Generation Me or Meaning? Exploring Meaningful Work in College Students and Career Counselors

Assessing the value of meaningful work among undergraduate students is important for guiding career counseling, especially because today’s students are often stereotyped as entitled and uninterested in prosocial or meaningful work. Additionally, understanding the value of meaningful work from the perspectives of career counselors would clarify if services are meeting students’ needs. In the current research, we addressed these issues with two studies. In Study 1, a sample of undergraduate students overwhelmingly indicated that they wanted meaningful work, that they thought finding meaningful work was an important goal of career counseling, and that they wanted career counseling to help them find meaningful work. In Study 2, a sample of career counselors reported that they viewed meaningful work as an important goal of career counseling and that meaningful work is something their clients desire. They also reported helping students find work or majors that are meaningful. Implications for practice are discussed.