







































Humanitas: Indonesian Psychological Journal  
Vol. 20 (2), August 2023, 159-173 

ISSN:  2598-6368(online); 1693-7236(print)                                                                 

       humanitas@psy.uad.ac.id             http://journal1.uad.ac.id/index.php/Humanitas         https://doi.org/10.26555/humanitas.v20i2.289 

Student career anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: A 

phenomenological exploration 

Anita Budi Prabawaningrum1, F. A. Nurdiyanto2, Alyssa Berliana Putri1,  

Enggar Putri Harjanti2  

1Faculty of Psychology, Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia 
2Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia 
Corresponding author: franznur@gmail.com 
 

 

Introduction 

Since 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak has spread worldwide and infected more than 500 
million people globally, with a 1.2% mortality rate of approximately 6 million people (World 
Health Organization [WHO], 2022). The first case in Indonesia was reported on March 2, 
2020, and since then, it has continued to increase rapidly throughout Indonesia's territory. 
Until July 9, 2022, as many as 6.057.660 cases of positive infection have been reported, with 
156.624 cases of death (Kementerian Kesehatan RI, 2022a). Indonesia also recorded the 
Delta variant domination until August 2021, which has caused a dreadful wave of infections 
and fatalities (Kementerian Kesehatan RI, 2022b). The COVID-19 pandemic has caused 
radical changes and worsened mental health issues, such as pandemic stress, anxiety, 
emotional instability, and loneliness (Nurdiyanto & Harjanti, 2022). Likewise, the pandemic 
also increases the suicide risk for women (Nurdiyanto et al., 2022). After enacting COVID-
19 as a pandemic, the authorities governed various efforts to suppress transmission through 
travel restrictions, prohibition of physical contact or social distancing, and even semi-

ARTICLE  INFO  

 

ABST RACT  

 

Article history 

Received December 20, 2022 

Revised February 27, 2023 

Accepted June 26, 2023 

 The COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis in students' career 
development. Online learning activities could not have been optimal 
during the pandemic due to the poor quality of the internet network. 
Meanwhile, more than 1.2 million individuals had their employment 
terminated, resulting in their job loss. The pandemic contributes to 
students' career anxiety and mismatches in determining future careers. 
Our study explored the dynamics of student career anxiety that 
emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic through a 
phenomenological approach. Data was collected using semi-
structured interviews by teleconference Zoom meeting. The 
interviews focused on 1) how the participants experience career 
anxiety and 2) how it affects their career planning. Fifteen students 
participated through purposive sampling with criteria: 19-25 years old 
and undergraduate students. Interpretative Phenomenological 
Analysis (IPA) is applied as an analysis framework. We synthesized 
phenomenological themes identified as students' career anxiety: 
doubts about career plans, limited job opportunities due to the 
pandemic, and social comparison. The analysis also found that 
engaging in career-relevant communities was relevant to career 
readiness and deepening knowledge of career paths. This study 
encourages improving student skills by adjusting educational 
materials, training, or internships relevant to the student's potential 
and career needs during this critical time. 

    

 

Keywords 

career anxiety; 

COVID-19 pandemic; 

higher students; 

phenomenology. 

 

 

mailto:humanitas@psy.uad.ac.id
http://journal1.uad.ac.id/index.php/Humanitas
https://doi.org/10.26555/humanitas.v20i2.289
mailto:franznur@gmail.com


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lockdown in almost every region (Kementerian Kesehatan RI, 2020). This mobility 
restriction policy, the government believed, could suppress the transmission spreading. 

It is no surprise that mobility restrictions affect Indonesia's economy and career sector. 
Tourism and services that rely on people's mobility were experiencing a downturn; this also 
includes industries such as tourism, hotels, restaurants, transportation, and manufacturing 
(Badan Pusat Statistik [BPS], 2020; Kementerian Pariwisata RI, 2021). The impact of the 
pandemic has put pressure on the industry to reduce employees and even make permanent 
layoffs on a large scale. More than 1.2 million workers in Java Island have received mass 
layoffs and lost their jobs (Kementerian Ketenagakerjaan, 2021). The pandemic has also 
caused educational disruptions, such as closing schools, reduced academic hours, and 
temporarily stopping teaching and learning activities. In higher education, virtual learning 
has reached up to 60% from the previous level during the pandemic (Marinoni et al., 2020). 
Online learning was less sweet than one would expect. Students with poor internet 
connection in their area cannot follow online learning smoothly, and the teacher's poor online 
class management contributes to concerns about the quality of online learning (Hagedorn et 
al., 2022; Khalil et al., 2020). The impact is that students' academic performance tends to 
decline and threatens to lose an educated generation (United Nations Educational, Scientific, 
and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2020).  

