Businesses are transforming, is career education keeping up?

The world of work is evolving at extraordinary speed. Artificial intelligence, sustainability, automation and new technologies are changing not only the careers available, but also the skills required within established professions. The World Economic Forum estimates that 39 per cent of workers’ core skills will change by 2030. It also projects that structural shifts in the labour market could create 170 million jobs while displacing 92 million others by the end of the decade.

Businesses are already adapting to this transformation. Young people, however, are often expected to make important choices about subjects, higher education and careers before they have had meaningful exposure to the world they are preparing to enter.

International research shows that this challenge is not unique to one country. Across OECD countries, 39 per cent of 15-year-olds are unclear about their career expectations, while career aspirations remain concentrated within a relatively narrow range of occupations. While these figures do not represent UAE students specifically, they underline a broader global issue: many young people are being asked to make important career decisions before they have fully explored the range of possibilities available to them.

The question, therefore, is not simply how students should choose a career. It is whether they have had enough opportunity to understand what is possible before they are expected to choose.

Career conversations are also deeply personal. For many families, decisions around subjects, universities and future professions can become stressful because they arrive within short decision-making windows, often before either the student or parent feels fully informed.

Parents naturally want security and a strong future for their children. Students, meanwhile, may be developing interests of their own but may not yet have the information or language to explain why a particular direction appeals to them. A 2024 study of Emirati undergraduates found parental influence to be the strongest reported factor shaping career choices,

ahead of schools and socio-economic factors — a useful reminder of how closely family and career decision-making can be connected in the UAE.

Starting career exploration earlier can change the quality of these conversations. When a child has gradually explored careers, industries and personal strengths over several years, decisions are less likely to appear suddenly at a high-pressure moment. Students have greater awareness behind their preferences, while parents can better understand how those preferences have developed and gain confidence that the eventual decision is informed rather than impulsive.

This belief is central to the vision of Dr Mauli Mahajan, Founder of MyCareerCompassToday and Career Quest Championship.

“Students are frequently asked what they want to become before they have had enough opportunities to understand what different careers actually involve,” says Dr Mahajan. “If we want young people to make informed decisions, we need to change that sequence. Give them the opportunity to discover, explore and experience first. The decisions that follow will naturally be stronger.”

Career Quest has been conceived as a first-of-its-kind global career exploration championship, creating a structured, long-term and participative approach to career discovery for school students.

Its philosophy is built around four actions: Discover. Explore. Experience. Create.

Students discover their interests and strengths, explore careers and industries beyond those already familiar to them, experience the world of work through practical and hands-on activities, and create outputs that require them to apply what they have learned.

The objective is not to push students towards an early career choice. It is to give them enough exposure, time and experience to make stronger choices later.

Career Quest moves career learning beyond simply knowing the names of professions. Through challenges, investigations, projects and real-world experiences, students begin to understand what professionals actually do, what problems they solve, which skills their work requires and how different industries operate.

This practical approach also builds broader future-readiness skills. Research, communication, creativity, problem-solving, reflection, decision-making and initiative are valuable regardless of the profession a student ultimately chooses.

That direction closely reflects the UAE’s wider educational ambitions. Government education strategies increasingly emphasise practical capability, future skills, lifelong learning and closer alignment between education and the needs of a changing economy.

For Career Quest, future readiness therefore means more than preparing students for a particular job. It means helping them become more capable of navigating careers that will continue to evolve throughout their lives.

For business leaders, this is not simply an education-sector conversation. The students exploring careers today are the people who will enter organisations tomorrow as specialists, entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders.

Industry also possesses something that classrooms alone cannot provide: a real view of how professions are changing.

Business leaders know which skills are becoming more valuable, which roles are emerging, where technology is reshaping work and what young people often misunderstand about particular sectors. Their perspective can turn a career from an abstract title into something tangible and achievable.

This is why stronger connections between education and industry matter. Schools can create opportunities for exploration. Families can provide encouragement and perspective. Career educators can help students understand themselves and their options. Industry can bring the world of work to life.

Career Quest Championship is being introduced across the UAE through schools as well as direct student participation, but its ambition extends beyond the competition itself.

Its success may be found in the student who discovers a profession they had never encountered, recognises an ability they had previously overlooked, or understands for the first time how an interest could develop into a meaningful career.

It may also be found in the parent who moves from uncertainty to confidence because they have watched that understanding develop over time.

“The future workforce is already sitting in classrooms today,” says Dr. Mahajan. “Our responsibility is to ensure young people have enough awareness, exposure and experience to understand what they could become, and the skills and confidence to begin moving towards it.”

As businesses across the UAE continue to transform, career education has an opportunity to evolve alongside the economy it serves.

Businesses are transforming. Careers are transforming. The way young people discover their futures should transform too.