The Incredible Impact of Career Counseling for Students

By Sarah Hicks and Katie Gustafson

About 72% of high school students feel unprepared to make college and career decisions, according to a national online survey.

Think about the implication of that statistic. Only a little more than one-fourth of the students in this survey group are confident about their next steps.

One survey does not represent all students, but it’s representative of a universal need: To get a good start in work and in life, students need help discovering a career and navigating a path to it.

One group of experts argues that students need a GPS system — something tangible that shows them that it’s possible to get from Point A to Point B and the different ways to get there.

“All pathways to opportunity should come with directions,” said Greg Walker, senior vice president of the College Board, during a panel he was leading at SXSW EDU 2024. “We know that student opportunities are vast, but the road to those opportunities is not just linear.”

Jill Cook, executive director of the American School Counselor's Association (ASCA), emphasizes that this system of guidance can be a core piece of students’ education from the earliest years, helping them see themselves in the larger world in different ways as they progress and learn.

“Career development is developmental. It's layered. It's intentionally designed over time,” she says on The DeBruce Foundation’s Empowering Careers podcast. “In the early grades, it's exposure and imagination… And then in middle school, it's much more interactive and exploratory… In high school, it's really about application and experience.”

For many students, this type of perspective on career development and counseling is key to following a path that isn’t immediately clear or straight. With help to see where the path is going, the twists and turns become easier to navigate.

Why we need more career counseling and career exploration

A closer look at the survey results shows students are struggling to find and stay on a career path. The survey, conducted by YouScience, followed 500 U.S. students who graduated between 2021 and 2024.

The survey found:

• 77%  would engage more in school if they better understood possible career options.
• 50% say they lack work-based learning experiences.
• 45% want better access to career counseling.

It’s clear that students aren’t getting the information and tools they need to make good decisions.

Scott Solberg, vice president of research at the Coalition for Career Development (CCD) Center, spoke on Walker's panel about the importance of giving students the tools and confidence they need to succeed.

"Our aim is to show students that this career, this destination — which we know is completely gray and uncertain — is reachable.”

This is true no matter which path a student chooses to pursue. Whether a student wants to earn a four-year degree, a two-year degree or a one-year credential, career development makes it easier to see the end goal and stay focused.

"Career exploration opens doors," says Rebecca Corbin, CEO and president of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE). "We know that when students see a strong connection between what they're learning in the classroom and how that skill applies in the real world. They are more excited to learn and more likely to keep going."

3 obstacles to providing more career counseling for students 

Several obstacles stand in the way of a better, more uniformly useful system to help students find a fulfilling career.

1. There aren’t enough effective career development programs available.

“Extending the Runway,” research into career exploration in 50 states from American Student Assistance (ASA) and Education Strategy Group (ESG), finds that students need more time and experiences to successfully find a path.

Most states recognize the importance of career development, but there’s often a lack of a statewide commitment to the programs, including financial support. Overall, there’s a disconnect between the acknowledged value of career counseling for students and implementation.

2. Career exploration isn’t happening early enough to help students, and it’s provided inconsistently throughout K-12.

"We’ve traditionally begun introducing young people to career-connected learning far too late,” writes Jean Eddy, CEO and president of ASA, in her book, “Crisis-Proofing Today’s Learners: Reimagining Career Education to Prepare Kids for Tomorrow’s World.”

“It’s imperative that we start introducing kids to their options earlier on, to help combat the rampant uncertainty that so many young people face later in their education journeys."

Eddy is an advocate of introducing career exploration in middle school, when students are less stressed and open to more ideas. Others suggest introducing concepts even earlier. Elementary school students who hear from professionals describe their jobs benefit from understanding what the job entails, even if they don’t yet know what that means for their own career path.

Career education also makes students aware of lesser-known, in-demand careers and helps them understand what they’re good at.