The pandemic also impacts students’ career orientation. In tertiary institutions, 
students are considered to have chosen majors or specializations designed for future work in 
specific fields. Many individuals seek stability in their early careers and strive to improve 
their financial situation around the age of twenty (Chowdhury et al., 2022). Pandemic 
disruption may lead to students' career anxiety, which may influence students' future well-
being (anticipatory anxiety) and decision-making. Career anxiety is a form of fear of failure 
in the future related to individual career development (Vignoli, 2015). Excessive career 
anxiety will impact task adjustments and career challenges (Shin & Lee, 2019). A study 
suggests a link between career indecision and experiencing anxiety (Miller & Rottinghaus, 
2014). An unmanaged career anxiety can encourage counterproductive attitudes, such as a 
lack of confidence which can hamper career decisions in the form of a lack of readiness and 
motivation (Boo & Kim, 2020). A study found that career decisions are hampered due to 
students' lack of readiness (Zhu et al., 2021). All the while, when motivation is hampered, it 
will impact career information gathering and interpretations (Storme & Celik, 2018). 

Students' career anxiety is related to career decision-making in their professional life 
after graduating from university. The courses, training, extracurricular activities, and 
relevant internships are related to career decision-making. Students should make career 
choices that will indeed affect their future life, and the career decisions they choose will 
show an influence on their current financial condition and self-esteem. Based on previous 
research, a manifestation of career anxiety is students' inability to decide their career choices 
(Tsai et al., 2017). One’s ability to make career decisions is associated with career 
exploration. Low career exploration is related to indecisiveness and dysfunctional career 
path beliefs, where individuals will have irrational and unrealistic expectations regarding 
career options (Storme & Celik, 2018).  

The emergence of such a pandemic may become a threat to students' plans in the future. 
This pandemic makes students ought to observe the whole circumstances full of 
uncertainties, given that career anxiety affects various aspects of student’s life and their 
future. The COVID-19 pandemic drives social risks, encouraging poverty, social isolation, 
and increasingly unequal distribution of security and resources (Haase, 2020). The pandemic 
pushes students to experience career anxiety and economic instability (Belle et al., 2022), 
unavailability of social support due to mobility restrictions, and limited adaptation during 
the pandemic (Wang et al., 2022). The pandemic still leaves career-related problems, such 
as economic crisis, unemployment, and limited job vacancies, which may lead to frightening 
feelings in determining a career (Mahmud et al., 2021). Moreover, learning disruption and 



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lack of technological knowledge also influence how students negatively perceive their future 
and poor career aspirations, as they face difficulty deciding their career plan due to their 
unpreparedness and limited career information (Khalil et al., 2020). The presence of such a 
pandemic has disrupted ideal conditions and steps in achieving a career and future. 

Previous research has brought insight into career anxiety and COVID-19 pandemic 
circumstances as factors propelling career anxiety (Mahmud et al., 2021). The research 
found that students who experience career anxiety will make wrong career decisions. 
Therefore, it is hoped that the benefits of this research will give students an idea of career 
anxiety and better prepare them for their future careers. The university can also acquire an 
overview of student career anxiety and provide facilities such as career counseling for 
students to prepare for their careers. 

A qualitative method was selected to investigate the deeper meanings of each 
participant's experience of career anxiety. This study is intended to provide information 
regarding students' career anxiety during the pandemic. The study proposes research 
questions, "How is career anxiety perceived?" and "What are the strategies for dealing with 
career anxiety?".  

Method 

Research Design 

This research implemented a phenomenological qualitative method (Smith et al., 2009) to 
explore the participants' unique experiences related to career anxiety. Phenomenology was 
selected to capture the meaning and participants' perception and in an effort to see through 
participants' career anxiety experiences. In addition, this research elaborated on the forms 
and strategies of students dealing with career anxiety. This research has obtained ethical 
clearance from the Research Ethics Committee of Universitas Gadjah Mada (approval date: 
November 10, 2021; No: KE/UGM/013/EC/2021).  

