Undergraduate Student Perceptions on Career in the Wake of a Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked changes globally, as leaders scrambled to protect wellbeing and safety. With many U.S. students sent away from their campuses, undergraduate students still grappled with the time-old question: “what will I do after college,” except during an unprecedented time in history rife with heightened career uncertainty. This qualitative study presents the results of a survey administered as part of a mind–body health project conducted in the wake of the pandemic, speaking directly to undergraduate college students’ health-related career aspirations. Two open-ended survey questions—(1) what is your intended career, and (2) how (if at all) has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your perspective about your future career—were administered with thematic analysis conducted. Qualitative analysis using hybrid data and theory-driven approaches revealed several themes around an increased desire to work within health-related fields, decreased desire to work in healthcare, non-medical to medical career shift, and additional undecidedness. Connecting theory to practice, Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span Career Theory and Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory of Career Decision-Making guide practical implications and grander discussion around career development during periods of crisis.

1. Introduction

Local, national, and worldwide crises may impact the human life experience in a variety of ways: sense of safety and belongingness, connectedness to one’s personal community, and psychologically dealing with the aftermath of a trauma in a way that is healthy, productive, and promotes healing. Crises can also influence what people think of themselves, especially within the context of their new world, as people lean into their values and experiences, influencing how they choose to spend their career [1]. Yet, estimating what the impact of a crisis will be on a career is hard to determine and predict, as the impacts are often crisis-specific. For example, in the aftermath of 11 September 2001, there was a reported increase in military enlistment [2,3] with an exodus from the airline industry [4] in the United States. Beyond the details of a specific crisis, the impact of the crisis may also differ based on one’s career stage, for individuals already established within the workforce compared to those just entering (i.e., college students) and beginning to explore their career identities.

Thus, it is of interest to understand how national and global crises may impact career choices, as universally experienced crises are uncommon, and in some cases, occur only once in a generation.

A more recent modern crisis included the COVID-19 pandemic, a time during which there was a widespread workforce concern, whether that be due to concerns about job opportunities, support from one’s employer, or labor market stability [5,6,7,8,9]. Simply put, the pandemic had an impact on careers—from tourism to healthcare [9]—disrupting international economies while demonstrating areas of resilience in fields to explore creative and novel ways to enhance their field and adapt to constantly changing guidelines, governmental oversight, and health expectations [4,10,11,12]. Important to note, career-related questions were heightened amongst those in the healthcare fields (a particular interest in this paper), as the healthcare field became increasingly intertwined in the pandemic response, as discussed further below.

1.1. Impact on Careers in Health

During the pandemic, healthcare employees faced considerable stress and burnout, routinely reporting symptoms of anxiety, overwhelm, and financial burden [13,14,15]. Despite their necessity, some workers reported experiencing stigma related to their role [16], and the field faced high levels of turnover [17]. These barriers also coexisted with appreciation from the public, with many workers reporting feeling appreciated and uplifted by their communities [16].

The “healthcare as heroes” outlook also reportedly spiked interest among youth for pursuing the health-related careers [18,19], a finding extended across cultures outside of the U.S. [20]. Interestingly, despite the increased interest, there were simultaneous increased hurdles as students studying healthcare-related fields faced barriers in their clinical experiences and training both at the undergraduate [21,22] and graduate levels of study (e.g., medical students) [20,23,24,25,26]. Taken together, college students faced several unique experiences (e.g., changes in their educational/clinical training, pandemic disruptions in their schooling, simultaneous societal appreciation and stigma towards healthcare providers, and general instability of the workforce), many of which factors potentially impacted students’ own motivations and interest in what exactly to pursue in their career [27].

1.2. Purpose of the Study

Given the aforementioned career-related encounters undergraduates experienced uniquely during the pandemic, the present research team was interested in understanding if and how the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected undergraduate students’ thoughts, concerns, and motivations for entering the healthcare career. It was of particular interest to the research team to take a qualitative approach to understand nuanced reasoning through the direct voices of undergraduate students to bookend the quantitative approaches taken in prior scholarship [26,28].

