A Transformative Week of Career Conversations in Maryland

Last week, Steve Regur and I returned to Maryland to collaborate with our partners, including school leaders, workforce development professionals, career advisors, coaches, school counselors, teachers, instructional coaches, and staff. Over four days, we engaged with a diverse group of professionals at every stage of their career advising and coaching journeys—ranging from those just starting out to experienced practitioners with years of experience. Together, we explored strategies to enhance student engagement in career conversations and deepen their understanding of their hoped-for future selves.

The work in Maryland builds on multiple years of deployment in the region, using Career Connected Schools (CCS) methods to engage both students and adults in conversations about career identity, vividness and specificity, connecting classroom learning to the world of work, and activating networking skills. Throughout the week, we coached advisors and coaches on holding space for these conversations—modeling methods that normalize the use of a common career language and dialogic methods, integrated it into core instruction whenever possible, involving parents and community, all while activating student ownership.

Career Conversations Move to the Core

We heard from many coaches who now have the confidence to bring career conversations from the margins to the core of their practice—without relying on curriculum or assessments.

Not only is this a career-connected strategy, but it’s also a student engagement strategy that activates belonging. It’s a teacher strategy, where career conversations are just a brain break away. It’s a communication bridge that opens new dialogue between parents and teachers about students’ interests, and it can be an unusually effective entry point for professionals who speak RIASEC with students.

And, most importantly, it’s happening in schools —across zip codes, with a variety of school focuses, and across grade levels. We know it’s advancing because we are working with their students, and we're watching the skill level of the coaches grow.

The Role of a Common Career Language

The highlight of this week was working with students fluent in RIASEC. Using CCS methods, we assessed their understanding of the common language, differentiated by grade level, and engaged them in rich, dialogic conversations. Students described their hopes and dreams, connected learning to career possibilities, and actively participated in networking simulations.

We also incorporated our new sixth-generation career cards, which challenged students to assess, negotiate, select, and/or turn down career options based on their preferred RIASEC themes. The fast-paced simulations surprised both students and adults, fueled by the energy and enthusiasm everyone contributed to the activities. Simply put, it was fun, and students loved trading for careers that aligned with their interests.

For students, fluency in RIASEC is transformative. It gives them the vocabulary to describe themselves in the world and and provides them a meaning making tools to explore careers that align with their strengths, interests, and values. By introducing real-world scenarios, like happenstance, competition, and chance, we helped students adapt to unpredictable career situations, that surfaced new levels of confidence and decision making.

Why RIASEC Works

Could other frameworks or taxonomies be used instead of the RIASEC? Yes. But in our experience, RIASEC is the most accessible, trainable, and memorable for students and teachers. It’s also widely used by colleges, universities, and the O*Net, making it an open, universal language for career exploration. With more than ten years using the taxonomy, it has consistently proven to be the best language from the earliest grades to the upper grades and beyond.

Ways We Play Career with Students

Once the RIASEC language is established, and only once it's been established, this activity can be performed. Students are invited to blindly choose a career. They are then prompted in the following way:

1. What RIASEC themes match the career you selected? There's no right or wrong answer.

2. Based on what you know about this career, and your own themes, is this a good fit for you? Why or why not?

3. You can now network with your classmates and adults in the room to explore other career options that might be a better fit for you. Be ready to explain why you decided to keep or change your career.

4. Did you keep your career or did you trade it for another career? Why did you make this decision?

5. If you chose a new career, tell us about your new career, why you chose it, and how your themes align.

6. How did networking and exploring other career options make you feel?

By simulating real-world tensions—such as time constraints, negotiating trade-offs, and making tough decisions—we help students build conversational skills to articulate their place in the world and pursue what they want, while also developing the confidence and self-awareness to say, “That’s not for me.”

Student Comments to Reflect Upon

Here are some of the reflections from middle and high school students we worked with:

• “It was fun.”

• “It was scary.”

• “I got a career I wanted.”

• “I didn’t get a career I wanted.”

• “I learned about jobs I knew nothing about.”

• “I learned how to say no when the job isn’t for me.”

• “I think everyone needs this type of learning.”

• “Just giving us time to talk about this stuff matters.”

• “We should do this every day in school.”

• “I never would have thought about this career—a picked a surgeon—for myself. It just so happens that my neighbor is one.”

• “Now I want to explore data science even more.”

• “These are definitely my letters.”

• “That’s a career I don’t want, and here’s why.”

• “I want to make a lot of money.”

• “I want to help people more than make a lot of money.”

What Adults Said That We Reflected On

• “I’m impressed with how articulate the kids were.”

• “I never would have thought that career would interest you.”

Some of the Reasons We Think This Work Matters

For Career Counselors in Secondary, Post-Secondary, and Beyond: Imagine working with students who can articulate their strengths, interests, and values with evidence, and can connect academic options to career goals. How might this improve and or accelerate your advising sessions?

For Teachers: Imagine a common career language to activate real-world connections in your content area, turning career conversations into a relevance wrap for your instruction without a new curriculum to worry about.

For Parents: Having a new lens to see and support your child’s growth, helping you encourage them based on their interests, and what they’re learning about themselves.

For Businesses: Might we be so bold as to suggest the value of expecting a talent pipeline filled with students who not only understand their own strengths, interests, and values but can also align them with your organization’s mission and values? What if these students, once hired, could manage their careers proactively, upskill themselves, and take ownership of their professional development?

As we close this week of work, we applaud the efforts of all the educators and career professionals in our Maryland community of practice. Your dedication is expanding our understanding of how students are building the skills and confidence to engage meaningfully with each other and their communities about the world of work. These students are developing curiosity, equipped with an emerging career identity and a powerful, shared career language to articulate their future possible selves.