We spend a lot of time helping people become job ready. But in a labor market where occupations evolve, skills change, and career transitions are increasingly common, preparing for the next job may not be enough. We also need to help people become career literate.
The DeBruce Foundation defines career literacy as the ability to make informed decisions about occupational pathways. Think of it as the career equivalent of financial literacy: just as financial literacy helps people make better decisions about money throughout their lives, career literacy helps people understand and navigate an evolving world of work.
The Foundation’s recent Career Literacy and Employment Security in the U.S. report identifies three important components:
Why does this matter?
Research involving approximately 36,000 working-age Americans found a strong relationship between career literacy and positive employment outcomes. People with higher career literacy tend to explore a broader range of career possibilities, experience shorter periods of unemployment, and report greater employment security. Those with high career literacy considered about six jobs during a job search, compared with only two among people with low career literacy.
For career counselors and coaches, this suggests an important shift in perspective. Our goal shouldn’t simply be helping someone answer, "What job should I pursue?" We can also help them learn how to answer that question for themselves today and then again five, ten, or twenty years from now.
That means encouraging students and job seekers to explore occupations beyond the ones they already know, recognize and articulate their transferable skills, investigate how their interests connect to different types of work, build professional relationships, and remain curious about where the labor market is heading.
For the individual job seeker, career literacy can also be empowering. You don’t have to identify one perfect career and follow a predetermined path. Instead, you can develop the ability to recognize opportunities, evaluate your options, understand what you bring to the table, and adapt when circumstances change.
Career readiness can help someone get their next job; career literacy can help them navigate whatever comes after it. In a world of work defined by change, that may be one of the most valuable career skills we can help people develop.