Shaping Futures: How Personal Strengths are Linked to Young People’s Job Aspirations
Introduction
What shapes the career goals of young people as they navigate secondary school? Our latest research, based on the Nuffield Foundation-funded SCARI Computing dataset, explores how students’ self-identified personal attributes influence their job aspirations.
Research on job aspirations in the UK highlights how factors such as socioeconomic background, gender, and exposure to career opportunities shape young people’s ambitions. Studies show that children from wealthier families often aspire to professional careers, such as medicine or law, while those from lower-income households tend to gravitate towards vocational roles or jobs with lower status and pay. Gender continues to play a significant role in career choices. Research by Archer et al. (2013), reveals that boys are more likely to aspire to careers in STEM fields, particularly in computing and engineering, while girls often favor roles in education, healthcare, or the arts . This division is influenced by societal expectations and early exposure to gendered career norms, although interventions exist to co-ounteract this (e.g., NUSTEM (2024)).
Research on the relationship between language and career aspirations demonstrates how the language used in career-related discourse can reinforce or challenge societal norms. Gaucher, Friesen, and Kay (2011) found that job advertisements in male-dominated fields like engineering often contain masculine-coded language (e.g., “competitive”), which can deter some women from applying. These findings have been repeated more recently by Ridgway, Oldridge, and Mavin (2024). Other studies emphasise the importance of career guidance language. Archer, DeWitt, and Willis (2014) showed that students are more likely to aspire to careers when the language used by teachers and advisors feels relatable and inclusive. Prior research with this same data set has also explored how young people view the “ideal” computer scientist and identified the following clusters of characteristics an include being Smart & Clever; Knowledgeable & Interested; Determined & Hardworking; Kind & Helpful; Creative; Independent; Confident; and Collaborative (Wong et al. (2024)). A separate study found that the parents and carers of secondary school aged young people were more likely to consider their child having the personal attribute “not nurturing” if they also thought their child was was likely to study physics post 16 (Jones and Hamer (2022)).
But how do young people perceive themselves and how does this relate to the job aspirations? This original study focuses on the career ambitions of students in England, shedding light on the connection between who they think they are and who they want to become—particularly in the field of computing. By understanding these connections, we can better support the next generation in pursuing their goals.
Methodology
This sub-study of the SCARI Computing project utilises quantitative methods to explore students’ job aspirations and self-identified personality characteristics. Data collection in the form of an online survey, involved a young person deciding which, if any, of 12 personal attributes they had. The attributes were largely drawn from Gaucher, Friesen, and Kay (2011), which explores the role gendered language plays in job advertisements.The exception being the “Academic” attribute. In total, 4,995 students aged 11-16, from 15 state-funded, co-educational, and non-selective secondary schools in England participated in the survey. We obtained ethical approval and secured consent from the participating schools, students, and their families.
The primary dependent variable, ‘aspiration to pursue X job,’ was classified based on students’ Likert-type responses. We conducted multivariable logistic regression to analyse which personality traits significantly predict aspirations for specific job roles. For a comprehensive overview of our methods and the student sample characteristics, you can refer to the full description available in Hamer et al. (2023).
Findings
The proportion of valid responses (those that gave a response other than “I don’t know what this job is or skipped the question) Varied between 79 % and 89 %. Tech entrepreneur had the lowest valid response rate - due to a slightly higher proportion of those students not know what the job was.
In our sample, the top 5 most popular overall job aspirations were; business, lawyer, being a celebrity, designer, working in sports Figure 1.
When looking at the student sample split by gender, we see that the top 5 most popular job aspirations for girls are; business, designer, arts, lawyer and teacher. For boys the top 5 are; business, engineer, sports, computer scientist, and programmer. For those whose gender is not listed, the most popular jobs are; arts, digital artist, designer, business, lawyer Figure 2.
The following graphs show the output of a series of multivariable logistic regressions in graphical format. Odds ratios are used to show associations between variables, in this case it shows the odds of someone reporting they have a particular attribute versus those that do not for each given job aspiration. If the Odds Ratio is equal to 1 then there is no difference between those that do and do not report that particular attribute. If the Odds Ratio is greater than 1, their is a greater odds of the person with that personal attribute aspiring to that particular job. If it is less than 1, then there is a lower odds. Error bars denote confidence intervals and red plots indicate the Odds Ratio is significant (p < 0.05).
Figure 3 indicates that those who aspire to work in the arts are more likely to consider themselves understanding, independent, honest, determined, courageous and competitive than those who do not aspire to work in the arts. In particular, they are almost twice as likely to consider themselves courageous than someone whose aspirations lie elsewhere.