"Exposing students to diverse career paths from an early age is crucial for sparking their interests and helping them discover their true passions,” says Julian L. Alssid, partner at J. Alssid Associates, a workforce strategy consulting firm. “In my experience, hands-on experiences, mentorship programs and industry collaborations can play a vital role in guiding students towards rewarding and fulfilling careers that align with their skills and aspirations."

3. The ratio of counselors to students contributes to the problem.

The recommended student-to-counselor ratio is 250-to-1, according ASCA. During the 2024-25 school year, the average student-to-counselor ratio was 372-to-1. Only four states reported ratios below the recommended limit (Colorado (247:1), Hawaii (243:1), New Hampshire (186:1) and Vermont (172:1)). Nearly 20% of students — or around 8 million children — go to schools that do not have a counselor at all, and nearly 3 million of those students lack access to related support staff, such as school psychologists or social workers. Students of color get less access to these supports in the majority of states.

“Every school, every student should have access to a school counselor, a school social worker and a school nurse,” says ASCA Executive Director Cook. “That means more funding for qualified personnel.” 

Those schools that do have school counselors too often expect or allow these professionals to take on extra duties that dilute their effectiveness in the jobs they are hired for. 

“School counselors need to be allowed to do the work they are trained for and not be required to engage in non-school counselor duties,” says Ellen Armbruster, professor and School Counseling Program coordinator at Central Michigan University. “Administrators can support student wellness by protecting the role of their school counselors and the role that they play in caring for academic and career success, and especially the social, emotional development of their students.”

The importance of earning a living wage

A lack of career development isn’t just one missed opportunity. It’s a pattern that shows up many times in an individual’s life.

“It follows people well into the workforce, where vast pockets of workers are underemployed and being paid less than they need to get by,” says Eddy. “Forty percent of employed adults, even well before the pandemic, were one missed paycheck away from falling into poverty.”

Solberg and the team at the CCD Center use the living wage as a barometer of how well individuals are doing. MIT’s Living Wage calculator provides an estimate of the wage rate that a full-time worker needs to cover the cost of their family’s basic needs where they live.

The CCD team focuses on young adults who are trying to gain a foothold and establish careers and families of their own. The group’s Condition of Career Readiness report reveals a precarious situation.

The national median hourly wage among full-time working young adults ages 19-27 is $12.69, less than half of the $30 an hour households need to make in about half of U.S. states to cover their basic necessities. Only 33% earn more than a living wage.

At the same time, there are many in-demand skilled jobs going unfilled.

The 80 careers on the SkillPointe website, for example, don't require a four-year degree and earn more than a living wage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that between 2020 and 2030, 60% of new jobs will be those that typically do not require any post-secondary education. If you assume those people will make gains over time — meaning their pay increases keep up with inflation — the numbers add up.

“Good career exploration and counseling can make a several hundred million dollar impact on economic mobility by moving these statistics even just a little bit,” said Todd Wilson, founder of SkillPointe.

The research: Career exploration changes lives for the better

Research reveals a pattern of what works. Introducing career exploration earlier, in middle school, and continuing into high school reduces students’ uncertainty and leads to more positive outcomes.

A series of papers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Career Readiness project explores how career development programs benefit students in school and their transition to the workforce.

Secondary school students who explore, experience and think about their futures in work frequently encounter lower levels of unemployment, receive higher wages and are happier in their careers as adults, according to "Indicators of Teenage Career Readiness," a paper that was part of the OECD series.

Career exploration, especially when introduced to students early in their education, has been linked to lower high school dropout rates, according to the “Fostering College and Career Readiness” report. Dropout rates are just one factor, but they reveal a high personal and societal price. The research shows that when students drop out, the negative effects include poorer health, higher incarceration rates, higher rates of individuals who qualify for free food programs and higher rates of needing public financial assistance.

Career exploration is especially helpful for low-income students, a group less likely to receive counseling or to see themselves as college- or career-ready.

McGill University researchers found that career development plans had a significant positive impact on low-income students' earnings, in part because informational and behavioral barriers were more significant obstacles for this group. The researchers followed 4,390 students from 30 high schools from the end of high school through age 28, offering in-depth career assistance to some and simplified financial grants to others. 

