How to show students they have skills for jobs that don’t exist yet
Students are making subject choices today that influence their university pathways – but none of us knows what careers await them after graduation
Charlayne Elizabeth Iwanczuk
Higher education is going through a massive change: the rapid rise of AI and the emergence of jobs that do not yet exist. This means I will be counselling students on professions I cannot clearly define today.
Technological advances, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts and the green transition are transforming the labour market at a rapid pace. This creates a paradox for careers counsellors. The subject choices my Year 9 students make today could influence university pathways for years to come – yet the careers awaiting them after graduation might look very different to those we currently imagine.
Rethinking our responsibility as counsellors
Because we do not have perfect answers about what the job market will look like in five years’ time, we need to rethink our main responsibility as counsellors. Data from the World Economic Forum indicates that half of employers plan to reorient their businesses in response to AI, while 40 per cent anticipate workforce reductions where AI can automate tasks.
In addition, workers can expect that two-fifths of their existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated during the 2025-30 period.
Rather than focusing solely on specific professions, counsellors must help students develop confidence in their decisions and build adaptable professional identities. While we cannot predict future job titles, we can prepare students with enduring capabilities such as critical thinking, resilience, flexibility, global citizenship and agility. Instead of viewing a student only as a future engineer, lawyer or doctor, we should help them recognise the transferable strengths that can open opportunities across multiple industries throughout their lives.
An adaptable generation
Fortunately, Generation Alpha already possesses qualities that support this approach. Having grown up in a digitally connected world, they are accustomed to rapid change and have experienced major global disruptions, from the pandemic to climate change and geopolitical uncertainty. These experiences have helped shape a generation that is, in my opinion, already highly adaptable.
At the same time, constant change can increase career anxiety. As counsellors, we must therefore focus less on rankings, prestige or supposedly guaranteed pathways, and more on students’ values, motivations and long-term resilience. The traditional promise that a specific degree leads directly to a specific career no longer holds.
With more than 2.1 billion people, Generation Alpha is the largest generation in history. Conversations about certainty must give way to conversations about adaptability, otherwise we will only make them more anxious.
Classroom activities
To embed this adaptability into our school culture, I am designing explicit classroom experiences where students discover their strengths through collaborative activities. Here are two practical ideas I am going to try:
1. Degrees versus job titles versus skills
Ask year 11 and 12 students to investigate a university degree, identify the expected and unexpected careers linked to it and then map the skills required for those roles.
By comparing pathways across industries, students can see how the same skills remain valuable in many different contexts.
2. ‘Skills Walk’
Each week, I visit classrooms to observe students during collaborative work and problem-solving activities. Rather than focusing on academic achievement alone, I identify the behavioural and cognitive strengths they naturally demonstrate. These observations will then become part of one-to-one counselling conversations, helping students recognise the real-world value of their everyday capabilities.
Because I connect classroom experiences to future opportunities, students gain confidence in their own potential rather than relying solely on external definitions of success.
The most valuable guidance
Do I, as a new counsellor, have all the answers about what the job market will look like in a few years? No, I do not. The reality is that nobody does – and that defines the challenge.
But our role is not to predict the future; it is to help students feel prepared for it. By fostering adaptability, resilience and strong human connections, we can help students view uncertainty not as something to fear but as a landscape of opportunity.
In a world where careers are constantly evolving, confidence in one’s ability to learn, adapt and grow may be the most valuable guidance we can provide.