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Procedure

Convenience sampling [29] was used to gather data from undergraduate students living at four-year residential colleges and universities in the United States with the goal of understanding the college student experience during the outbreak of the pandemic. A Qualtrics link was sent to faculty who volunteered to list the link in their university student communication listservs and course learning management sites, using snowball and convenience sampling methods [29,30] to encourage other participants to share the survey with their peers via direct emails, social media, and university website/listserv forwarding. Data were collected between 20 May 2020 and the beginning of August 2020. Students who completed the survey were able to submit their email address (unlinked to their responses) to be considered in a random drawing for one of 100 USD 20.00 gift cards.

Approval from the University of Connecticut’s Institutional Review Board was obtained under exempt status, protocol # X20-0088. Respondents gave virtual consent before starting the anonymous online survey. Although respondents were invited to participate in a raffle by entering their email, their email address was not connected to responses, and not all respondents chose to enter the optional raffle; thus, it was not possible to calculate response rates by university (a drawback addressed below in the Limitations Section). Snowball sampling methods were used to try and yield a large number of respondents; thus, it is unclear the number of universities that were represented in the survey. Participants did not provide any identifiable information within the survey itself. Participants did not have to answer questions they did not want to, and they were able to exit the survey at any time if they so chose.

2.2. Instrument

For this study, two open-ended survey questions were used from part of a large anonymous online survey study administered via Qualtrics [31]. This survey was administered as part of a large-scale assessment of mind–body health service usage amongst traditional-aged undergraduate students at four-year residential institutions of higher education in the U.S. The larger study explored topics including beliefs about mind–body health, service usage across several dimensions of physical health, physical exercise, and mental health prior to and during the shutdowns. Qualitative open-ended questions, where respondents were invited to respond to the prompts via typing short responses, prompted student respondents to consider, in 2020, at the time of major uncertainty, during “unprecedented times,” their current career aspirations and if COVID-19 had any impact. Limitations regarding these questions and suggestions for future researchers who wish to examine this research question are further discussed below in the Limitations Section.

On the aforementioned grander survey (created by the first, third, and fourth authors), two open-ended questions around career were posed with respondents invited to respond via short text-based responses: (1) what is your intended career and (2) how (if at all) has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your perspective about your future career? If so, explain. A thematic analysis was conducted on the online survey responses. It is also important to note that the generalizations of these findings must be taken into consideration with the makeup of the sample (with demographics explored below in Section 2.3), the data collection strategy, and the qualitative nature of the study. These limitations are discussed in depth in the Limitations Section.

2.3. Participants and Data Collections

A total of 557 respondents attempted or began the survey. Of those who attempted, 458 responded to at least one of the two qualitative questions analyzed in this study. Most of the respondents were white female students between the ages of 18–21.

Table 1. Respondent demographic data.

Demographic Variable	Total Number	Percentages
Age
18	75	16.4
19	100	21.8
20	125	27.3
21	99	21.6
22	29	6.3
23	10	2.2
24	5	1.1
25+	8	1.7
Gender
Female	354	78.2
Male	93	20.3
Nonbinary	7	1.5
Transgender	2	0.4
Race
White	272	59.4
Black	25	5.5
Asian	95	20.7
Native American/Native Alaskan	2	0.4
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	1	0.2
Multiracial	30	6.6
Prefer not to answer	25	5.5
Academic Status
Freshman	49	10.7
Sophomore	107	23.4
Junior	135	29.5
Senior	160	34.9
Residential Status
Dorm	268	58.5
Off Campus	181	39.5

Respondents were not required to answer questions, so percentages do not add up to 100%, as some respondents did not answer every question.

provides a breakdown of these 458 respondents.

With respect to the question about a student’s intended career, 447 students provided a response, even if the response was that they did not know; 100 respondents did not attempt to answer the question. There was a larger drop-off for the second question asking if COVID-19 impacted or changed their plans, with 364 respondents answering the question and 193 leaving the item blank.

2.4. Data Analysis

Qualitative data analysis was conducted using a hybrid process utilizing a data-driven approach and a theory-driven approach [32] to develop coding categories both emerging through the analysis and developed a priori. In this iterative process, two authors (the second and fourth authors) collaborated during the initial organization of the data, preliminary coding, and final coding process. First, an inductive thematic approach was used to identify initial patterns from student responses to allow for an exploratory and phenomenological understanding of the data. Open codes were created for meaningful participant responses and then organized into themes that captured factors related to desirability and barriers to entering a career within the medical field and potential shifts from their intended career due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, a deductive approach was used to identify themes related to the identified career theories. A codebook was created based on theoretical concepts from Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span Career Theory [33] and Krumboltz’s Happenstance Theory [34]. Codes and themes identified through the data-driven approach were then organized in alignment with theory-driven themes to understand how personal and life experiences influence career choices.