Researchers estimated that by age 28, low-income students who received career education guidance were more likely to employed, and they earned 10% more on average in labor income than the low-income students who didn’t get career assistance.

What good career development systems look like

Beyond earnings, one of the greatest benefits of career exploration is its impact on aspirations and how aspirations lead to concrete progress.

"Once you have a plan and know what you want — watch out!" says Solberg. "That's identity. That's building a sense that 'Yes, I can.' We build that by having these active learning opportunities and having mentors who really help students believe in themselves. Then we just have to create the environment to let them go try it out."

Successful programs consistently provide these ingredients:

• DIY, but with assistance: The best programs let students lead the way, says Solberg. “The relevance is in the process of their discovery. It’s not from us telling them. They have to discover it in their own way.” But DIY doesn’t mean doing it alone. Successful programs consist of teams — counselors, coaches, teachers and importantly, parents — who offer mentoring and feedback and help students gain the confidence they need to drive the process.
• Variable: Activities during school hours are helpful, but so are extracurricular activities and events that happen at other times of day and through other sources.
• Integrated with technology: Students are more comfortable with technology than adults are. Utilizing online tools to explore careers and playing video games are natural ways students can solve problems and reach their own conclusions. EvolveMe, Riipen and MEFA Pathway are just a few of the platforms that encourage exploration through games, simulations and self-assessment. SkillPointe's two-minute carer quiz matches students with skills-based careers and makes them aware of lesser-known, in-demand careers.
• Personalized and fluid: Once a student develops a plan, counselors should help them update it regularly and explore careers, set realistic goals, make adjustments, develop necessary skills and successfully navigate the transition from education to work.
• Hands-on: Project-based and hands-on learning opportunities make classroom learning more relevant. Work-based learning, such as earn and learn programs, internships and apprenticeships, should be scattered throughout a student’s education, not just in high school or beyond.

Danielle R. Crankfield, the ASCA 2026 School Counselor of the Year, has been a school counselor since 2010 and is currently a counselor at Crofton High School in Gambrills, Md. She remembers the incredible impact her school counselor, Juliet Jones, had on her during high school. 

“I realized that my peers and I were having different experiences depending on who our assigned school counselor was,” she says. “It made me want to be for younger students who Ms. Jones was for me.” 

Today she does just that in a job where she cherishes seeing students grow and developing strong relationships with the students, staff and families. Her goal is to ensure that students are getting as much benefit from counseling as possible: “I would like for 100% of our seniors to graduate with a viable postsecondary plan that the school counseling department has supported them with accessing.”

Fixing the career exploration system is necessary — and possible

Early and consistent career development opportunities help students broaden their ideas about what’s possible, choose a career that plays to their strengths and maximize their long-term success and income.

"We know career exploration helps students understand themselves and which jobs align with their strengths, but it does so much more than that,” says Rebecca Johnson, 2023 Alabama Counselor of the Year and group chair of the SkillPointe School Counselor Advisory Council, a group focused on increasing awareness of skilled jobs as a lucrative career path. “It helps them understand why a difficult class or concept matters and how mastering that concept relates to reaching a specific profession."

Helping students think about, plan for and manage their careers pays dividends not only for individuals, but for society as a whole. Career development programs are an engine for economic growth.

Creating successful career development programs in all school systems is possible, Solberg says, but it requires that all parties — parents, schools, governments and employers —  prioritize career exploration and pitch in.

"We've got some things we know are working,” says Johnson. “We need business and industry to join us now in making career readiness a major priority throughout all of education.”

Sarah Hicks is a writer and editor with expertise in workforce training and skills-based career opportunities.

Katherine Gustafson is a full-time freelance writer specializing in content for mission-driven changemakers such as tech disruptors in fintech, healthcare IT, and B2B SaaS. She also does corporate work on business topics including accounting, management, and innovation for companies such as Bloomberg, Visa and Adobe.