Meaningful Work – It Isn’t Just a Fantasy

Work is an integral part of our lives. But, how much of it is meaningful work?   In fact, most of the world’s population spends one-third of their adult life at work.[i]  With an average life expectancy of 79 years, that means we’ll spend just over 13 years at work.[ii]   Does that number fill you […]

The Predictive Power of Interests

PathwayU uses a combination of student interests and values to guide students to career choices that bring them joy, meaning, and purpose. Student interests are the primary driver in our proprietary algorithm. Why are interests important? Matching to occupations on the basis of individual interests is the cornerstone of primary theories of career choice in […]

How to Manage Student Debt by Pursuing Your Passion

The Student Debt Mindset: Manage Student Debt by Pursuing Your Passion Student loan debt is higher than ever before. In the U.S. alone, 44 million borrowers collectively owe over $1.5 trillion in student debt.[i]  To put that in perspective, that’s about $521 billion more than the total U.S. credit card debt[ii]. In 2018, students graduated with […]

PathwayU vs. Free Career Assessments: You Get What You Pay For

Some individuals might ask themselves, “Why would I pay for PathwayU when there are free career assessments online?” The simplest answer is you get what you pay for.  More specifically, the use of free assessments runs the risk of providing misleading feedback, misguiding users and violating professional guidelines. Free upfront, but you’ll pay for it […]

Dreams are for Sleeping, Purpose is for Living

Are you living out your dreams with purpose? Only 30% of people end up working in the careers they dreamt of as kids. Do you remember being a kid, when you had the biggest, most audacious dreams? You couldn’t wait to grow up and become the President of the United States or the next Britney […]

Decisions can change the course of your life forever

In a recent article written by Meg Selig, an author who writes about the change of success uses the term “change power” which is when you combine the strength and willpower with the support of family or friends and a healthy environment to create change through success. Why do people have such a hard time […]

Don’t Make Career Decisions on Your Own! Why You Need Modeling and Support

If you find yourself in the throes of discerning your calling in your career, you’ll find it much harder if you don’t invite others to help. In a classic meta-analysis (i.e., study of studies) of what works in career counseling interventions, Steve Brown and Nancy Ryan Krane[i] identified five “critical ingredients” that tend to show […]

Trying to Figure Out Your Career Purpose? Use Expressive Writing — Seriously.

Are you trying to discern a sense of purpose for your career?   You might be surprised to learn that engaging in expressive writing about your career purpose is a tried-and-true strategy for gaining clarity.   Seriously—as Loyola University Chicago researchers Steve Brown and Nancy Ryan Krane discovered years ago[i], if you want to make […]

Improving Student Confidence at Calvin College

Background Calvin College has been using PathwayU in their Career Center to help students explore career paths that will be satisfying based on the student’s interests, values, personality and workplace preferences. Our assessments link Calvin students to careers and job openings that fit their profile as well as predicted outlooks for each field. In the […]

Soft Skills are the New Hard Skills

Employers and educators frequently distinguish between hard and soft skills without really defining either one. Reading between the lines, hard skills are generally perceived to be job-specific, like an auto mechanic diagnosing an engine problem or a dentist filling a cavity. Soft skills tend to be those attributes common across most jobs and are comprised […]