2.5. Theoretical Background

Two career theories provided the foundation for research and interpretation. The first is Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span Career Theory [33], which emphasizes how personal experiences interact with occupational preferences and views career development as a lifelong engagement. Super defines life-space as the roles and spaces contributing to who a person is. These roles (e.g., parent, child, and worker) and spaces (e.g., home and workplace) imply that other people and experiences impact personal development. Super’s Life Rainbow outlines five stages an individual progresses through in their career development. Within the undergraduate student population, most students reside in the Exploration Stage, which involves exposure to various skills and tentative decision-making. Through this framework, the pandemic can be seen as an emotional and societal experience influencing the Exploration Stage for undergraduate students.

Second is Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory of Career Decision-Making, specifically the expansion of Happenstance Theory. The idea of planned happenstance focuses on utilizing unplanned events as learning opportunities [34]. Krumboltz also acknowledges the role of internal and external influencers, such as genetics and environment, in shaping the decisions people make. Krumboltz emphasizes that it is acceptable not to have a rigid career plan because unplanned events occur and often lead to solid career paths [35]. Open-mindedness is established through indecision and allows for the benefit of unplanned opportunities. Individuals work to reframe unexpected obstacles into advantages [34].

2.6. Coding Team

The coding team included the second and fourth authors. Author two identifies as a white female assistant professor in a master’s level school psychology program within a small liberal arts college in the Northeastern United States with seven years of experience within school and educational psychology and qualitative research methodology. Author four identifies as a white female graduate student in mental health counseling and is currently in training. The first and third author collected data from a mental health and educational psychology perspective, given their training orientations in educational psychology and quantitative research methodology. The first author identifies as a white female assistant professor in a clinical psychology program at a metropolitan school in the Northeast. The third author identifies as a South Asian American female assistant professor at a regional comprehensive university where she teaches graduate courses in research methods and assessment. Both the first and third authors provided iterative feedback on the interpretations of the data analysis. Our backgrounds in educational psychology and mental health guided and provided a lens for the coding of data.

2.7. Methodological Integrity Statement

The research team employed both inductive and deductive qualitative approaches to explore the pandemic’s impacts on the health-related career interests of undergraduate students. These paired approaches to interpretation were appropriate as a means to capture the nuanced perspectives and experiences of undergraduate students via two open-ended questions of a larger mind–body health pandemic survey.

Specifically, through our data analysis, the authors employed Fereday & Muir-Cochrane’s [32] hybrid process honoring participant voices, while remaining grounded in career theory (as described below). We recognized the influence of the scholar’s perspectives on the research process and, as such, the team engaged in regular reflexive practice, which included debriefing with coders and colleagues not directly involved in coding and analysis. This process allowed for critical self-examination of our assumptions and interpretations. Ethical considerations were paramount throughout the study. In-depth details of our study design, participants, analysis, and coding team are provided below.

3. Results

Of the students surveyed, the impacts of the pandemic on intention to enter the field of medicine (e.g., physician, pharmaceuticals, and nursing) were most salient. These intentions can be first understood by first examining phenomenological themes that emerged from each student’s lived experience.

COVID-19 impacts on college students’ perspectives of their future career were organized into three key themes: increased desire to enter the medical profession, decreased desire to enter the medical profession, and non-medical to medical career shift. These key themes and related sub-themes are described below (see

Table 2. Understanding career impacts during COVID-19.

