Before COVID-19 spread across the world, it was rare for young students to participate in careers activities in a virtual format. It was standard practice for career talks to be delivered with students in person. But the virus – and subsequent lockdowns that shutdown large sections of society, including schools – changed everything. Suddenly lessons needed to take place online. Teachers were delivering classes through monitors into their pupils’ living rooms. And career talks became virtual. Thus, the pandemic afforded researchers a slim silver-lining – an opportunity to study the impact and popularity of online careers activities.
Already there is evidence suggesting virtual career talks can have benefits. Indeed, a major analysis of 7-11 year old students in England found that online interactive classroom career talks can be as effective as in-person talks. Naturally, there’s some nuance behind this headline: virtual talks have some benefits that in-person talks don’t have and vice versa. Virtual talks can cost-effectively increase the volume of provision, provide a video tour of workplaces, and engage employers from further afield and sectors poorly represented locally. However, they struggle to compete with in-person talks in terms of bringing a kind of vividness and energy to career discussions, which can be hard to replicate online.
