Building a Thriving Workforce: Career Preparation During Adolescence

Written by Megan Rouse, Communications Associate, UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent

This blog post was written using quotes from the first session of the 2025 Adolescent Brain Development Symposium, Building a Thriving Workforce—Career Preparation During Adolescence. During this session, Kyle Hartung, EdD, the associate vice president of Jobs for the Future; Stephanie Peete, MPA, the senior director of workforce development for Say Yes Buffalo; and Lilian Beaudoin, an apprentice at Say Yes Buffalo, spoke with moderator Andrew J. Fuligni, the co-executive director of the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent (CDA). Watch the full video on our YouTube.

“Workforce development and focusing on career preparation is fundamentally a developmental question,” says Andrew Fuigni, co-executive director of CDA, to kick off the first panel discussion of our 2025 Adolescent Brain Development Symposium on economic opportunity.

So, how do we create career preparation policies and programs that effectively support young people in the pursuit of meaningful careers while integrating developmental science to support positive development and future outcomes?

Provide the Support that Young People Need to Start Building a Career

Supporting young people to build a sustainable career begins with understanding the developmental opportunities for learning during the later adolescent years, as well as the barriers to employment that young people may encounter. For example, some young people may face mental health challenges that prevent them from consistently showing up for a job, or financial restraints that make higher education or even commuting to a job inaccessible. Additionally, many young people need mentorship on how to build a resume, tools to advocate for themselves in a professional context, or access to networks that help connect them with hiring directors or specific industries. Programs and policies that support the unique needs of youth in their communities can help young people attain the stability needed to explore pathways, take risks to secure satisfying and sustainable jobs, and create long-term life and career goals.

One program that is trying a holistic approach in its mission to help young people build economic success is Say Yes Buffalo. Say Yes Buffalo provides comprehensive support to the young people they serve, including financial assistance, healthcare, mental health support, networking opportunities, and mentorship. “We have 16 different unique wraparound supports to strategically address all of the issues that our young people are facing,” says Stephanie Peete, the senior director of workforce development for Say Yes Buffalo. “It is intentional about addressing the very systemic issues in our community that impact not just the young people but their families from being successful.”

Lillian Beaudoin is a member of the first cohort of dual-enrollment apprentices at Say Yes Buffalo and explained how the extensive, tailored supports they provided allowed her the opportunity to explore multiple career pathways, set future goals, and find a job she is passionate about.

“I had all these resources at my fingertips and I got to use them,” says Lillian.

By providing Lillian with the financial support for her education, she was able to have the security and peace of mind to tackle questions like what she enjoys doing and what certifications, education, or jobs she wanted to pursue.

The social supports that Say Yes Buffalo provided, like connecting her with employers and providing guidance when needed, helped Lillian feel confident and prepared when encountering tough situations in the workplace. And, the developmentally informed encouragement they provided helped Lillian exercise agency, take risks, and find a respected role in her apprenticeship.

“I feel like the biggest risk I did take was self-advocacy,” says Lillian, “I felt like I was in a position that wasn’t challenging me enough and where I wasn’t necessarily respected as a youth and I had to step out of my comfort zone and bring it to people’s attention.”

Lillian is now pursuing a career she loves in data analytics and is working to get a college certificate in computer software development.

Prepare Employers to Work with Young People

Supporting young people to enter the workforce is not enough. We also need to prepare employers to work with young people by teaching developmentally appropriate mentoring methods and providing companies and mentors with information about what young people need and value in a job.

Young people increasingly want a fulfilling and meaningful job that provides them with a sense of purpose and the opportunity to grow in a career. One Pew Research Center survey in 2025 found that 86 percent of teen respondents said that it was extremely or very important to them to have a job or career they enjoy when they’re an adult. If employers listen to the needs of young people and help them in the search for a satisfying and meaningful career, they can help retain good employees and keep them happy at work.

Ways to encourage this behavior include inviting employers to apprentice preparation bootcamps, creating mentorship training classes, and bringing employers and mentors to exercises that help them understand the needs, challenges, and perspectives of the diverse young people they are working with.

“It’s not just the young people that need to be prepared, it’s the employers that need to be prepared to work with young people, especially with young people of color,” says Stephanie.

By engaging employers and mentors in conversations about the practical and developmental needs of young people, we can create healthy, respectful, and sustainable working relationships that can promote career longevity and satisfaction.

“We often talk about youth being the supply side and employers being the demand side,” says Kyle Hartung, the associate vice president of Jobs for the Future, “but to do so is actually not centering the needs of young people.”

We can begin to think of employers as the “supply side,” because they should be supplying young people with what they need to enter the workforce and to grow and thrive in society. With this perspective, talent development becomes less about how employers can fill their jobs and more about “how are they participating in the cultivation of talent and young people more broadly, because it’s beneficial to our society as a whole,” says Kyle.

Ensure that Young People Have Multiple Pathways Toward a Career

In recent years, changing job markets and the increasing cost of education have made many young people hesitant about higher education and entering jobs that could be taken away due to advancements in technology. Many young people need career pathways that provide financial assistance for higher education and opportunities to build skills that can transfer between industries if necessary.

“I’m starting to see a lot of conversation around young people saying they don’t want to go to college. And that’s fine, and we should support them to have multiple pathways,” says Kyle.

In response to changing job markets and the need for flexible pathways, in 2019, Say Yes Buffalo began a dual-enrollment program, where they placed students in both higher education programs and apprenticeships so they could attain a degree or certificate and build transferable job skills at the same time.

“It was an opportunity that I didn’t think was in the cards for myself. I didn’t think I was going to end up going to college. I didn’t think I was going to find a career, especially something that I enjoy doing. And, Say Yes Buffalo gave me all of those things,” says Lillian.

Conclusion

Providing young people with the support they need to build sustainable careers, including direct financial and social support that is informed by developmental science, can help them build successful futures and promote healthy development. Additionally, preparing employers with the tools, resources, and information necessary to adequately train and mentor young people can help nurture talented and satisfied employees with bright futures.

Key Concepts

1. Adolescents are predisposed to explore, take risks, and find purpose and meaning in their lives, making it a key time to invest in career preparation pathways and programs.
2. Career preparation programs that provide young people with scaffolding in the form of mentorship, financial support, and social assistance can help young people from all backgrounds build successful careers and positive outcomes.
3. Employers should understand the unique needs of adolescents as well as how to be effective mentors, which could promote career longevity and satisfaction among young people.
4. Programs that support career development for young people should ensure that youth have multiple pathways and on-ramps to meaningful, successful careers, including higher education and apprenticeships, and other means of building skills that can transfer between industries.