Theme	Sub-Theme	Example Codes
1. Increased Desire (n = 61)
	1.1 Importance of career (n = 30)	- More interested and passionate due to impact - Future career is important - Jobs are secure - Career will be respected
	1.2 Increased motivation (n = 14)	- Determined to achieve goals - Excitement - Eager to get into field - Increased desire for public health
	1.3 Helping people (n = 12)	- Want to help people more - Seeing people go home healthy
2. Decreased Desire (n = 40)
	2.1 Effects on workers (n = 14)	- Fragility of medical system - Vulnerability of frontline workers - Mental health services for healthcare workers
	2.2 Barriers (n = 13)	- Access to prerequisites and exams - Difficulty of shadowing and internships - Remote learning
	2.3 Time to rethink career options (n = 7)	- Considering a creative route - Economic reconsiderations
	2.4 Apprehension and stress (n = 6)	- More stressed - Uncertainty - Direct impact to projected field of study
3. Non-medical to medical career shift (n = 14)		- Focus research on disease - Masters in public health - Look more into pharma and biotech

).

3.1. Increased Desire to Enter Medical Profession

The most frequently mentioned impact of the pandemic on student careers was an increased desire to enter the medical profession. More specifically, students wrote about the importance of entering a medical career, increased motivation, and helping people as three sub-themes pertaining to increased desire to enter a medical profession.

3.1.1. Sub-Theme 1.1: Importance of Career

A total of 30 students reported an increased desire to enter a medical-related career. Students described increased levels of passion due to the influence they could have on society and the health and wellbeing of all. One participant stated, “The pandemic has elevated the position and importance of the pharmacist, showing me that I really will be able to affect patients’ lives in this role.” Another noted, “It has made me feel more interested and passionate in becoming a doctor as they have made such an impact to society.” Job security, respect for medical roles, and optimism about the future need for medical roles were also reported. Specifically, students stated that during the pandemic, there was “more demand for my career” and “there will always be a need for it.”

3.1.2. Sub-Theme 1.2: Increased Motivation

Increased motivation in entering a medical and health profession was reported by 14 students. Students described more appreciation for the profession and a drive to enter the field. Reports of witnessing current medical and health-related professionals increased their determination to accomplish their goals of entering the field to help. One student reported “It makes me more driven to achieve that goal so that next time we need nurses I can be there to help instead of feeling useless” and another student stated, “Seeing my mom who is a nurse continue to go to work and help so many people every day is so inspiring to me.” While personal accounts increased motivation, vaccine research conducted during the pandemic also influenced students’ desire to enter the field.

3.1.3. Sub-Theme 1.3: Helping People

Perhaps unsurprisingly, helping people emerged as a sub-theme for 12 participants. Students described supporting their communities and working on the front lines to help people. One student stated, “I have become even more invested in working towards a career as a physician…After seeing people get better and go home healthy, I want to experience that joy daily.” Other students described their eagerness to enter the field, one reported “[The pandemic] makes me more eager to help out my community in times of need” and another said, “It has made me want to become a doctor sooner in order to help others.”

3.2. Theme 2: Decreased Desire to Enter Medical Profession

Decreases in the desire to enter a medical and health profession were reported by 40 students. Students described effects on workers, barriers, time to rethink career options, and apprehension of entering the field as sub-themes.

3.2.1. Sub-Theme 2.1 Effects on Workers

Treatment of medical workers during the pandemic and increased awareness of the fragility of the medical system were described as deterrents to entering the medical field. Across medical professions, students described their observations of the vulnerability of frontline workers and the state of medical professions during the pandemic. One student described that the pandemic “made me more aware of the hostility towards collective health movements.” Another stated, “most pharmacies don’t have any protective barrier between pharmacy staff and patients.” Salaries and workload were also described. One student noted, “Healthcare workers are overwhelmed and are not compensated fairly, though they endure several hours of work a day.”

3.2.2. Sub-Theme 2.2 Barriers

Educational and professional barriers were described by 13 students. During the pandemic, students reported not being able to access internships and shadowing experiences during their studies. Students also described difficulty in hardship in accessing prerequisite courses and exams required for post-bachelor programs. One student reported that the pandemic “hinders my career because I am unable to work, have an internship, or gain the necessary experience to go into my career.” Barriers to providing services to patients and clients were also described. The pandemic led one student to “think more critically on how speech and language services can be accessible via remote service” and more broadly one student shared that the pandemic “has shown me that there is an obvious lack of medical care for those unable to attain it, even during times of a pandemic when people need each other the most.”