Participants 

Fifteen participants participated voluntarily with the criteria: 1) 19-25 years old and 2) 
undergraduate students. Participants recruited from our previous research (Nurdiyanto & 
Harjanti, 2022) and reported having fear for their future regarding career disruption through 
an open-ended survey. With career anxiety reaching disruption on career planning as a 
parameter, this study exists to further elaborate on the received survey answers. Initially, the 
study recruited 21 students; however, six could not participate in the interview due to their 
eligibility. Eleven of them were female participants. As a whole, the participants had a mean 
age of 20.6 years. Ten participants were domiciled in Java, while four were in Kalimantan 
and one in Sumatra. After interviewing 15 participants, we reached the point of data 
saturation in the interviews. 

Procedure 

Considering the mobility limitations and the high number of COVID-19 infections, data was 
collected using a teleconference Zoom meeting. We elaborated the open-ended questions 
responses and mixed them with semi-structured interviews to better understand the 
participants' career anxiety. The data collection was conducted from February to March 
2022. The questions asked to the participants focused on what kind of career anxiety they 
perceived and the strategies for dealing with such anxiety. For example, "What is your 
current career plan?", "How does the COVID-19 situation worry you about your career 
plan?", "Why does it make you feel worried about your future career plan?" and "What are 
the strategies you employ to cope/handle those newfound worries?" Interviews for each 



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participant were done separately and conducted in as many as 1-2 meetings, each ranging 
from 40 to 70 minutes. 

Participants were asked to fill out an online informed consent before the interviews. It 
contained the research objective, what participants were asked to do, and the option or 
chance to withdraw from participating in this research. Verbal informed consent was taken 
before the online interview. All participants agreed to participate, and we received their 
consent. Table 1 shows the demographic of participants in this study.  
 

Table 1 
Participants Demographics 

Subject Age Sex Major Year 

P1 19 Male Civil Engineering 2nd 

P2 19 Female Accounting 2nd 

P3 19 Female English Education 2nd 

P4 20 Female Public Relation 3rd 

P5 20 Female English Education 3rd 

P6 20 Male Mechanical Engineering Education 3rd 

P7 20 Female Accounting 3rd 

P8 20 Female Environmental Engineering 3rd 

P9 21 Female Law 3rd 

P10 21 Male Law 3rd 

P11 21 Female Psychology 3rd 

P12 21 Female Psychology 3rd 

P13 22 Female Agriculture 4th 

P14 22 Male Psychology 4th 

P15 24 Female Psychology 4th 

 

Data Analysis 

Interpretative Phenomenology Analysis (Smith et al., 2009) was applied as the framework for 
identifying the dynamics of career anxiety. The analysis was conducted in a panel discussion 
and involved trained research assistants. They transcribed the interview recordings and 
rechecked their accuracy in a parallel fashion. In the first step, ABP and ABP read the 
transcription repeatedly to discover the familiarization data and make an exploratory 
comment on every data element. Afterward, those comments were paraphrased to emphasize 
emergent themes. FAN and EPH checked the entire emergent themes and made notes to refine 
and clarify the themes. ABP and ABP built the superordinate themes by categorizing 
emergent themes with similar patterns and meanings. FAN and EPH re-audited such themes 
to ensure the quality and accuracy of superordinate themes. Data credibility was achieved by 
triangulation, confirming our findings to participants, and continuous internal discussions to 
obtain saturation. Data analysis and transcription were conducted using an Excel spreadsheet, 
and participant names were changed to pseudonyms. 

Results 

This research identifies the themes related to students' career anxiety during the COVID-19 
pandemic: forms of career anxiety and career adjustment. The themes of career anxiety 
synthesize doubts about career plans, social comparison, and fear of existing opportunities 
as career anxiety that arises during a pandemic. Meanwhile, career adjustment themes 
describe participants' strategies, such as benefiting from the internet, beneficial relations, 



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and exposure towards work culture. This article also underlies that although all participants 
are students, not all can adjust to career development related to technological advancements. 
The pandemic states and massive technological acceleration create the gap in technological 
finesse that students comprehend even more apparent. Limitation in technological prowess 
is also perceived as related to student's career anxiety. 