Those that aspire to work in beauty are less likely to consider themselves academic, but are more likely to think of themselves as understanding, self-confident, independent, honest, courageous and active, than those who do not aspire to this work Figure 4.
The most popular job aspiration showed a greater and statistically significant odds across all of the personal attributes, with the exception of understanding and nurturing. Of particular note is the 80% increase in the likelihood of considering themselves to be competitive Figure 5.
Those young people who aspired to be a celebrity are significantly more likely to consider themselves understanding, self-confident, determined, courageous, competitive and active, than those that do not aspire to be a celebrity. They are also significantly less likely to think of themselves as academic Figure 6.
The personal attributes reported more frequently among young people who aspire to be a computer scientist are being self-confident, modest, independent, determined, competitive and academic. Young people with this aspiration were almost 2.5 times more likely to report being academic than those who do not have the same aspiration Figure 7.
Figure 8 shows that young people who want to be a designer have a greater odds of identifying the following personal attributes in themselves; understanding, nurturing, independent, honest, determined, courageous, competitive and co-operative.
Young people who aspire to be a digital artist are more likely to report the following personal attributes; understanding, nurturing, independent, honest, determined, courageous, do-operative and academic, compared to those who do not have the same aspiration Figure 9
Those young people who would like to be a doctor are associated with the following self-reported attributes; being self-confident, nurturing, modest, determined, competitive, co-operative, active and are 75% more likely to consider themselves academic Figure 10.
Aspiration to be an engineer is associated with being self-confident, modest, independent, determined, courageous, competitive, co-operative, active and academic Figure 11.
The following personal attributes are associated with a young person aspiring to work in finance; self-confidence, modesty, determination, independence, being competitive, being co-operative and being academic Figure 12.
Aspiration to being a lawyer is associated with the following personal attributes; being self-confident, modest, independent, determined, competitive and academic Figure 13.
Those young people that aspire to be a network engineer are more likely to consider themselves to be self-confident, modest, independent, determined, co-operative, active and academic Figure 14
Young people who aspire to be a teacher are more likely to think of themselves as understanding, self-confident, nurturing, independent, honest and academic than those who do not have the same aspiration. Of note is that they are almost twice as likely to consider themselves to be nurturing Figure 15.
Being a programmer is associated with young people reporting the following personal attributes; self-confidence, being modest, independence, honesty, determination, competitive, co-operative and being academic. This is similar aspiration to being a computer scientist with the exception of being honest Figure 16.
Those young people that aspire to be a scientist are over 3 times more likely to think of themselves as academic Figure 17. They are also more likely to think of themselves as nurturing, modest, independent and determined.
Those that aspire to work in sports Figure 18 are significantly less likely to think of themselves as understanding, independent and academic, but unsurprisingly more likely to think of themselves as active, competitive and self-confident.
Aspiration to be a tech entrepreneur is associated with the following personal attributes; being self-confident, being modest, being determined, being competitive, being co-operative and being academic Figure 19.
Figure 20 shows that those that aspire to work in the trades (e.g., electrician, carpenter, plumber) have a greater odds in reporting themselves to be self-confident, independent, determined, competitive and active and a lower odds of considering themselves as academic.
Discussion
What do young people aspire to be?
Our study explores the career aspirations of young people and the personal attributes they feel they have. Across the sample, business, law, celebrity status, design, and sports were the top five career aspirations. However, when broken down by gender, we see distinctions in job preferences.
For girls, business, design, the arts, law, and teaching emerged as the most popular choices, reflecting broader trends observed in the literature about gendered career aspirations in the UK (Archer, DeWitt, and Willis (2014)). Boys, on the other hand, tended to gravitate more toward business, engineering, sports, computer science, and programming — fields traditionally associated with higher rates of male participation. For students whose gender was not listed, creative careers in arts, such as digital artist and designer, were most popular, which aligns with research showing that non-binary or gender-diverse individuals may be attracted to jobs that are traditionally more inclusive of LGBTQ+ people (e.g., Zindel and Vries (2024)).
Personal attributes and career choices
The connection between self-identified personal traits and career aspirations is evident when we look at the specific jobs young people aim for. By using odds ratios, we explored associations of students with particular attributes and their career aspirations. For example, students who want to work in the arts are significantly more likely to describe themselves as courageous, understanding, independent, and competitive. These characteristics reflect the perception of the arts as a field that values personal resilience and creativity (Wyszomirski and Chang (2017)). In contrast, those aspiring to beauty-related careers were less likely to see themselves as academic but more likely to be confident and active, echoing findings from other studies about beauty professions being associated with self-presentation and confidence (Greatness (2023)).