3.2.3. Sub-Theme 2.3 Time to Rethink Career Options

Students described how distance learning and quarantine provided them an opportunity to reflect on and time to consider their career options. Rethinking careers due to an uncertain economy was described. As an example, one student stated, “It has made me rethink my dreams and career goals because I am unsure what the economy will be like when I graduate.” Additionally, time to reflect provided students with clarity on which career avenue to pursue. One student considered a more creative career, and another student stated, “I’ve been thinking of changing my major to something more related to exercise science… Now I feel even stronger about switching.”

3.2.4. Sub-Theme 2.4 Apprehension and Stress

The pandemic led students to describe feeling less motivated, more stressed, and apprehensive about their future goals within the medical profession. One student stated they felt “more stressed about when I will be able to start my career. More worried about continuing my education.” Another described that the pandemic made them “less motivated and I’m always behind, as I’m not able to focus.” Uncertainty about the future also led one student to question their current goals: “I’m not sure now if my plans are still intact and whether I should change my future goals.”

3.3. Theme 3: Non-Medical to Medical Career Shift

Fourteen students reported career shifts to the medical field due to the pandemic. Students described making shifts in majors and research focuses. Specifically, students described stability in medical-related careers. One student stated, “Pharma seems to be more stable than oil and gas, so I am looking towards consumer goods, pharma/biotech, and specialty chemical companies more.” Another student described a more specific research focus influenced by the pandemic: “Makes me want to go into it (research) more, possibly now from a disease standpoint, not just a protein research.”

3.4. COVID-19 and Career Theories

Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span Career Theory [33] and Krumboltz’s Happenstance Theory [33,34] were used to understand student experiences and their impact on career trajectories. Student responses were coded and categorized into key components of each theory. First, Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span Career Theory delineates responses to best understand how personal experiences interact with occupational preferences. Next, Krumboltz’s Happenstance Theory delineates student responses to understand how the unplanned event of the pandemic, and additional internal and external influencers, could be used as a learning opportunity to influence one’s career. The coding team used these two theories to frame the results of our analyses from a career theory perspective (see

Table 3. Themes based on career theory.

Career Theory	Key Component of Theory	Example Codes
Super (n = 45)
	Personal experience as an influence (n = 17)	- Difficulty gaining experience or necessary education - Need to help and feel useful
	Impact of other people (n = 17)	- Deterred by risk of healthcare workers - Inspired by sacrifice of healthcare workers
	Tentative decision-making (n = 11)	- Uncertainty and hesitancy of future plans - Change in values - Inability to make decisions or move forward
	Exposure to various career paths (n = 4)	- Learning about other career options besides intended career - Challenges in career exploration
Krumboltz (n = 35)
	Internal and external influencers (n = 21)	- Frustration with institutions and systems - Internal pull to help and be involved
	Unplanned events as learning opportunities (n = 7)	- Pandemic as inspiration for continued interest and research - Excitement behind advancement - Resiliency
	Open-mindedness (n = 7)	- Flexibility in career and life - Curiosity of pandemic impact

).

3.4.1. Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span Career Theory

Personal Experience as an Influence: The component of “personal experience as an influence” captures anything the respondent personally experienced that impacted their career path. Personal experiences both facilitated and hindered the desire to enter the medical field. Difficulty gaining access to necessary educational requirements and learning experiences (e.g., internships) was described as “It hinders my career because I am unable to work, have an internship, or gain the necessary experience to go into my career.” Still, personal experiences working in the field during the pandemic strengthened the desire to enter the medical profession. As an example, one student shared, “Prior to the pandemic, I worked in a patient care role at a hospital. As I have worked at the hospital much more since we got home, I have become even more invested in working towards a career as a physician. I suppose the need for staff at the hospital has made me feel like my intended career is beyond worthwhile.”

Impact of Other People: The “impact of other people” captures the extent to which students described an influence on their career or perspectives from exposure to others. Respondents described personal relationships with healthcare workers, observations of workers on the frontline, and those providing data and information to the public and influencing their careers. On one hand, the impact of another person inspired one student: “My dad is a doctor and during this time there have been many sacrifices and risks but I admire what he does so much more now.” On the other hand, exposure to others deterred one student: “I always wanted to be a humanitarian nurse, but the pandemic made me realize just how frightening it may be after I learned about the sickness and death of other nurses working front-line.”

