lives.
When it comes to teens’ career aspirations, psychology researchers at the University of Houston believe it’s best to aim for the moon so they can at least land on the stars. The truth is, the moon may sometimes be unreachable.
In Career Assessment JournalKevin Hoff, an assistant professor of psychology, reports that there is a significant discrepancy between young people’s dream jobs and employment reality.
“Nearly 50% of young people aspire to research or artistic careers, yet these represent only 8% of the U.S. labor market,” Hoff reports. Her study looked at the career aspirations of 3,367 young people (ages 13-18) in 42 U.S. states. Research careers include jobs in science and research fields.
Hoff’s team conducted an extensive coding exercise using the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to compile automation risk levels, educational requirements and career-oriented professional interests.
“The survey results make it clear that the majority of young people want to work in jobs that are less likely to be automated. But there is a big gap between their aspirations and the availability of jobs on the labour market,” Hof said.
For females, the most popular career aspirations were doctor, veterinarian, teacher, and nurse. Doctor was most popular in early adolescence (accounting for about 12% of female aspirations aged 13-15), while veterinarian, teacher, and nurse were more popular in late adolescence (16-18 years old). For males, athlete was by far the most popular career aspiration in early adolescence (accounting for 22-32% of male aspirations aged 13-15), but became less popular in late adolescence (5-13% of male aspirations aged 16-18).
“Both boys and girls saw similar patterns of increasing variability in career aspirations with age, suggesting a greater diversity of career goals,” Hoff said. Indeed, reality may be setting in: Many 13-year-old boys who wanted to be professional athletes have changed their minds by age 18 and are now pursuing more attainable careers.
One of the most important ways to help kids find ambitious, yet realistic, career goals is to introduce them to different types of careers that they might not naturally encounter in their everyday lives.
“Young women often want to become teachers because that’s what they see every day,” Hoff said. “It’s equally important to show them that there are other careers out there, especially lesser-known ones like STEM fields that are seeing growing employment demand.” Hoff said teachers often struggle to guide students who have very high career aspirations but mediocre grades, but there are upsides to having such aspirations.
“Young people who want to be doctors may end up getting a really good job in another field of medicine, which is a good outcome. The bad is that they may end up striving for an unattainable career and getting an education that doesn’t match their interests or abilities,” Hoff said.
Despite rapid changes in the labor market, little research exists on how young people’s career goals correspond to predictions for the future of work. “This type of career development research can have a positive impact on how individuals and societies prepare for the future of work,” Hoff said.
Ultimately, Hof’s study isn’t a hindrance to ambition, but it does highlight the need for proper backup plans.
“It’s good to encourage students to pursue prestigious careers, but as they grow up, parents, teachers and counselors should also be realistic with them and help them understand how many people actually work in their dream field and what their chances of getting a job in that field are,” Hof said.
Spoiler alert: only 2% of Americans work in arts-related jobs.
Hoff’s team included Drake Van Egdom of the University of Houston, Alexis Hanna of the University of Nevada, Reno, and Chris Napolitano and James Lowndes of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
