30% of Students Rethinking Career Path Due to COVID-19
With the pandemic causing major disruptions in many aspects of life, some college students are second-guessing their chosen career paths.
RemoteInternships, a division of the internship program CareerUp, surveyed students to find out how those who are finishing their education and entering the first phases of their professional careers are faring amid the COVID-19 crisis. The responses revealed that not only are many approaching common college rituals like internships and gap years differently, but a substantial percentage are thinking about changing their career paths entirely.
Confronting a shaky job market
The pandemic has contributed to a wealth of uncertainty in the job market. In fact, in a recent survey, nearly 7 out of 10 respondents stated they were unemployed or feared being out of a job within about twelve months.
The Remote Internships survey suggests that some students may be changing their plans because their job outlook may no longer be as good as it was before the pandemic struck. Among respondents, 28% said they were considering changing their career path because of the pandemic.
Events management students were the ones most likely to be thinking about switching fields — more than 50% said they were considering a different career, perhaps because the events management industry has suffered due to social distancing efforts and consumers’ decreased willingness to travel. In fact, a ValuePenguin survey found that a majority of Americans are delaying future travel plans in order to reduce their risk of infection.
Students who were planning to work for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or nonprofits were the second-most likely group to be considering switching careers, with 41% saying they are weighing other options.
Delaying professional life
Some students may be hoping to delay entering a challenging job market by taking a gap year. The Gap Year Association, an organization which seeks to bring awareness of this type of opportunity, defines such a periodas a “semester or year of experiential learning” that typically occurs the year before college or the year after.
Among respondents, 27% of students said they were either taking a gap year or considering taking one.
As far as what during students who plan to take a gap year are going to do during that time:
53% said they would find work or an internship
19% said they would spend the time taking online courses
10% said they would use the gap year to travel
Students whose industries the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged were most likely to be considering a gap year. More than 40% of events management students were considering taking a gap year rather than moving immediately into their careers after graduation. Likewise, more than 35% of students in hospitality and tourism were considering doing so.
The pandemic has also given some students a greater appreciation for internships. Among respondents, 46.2% said they believe internships are more valuable in the age of COVID-19.
While most respondents – 61.5% — said the pandemic has had no impact on their plans to complete their college degree, 34.8% said they aren’t yet sure if it will have an impact, and 3.7% said they no longer have plans to complete their degree.
Methodology: CareerUp, an international internship placement service based in San Francisco and Montreal, surveyed 2,104 applicants to its internship programs using the Google Forms platform between May 20, 2020 and June 1, 2020.