Tentative Decision-Making: Tentative decision-making includes responses that include uncertainty and shifts in making decisions about one’s career. Regarding the pandemic, students described changes in values, uncertainty, and hesitancy of their future plans, and at times, an inability to make decisions on moving forward with their goals. For example, one student reported that the pandemic “makes me uncertain about the future. I am not sure now if my plans are still intact and whether I should change my future goals.” Furthermore, one student reported, “I am unable to explore my options in what my future career should be, therefore, I am hesitant in what I really want to do.”

Exposure to Career Paths: A key component in career decision-making is exposure to various career paths. During the pandemic, students described ways in which COVID-19 helped or hindered their career exploration options. One respondent reported that the pandemic “has also given me time to try new things and explore new interests.” Another student reported a positive experience in that “COVID has enforced the idea that working in healthcare/biotech is a safe route to take going forward after I graduate. Sometimes I think that designing and working with hydroponics or aquaponics would be a really satisfying thing to do with my life.” Not all opportunities to gain exposure were positive. As an example, one student reported, “Since it canceled my summer internship, I no longer have the ability to ‘try out’ one career path I am interested in. I think this may cause me to take longer to figure out what I’m interested in.”

3.4.2. Krumboltz’s Happenstance Theory

Internal and External Influencers: Internal and external influencers refer to influences on career choices from personal feelings or external systems and environments. Influencers were captured in student responses in two key ways: frustrations with institutions and systems, and an internal pull to help and be involved. Institutional and systems-level influences were described at the university and national levels. One student reported, “[The pandemic] has made me realize that institutions need to be more proactive and have more emergency plans in place in case situations like these arise.” Furthermore, another student reported, “The COVID-19 pandemic has made me realize modern medicine is inherently intertwined with politics and economics from an international level. The autonomy and effectiveness of healthcare providers are severely restricted without the full support of all levels of government. This has made me consider careers in public health in conjunction with my aspirations to be a physician.” Internal influences were described as passion and drive to make a difference in helping people through healthcare. For example, one respondent stated that the pandemic “Makes me more passionate to help others in need and awful times.”

Unplanned Events as Learning Opportunities: The unplanned nature of COVID-19 led to student descriptions of positivity and inspiration surrounding the pandemic pertaining to careers within medical professions. Inspiration for research, advancements in the field, and resiliency were described. One student described their excitement about medical advancement: “My career field is thriving. They are working hard day and night in the lab. It makes me so excited to see what they are finding and exploring.” Another respondent described opportunities in their own research, “I am now still pursuing my dream career, but have reflected about it more in-depth and have begun searching for ways to increase safety measures to protect the health of other people.” Additionally, personal resources to support wellbeing and resilience were noted. For example, one student shared, “I was on a COVID unit for months not able to see my family unless distant and this could have affected my mental and physical health but I learned to workout and talk walks and open up my mind as well as have distant visits with my family and friends.”

Open-Mindedness: Open-mindedness encompasses student responses that describe embracing uncertainty, adapting to change, cultivating curiosity, and a positive attitude during a time of uncertainty. Student experiences were captured in two key ways: flexibility in career and life, and curiosity about the pandemic’s impact. For example, one student described their positive attitude and embracing uncertainty in their graduate school experience: “It has made me less stressed about the journey through grad school because all this pandemic has taught me is that no matter what, your timeline is never set in stone and you cannot plan for everything, so I don’t need to stress myself out about my path, and I can figure it out as I go.” Another student expressed their curiosity by stating “I still want to become a doctor of physical therapy. I am curious though, how the pandemic may be impacting physical therapy centers.”

4. Discussion

The present study sought to examine undergraduate students’ thoughts, concerns, and motivations for health-related careers amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. A subgroup of findings suggested that students experienced changed desire (both increasing and decreasing desires) to work in health-related fields, shifting from a non-medical to medical career interests, and reporting enhanced feelings of ambivalence and ambiguity amidst an unprecedented pandemic. These findings, now situated in a post-pandemic period, may inform practices for higher education around career development opportunities, which are specifically explored below.