Form of career anxiety 

Career plans doubt 

Participants revealed their doubts about career plans that were increasingly perceived during 
the pandemic. This finding shows doubt on the selection of career path the participants would 
choose related to the several career choices available without being accompanied by 
profound knowledge of the career insight. Participants perceived that the COVID-19 
pandemic made them feel doubt about their growing career plans. The lecture system and 
limitations that occurred during the pandemic were considered to increase doubt and 
unpreparedness for entering a more specific career path. This condition occurs from the lack 
of resources and fieldwork institutions are able to provide students. This finding underlies 
that the pandemic contributes to sharpening the doubt about career plans experienced by the 
participants. 
 Subject P11, who studied Psychology major because she did not pass the department 

she had initially been interested in since high school, experienced doubt about her career 

plan. The doubts that P11 was experiencing grew when the learning was conducted online, 

with her relying on the capabilities of exploration and interactions within the campus 

grounds. These conditions make her considerations of new career plans limited. Subject 

P11's doubt at the beginning of college and the learning situation she considered completely 

limited during the pandemic were perceived as worrying about her future career. 
"Certainly, I am worried because I am unsure if I could pursue a psychology 
career. I doubt whether I can do it or not." 

P11 underwent college in Psychology major over the past year before the pandemic. 
She perceived that she had insufficient knowledge during college to determine her career. 
P11 doubted choosing among the career selections available in the Psychology major 
because it is a new issue to imagine, especially if you are a freshman in college. The 
pandemic was perceived to worsen the doubt about career plans since the online learning 
system and social restrictions hinder exploration and competency improvement. The 
pandemic using an online lecturing system and limited exploration at the campus made P11 
doubt her career plan. This condition becomes the cause of her fear of failure in the foreseen 
future regarding the career path she chose. Meanwhile, the lecturing situation during the 
pandemic was perceived to impede the introduction of various choices of career plans as 
well as mastering competencies that she feels are necessary. 

"I wonder if being a child psychologist would be easy or difficult, but what 
challenges lie ahead? I still need to find out. In case I could not be a child 
psychologist, what would I do? I feel doubtful." 

While P11 developed a worry about her career path due to the limited campus 
exploration opportunities, P1 saw online classes as unbeneficial in a different way. When 
asked if online courses affect his career anxiety, this was her response: 

"For online, my grades are higher because you can still open your book - but 
really, what is more important is understanding the materials offline. Even 
though the chance of getting a high grade is low, the materials are delivered 
well because you can understand them. Which is a different case with online 
where you only need to cheat." 



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P1, a civil engineering student, values the knowledge that he can attain with classes 
being held in person. This field consists of constructing buildings that rely on precise 
counting expertise. P1 sees this as a risk of potentially taking people's lives; hence, he needs 
the proper knowledge he could not get from online learning. Like many other majors, P1 
relies on precise knowledge and practice in face-to-face classes. Through this experience, 
educational institutions should better prepare facilities for a pandemic. Supported by subject 
P10's claim of: 

"Of course, I am worried. I am worried that I will never grow because there are 
many campus activities I want to do. But the pandemic makes that impossible." 
 

Social comparison  

The social comparison theme emphasizes the judgment that others are better than 

themselves. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the educational system brought up a social 

comparison among students, and participants compared their skills with others. The 

pandemic, accompanied by less intense meetings, tends to lead universities to shut down 

programs for a certain period, preventing subject P13 and her year from gaining experience 

despite the campus giving juniors and seniors a chance. It makes participants more focused 

on their weaknesses while viewing others as better than themselves, including competency 

issues.  

This comparison was conveyed by P13, who judged that the junior class's competence 

was superior to hers. Subject P13 appraises that the current academic system during the 

pandemic is better, as follows: 
" Meanwhile, my junior class seems to have made things easier during this 
pandemic. It is because the juniors can do research earlier and get more 
training, such as national-level training, while in our class, we cannot 
participate in these activities because there is a block system." 