On the other hand, business aspirants showed a strong likelihood of identifying as competitive, with an 80% increase in this trait compared to others. This likely reflects the highly competitive nature of business-related careers. Aspiring celebrities, while also competitive and self-confident, were notably less likely to view themselves as academic, possibly reflecting societal views that entertainment careers rely more on public image than academic success. In this study, aspiration to the STEM jobs (scientist, computer scientist, programmer, engineer) are associated with students perceiving themselves as academic. This mirrors other studies where the overaching stereotype of people working in STEM is being clever and/or academic (Wong et al. (2024)).
Similarly, students aiming for careers in finance identified with personal attributes like self-confidence, independence, and competitiveness, which are recognised characteristics of people working in these professions (Stefan, Holzmeister, and Friehe (2023)). Interestingly, while aspiring engineers were likely to see themselves as modest, competitive, and active, sports aspirants were far less likely to describe themselves as academic—unsurprising given the often physical rather than traditionally academic demands of such careers (EDHEC Business School (2023)).
Self-perceived attributes are linked with job ambitions
Our findings highlight the connection between young people’s self-perceived personal attributes and their career aspirations. Whether they dream of becoming a lawyer, a celebrity, or a computer scientist, their self-identity is a pivotal factor in shaping these ambitions. By examining these relationships, educators and policymakers can enhance their support for students, helping them pursue careers that resonate with their interests and recognised strengths. Additionally, further research and targeted educational interventions could challenge prevailing societal norms that influence these aspirations, fostering greater diversity across various fields. Exploring how self-perceived personal attributes relate to job aspirations warrants deeper investigation, especailly given the broad brush to some career groups such as “scientist” and “engineer” as well as concerning other identity characteristics and their alignment—or misalignment—with the profiles of professionals currently in those roles.
References
Archer, Louise, Jennifer DeWitt, Jonathan Osborne, Justin Dillon, Beatrice Willis, and Billy Wong. 2013. “‘Not Girly, Not Sexy, Not Glamorous’: Primary School Girls’ and Parents’ Constructions of Science Aspirations.” Pedagogy, Culture & Society 21 (1): 171–94.
Archer, Louise, Jennifer DeWitt, and Beatrice Willis. 2014. “Adolescent Boys’ Science Aspirations: Masculinity, Capital, and Power.” Journal of Research in Science Teaching 51 (1): 1–30.
EDHEC Business School. 2023. “How Does Sport Students’ Practice Shape Their Careers?” https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/edhec-vox/how-does-sport-students-practice-shape-their-careers.
Gaucher, Danielle, Justin Friesen, and Aaron C Kay. 2011. “Evidence That Gendered Wording in Job Advertisements Exists and Sustains Gender Inequality.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101 (1): 109.
Greatness, Aveda Inspire. 2023. “Characteristics That Make a Good Cosmetologist.” https://avedainspiregreatness.com/blog/characteristics-that-make-a-good-cosmetologist/.
Hamer, Jessica MM, Peter EJ Kemp, Billy Wong, and Meggie Copsey-Blake. 2023. “Who Wants to Be a Computer Scientist? The Computing Aspirations of Students in English Secondary Schools.” International Journal of Science Education 45 (12): 990–1007.
Jones, Karen L, and Jessica MM Hamer. 2022. “Examining the Relationship Between Parent/Carer’s Attitudes, Beliefs and Their Child’s Future Participation in Physics.” International Journal of Science Education 44 (2): 201–22.
NUSTEM. 2024. “Careers with STEM.” https://nustem.uk/careers/.
Ridgway, Maranda, Louise Oldridge, and Sharon Mavin. 2024. “‘Leading’by Example? Gendered Language in Human Resource Job Adverts.” Human Resource Management Journal.
Stefan, Manuel, Florian Holzmeister, and Tim Friehe. 2023. “Economic Preferences and Personality Traits Among Finance Professionals and the General Population.” The Economic Journal 133 (4): 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/uead038.
Wong, Billy, Jessica MM Hamer, Meggie Copsey-Blake, and Peter EJ Kemp. 2024. “Is Being Clever Enough? Young People’s Construction of the Ideal Student in Computer Science Education.” Educational Review, 1–20.
Wyszomirski, Margaret J, and WoongJo Chang. 2017. “Professional Self-Structuration in the Arts: Sustaining Creative Careers in the 21st Century.” Sustainability 9 (6): 1035.
Zindel, Zaza, and Lisa de Vries. 2024. “Career Sacrifice for an LGBTQ*-Friendly Work Environment? A Choice Experiment to Investigate the Job Preferences of LGBTQ* People.” Plos One 19 (6): e0296419.