4.1. Career Development

Within career development theories, emphasis is frequently placed on the “why” of careers, such as “why” is having a job important? Yes, a job is critical for financial and personal safety, and for resources, but “career,” as many theorists propose, can and should be more than a “job.” Career plays an important role in personal development through helping individuals feel they are making meaning beyond themselves through making a difference, which helps aid in maintaining certainty in their career. Tying in with the aforementioned theorists, Super’s Life Career Rainbow [33] speaks to the simultaneous process of personal and professional development, highlighting both the life roles people take on and the important markers in the career trajectory at that time. Intertwining theory into practice, for students in the present study who were interested in their career development in a post-pandemic world, especially those interested in medical or helping professions, understanding the “why” behind the work, coupled with the intertwining (and equally as relevant) personal development that occurs with growth, was, and continues to be, important.

4.2. Development Opportunities

In connection to relevant theory, Super [33] speaks to the interaction between personal and occupational roles, connecting the importance of selecting relevant career paths related to personal interests, and how in the Exploration Stage (which most college students are in), experiences related to exploration (e.g., shadowing and internships) are very relevant in deciding their future career path. Krumboltz [34] highlights the importance of unplanned learning opportunities in personal development. Thus, within a post-pandemic world, students potentially learned how unplanned events could be used as learning opportunities (such as engaging in online professional development and conferences). Krumboltz directly acknowledges the roles of outside forces, such as the current environment or government, and how that may impact the choices of individuals, highlighting a direct connection to how the pandemic may have shaped the career endeavors of some students in the seeking population. Just as Krumboltz emphasized open-mindedness, this perspective is of equal value to students on the job market (or preparing for it); it also highlights the importance of higher education career resources and future employer understanding how a global pandemic may have impacted the career trajectory and opportunities that students may have had access to amidst COVID-19 shut downs and the transition to remote learning and service.

4.3. Careers and Crisis—Practical Implications Broadly Speaking

Finally, reflecting on students’ career interests using qualitative data during the outbreak of COVID-19 provides unique insight into the understanding of students’ career interests during a period of crisis. As mentioned earlier, the tragic events of 11 September 2001 facilitated a shift in career interest to military positions, and our data, along with other scholarship, provide insight into the shift during the pandemic that occurred towards healthcare [18,19,20]. The present findings highlight the sheer number of respondents who referenced healthcare-related careers (with either increased or decreased interest). As mentioned earlier, a national-level crisis is an uncommon experience to endure, and gleaning a grander perspective on how this impacted those preparing to enter the workforce presented a unique opportunity to again understand the impact of a crisis on careers for our sample of students.

Along this note, these data are interesting to reflect upon how crisis and national/global common experience may facilitate empathy or interest to help solve grander issues or problems facing the system at large (such as national safety or disease response), adding to prior scholarship seeking to understand changes in careers during national/global stressors [20,36,37]. Wrzesniewksi [38] writes about the notion of people’s shifting perspective on their career post-9/11, sharing that the crisis “served to focus attention on what their work was contributing to the wider world” (p. 230). Perhaps the pandemic offered similar effects, encouraging young people in our study to reflect on considerations about their careers. What will be interesting is to see if these shifts hold longitudinally post-pandemic.

Practically speaking, these findings have implications for institutions of higher education when considering how to offer career counseling and advice to students in a post-pandemic world, noting there may be a potential increased interest in healthcare fields. Thus, universities and colleges may consider investing more resources in supporting pre-health professionals. Additionally, career advisors may consider explicitly asking about the pandemic, or personal/collective crisis experiences, as potential motivators for what careers one may be motivated to pursue—integrating values and lived experiences to help guide career decision-making. Furthermore, for scholars, these findings highlight a unique example of how crises (more generally) impact people and their career considerations. For example, there are limited examples of nation-wide—let alone global—crises that impact people in a universal way. Thus, the present study offers a unique glimpse into how career interests may change or alter depending on lived collective experience—an interesting and uncommon experience to examine in the scholarship, given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Especially in a post-pandemic world, there exists a push for increased work–life balance [39,40]. Use of the Super’s Life Career Rainbow may be a helpful tool for students to reflect on their current roles, consider their ideal roles for the future, set goals, and identify potential hurdles they may need to overcome (for theory-driven exercises for practitioners, see MindTools) [41]. Higher education institutions more generally may consider adding reflective career exercises to their career services office, integrating career theory in career coaching in order to support reflective student career growth in a post-pandemic world.

4.4. Limitations

This study was conducted during the height of the COVID-19 initial lockdowns, between the spring and summer of 2020. It is important to note that we are unsure if the attitudes respondents indicated based on their responses were actual changes they made in their career trajectory, or just thoughts they had during a period of substantial change and crisis. In other words, we are not sure, in the heat of the moment, if respondents were indeed making changes based on this crisis, or if their career trajectory went back to “baseline” months or years later into the pandemic and post-pandemic. These findings may impact the scope of transferability. At the same time, as we seek to understand the subtleties, such as the emotional and heightened experiences of people during times of crisis, this period for data collection is rife with strengths.

Additional limitations include the convenience sampling method, which was restricted to students in traditional four-year colleges. Generally speaking, these students are ones with more access to resources and higher socioeconomic status than those attending community college or two-year institutions. Finally, when we asked students to write about their future careers, we did not specify whether this was their intended interest or initial interest. Therefore, we may not have captured the subtle differences in the profile of pre- and post-lockdown in what the career changes revealed.

Furthermore, the present sample spans undergraduate students, from first year to senior, with potentially differing perspectives and insight into their future careers. That said, a first-year student’s understanding of their career path may indeed be different than that of seniors, a consideration future scholars may wish to investigate. Given the nature of survey research, it is always critical to mention the potential for bias in the responses. Specifically, we must consider the possibility that respondents could be disproportionately drawn from groups of people with direct personal interfaces with the pandemic, such as having parents, close relatives, or friends who were ill, impacted by the pandemic, or who were direct healthcare workers during this time. Future research may consider asking about specific factors, such as the factors mentioned here, in order to best understand the nuances within the findings.

Finally, these open-ended questions were part of a larger survey, and while qualitative research has the ability to provide rich thick descriptions of phenomena and answer questions such as how and why, our data are limited given that we were not able to ask follow-up questions or ask students to provide more detail and insight to their questions. Qualitative data collected through traditional quantitative methods, such as a survey, provides some additional understanding and allows respondents to provide their own answers using their own voice but limits the extent of the data. Furthermore, perhaps in-depth interviews would offer additional, rich details regarding the students’ experiences with the pandemic and their careers, a potential consideration for future research. That said, the generalizability of these data needs to be considered given the sampling methodology used (convenience and snowball), population (undergraduate students), and style of questions (two open-ended questions). At the same time, we feel that our qualitative data pair nicely with prior quantitative methods employed by other scholars [18,19,20] to paint a more comprehensive outlook on the story of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on health-related careers through qualitative and quantitative lenses.

4.5. Future Directions

The present findings naturally fuel additional research questions, specifically thinking about how careers changed during the wake of the pandemic. Although the official pandemic may have ended, the effects, as observed across fields of study, work industries, and expectations in education and healthcare, have led to shifts that will forever be grounded in the foundation of COVID-19 [18,19,20,42]. Within the realm of higher education, with recent graduates newly entering the professional world, future research may address how trends in careers have changed since 2020. Have these changes shifted in expectations, returned to normal, or has the pandemic left an impact on people and their workforce choices years after the pandemic has ended?

Furthermore, future research may also consider the impact COVID-19 had on students’ interest in graduate training, given sociocultural differences post-pandemic. Said another way, are more individuals interested in pursuing higher graduate education given shifts in societal expectations post-pandemic (e.g., job security and remote opportunities)? Finally, the present research did not consider the experiences of international students studying in the U.S. during this time. Future research may wish to explore international students’ career experiences, as students traveling internationally for school likely face additional unique stressors.

Regarding methodology, future research may wish to consider crisis career questions via the use of validated measures of career interest and intent. Furthermore, qualitative interviews regarding students’ experiences during the pandemic, or other crises, gathered retroactively would be interesting to examine. In the future, researchers should collect information regarding the specific schools/locations surveyed (a limitation of snowball/convenience sampling) in order to determine a response rate.

5. Conclusions

“What will I do after school?” is the question that strikes emotion for most graduating college students, which took on new meaning during a global pandemic. During this immense period of stress, many undergraduate students sought to understand their emerging role in society within the context of greater meaning, to support their communities and nation impacted by a national crisis, highlighting how crisis can impact our world view and future ambitions. This orientation perfectly highlights Krumboltz’s [34] perspective that the “career destiny of each individual cannot be predicted in advance but is a function of countless planned and unplanned learning experiences beginning at birth” (p. 152).