P13 is a final-year student at a state university in Java. She felt that the college system 
in her class became the source of competence shortages compared to the junior class beneath 
her. She perceived that her junior students have a better opportunity to participate in various 
extracurricular activities or productive academics; for instance, they are allowed to do early 
research. In addition, the participant also viewed that the applied college system makes other 
batch classes have superior competencies and higher working opportunities. P13 also 
revealed: 

"I am just afraid because I feel lacking here and there; competitors are way 
cooler out there. When others study hard, I hardly do anything to achieve it. So, 
yes, I am afraid, and I am still stuck here, and it is worrisome. Astaghfirullah." 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she viewed that others had done something to 

achieve their goals, such as following online courses, research practice, or internships. On 

the other side, P13 felt that she had not done anything relevant to her career. She thought she 

was left behind by observing others make a step forward in their careers. 
Another participant experienced social comparison detached from the university 

programs. Subject P3 was not accepted to any major university and desperately wanted to 
apply to two different universities. She compared herself to others in a better university and 
major, and they were leading lives with accomplishments she did not have. We highlighted 
that the pandemic gave her much more downtime, and she spent all her extra time on screen 
time. 

"I would see posts of my friends and end up comparing myself to them in a 
negative way. How can they be at this point? While I am still like this." 

 



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Fear of limited career opportunities 

This research underlies participants' anxiety related to limited working opportunities during 
the pandemic because of widespread employee layoffs. The theme of fearing the 
opportunities to achieve a career in this study is a form of career anxiety experienced by 
students. Participants viewed that the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced their 
chances of achieving their careers. Participants realized that all careers in every sector were 
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, reducing working hours or even 
employees, which affected the chances of getting a job in the future. The fear of limited 
working opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic that gets lessened is one of the forms 
of career anxiety experienced by students, as expressed by P2: 

"If the pandemic continues, surely the company might not be as free as it used to 
be in their recruitment. May be seeking for a lesser number of employees. Even 
more, many smarter competitors or have more skillset, so it is much tougher to 
compete for a job." 

She viewed that the COVID-19 pandemic's outbreak will influence the organization's 
recruitment of employees. She also added that the company limits the employees they hire. 
She worried that the accepted candidate was far superior compared to herself and reduced 
its chance of hiring in the future. P1 also perceives these concerns: 

"I am afraid I would not get a job. Because the competition gets a lot tougher." 

Strategies to deal with career anxiety 

Benefiting from the internet 

This research also discovers participants' strategies to make a career adjustment by utilizing 
various media to pursue their planned careers. Many seminars can be reached online during 
the pandemic with affordable student fees. One of our participants, subject P5, participated 
in an online seminar about the career she wanted. 

"There are many occasions to participate in activities, and more webinars are 
held in this pandemic. We also can join in distance learning, and sometimes it is 
free. So, many opportunities to develop ourselves are less expensive and more 
affordable than normal occasions, which is what I think." 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, P5 has utilized online education. In addition to 
spending spare time, her participation was also helpful in coping with her career anxiety. P5 
believed that the pandemic did not always negatively affect her career. During the pandemic, 
she can pursue many different learning opportunities that might be inaccessible in the lecture 
class. 

P4 also carried on pursuing her career. She accessed many different courses available 
on the internet to follow her arranged career plan. P4 said, 

"Just following online courses. Even though sometimes it could be better than a 
regular class, I still enjoy it. I could also do this discipline. So, it has its own 
unique reward." 

P4 is a third-year college student majoring in public relations in Central Java. During 

the pandemic, she occupied herself by adding new skills and knowledge by following 

training and online classes. She also participated in online classes that were relevant to 

college and design. P4's participation in various courses made her realize that her 

information technology mastery still needs to improve. Previously, she underestimated 

information technology-related tasks by employing services or getting others to help to 

complete them. P4 stated that she gained more confidence with her new capability by 

following information technology courses. 



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This finding implies that during the pandemic, participants made particular efforts to 
increase their competence in the career plan they had arranged by following various seminars 
and online courses. The finding also underlies the participants' requirement to enhance 
information technology competence due to limitations in accessing the available online 
workshops and courses. The participants pursued competence to make career adjustments 
during the pandemic. 

Beneficial relations 

This theme sums up participants' strategy to choose supportive friendships as one of the ways 

to deal with career anxiety. Participants tried to get closer to social environments that bring 

positive things and support their career plans. During the pandemic, participants had the 

discretion to choose the social environments that supported their career plan and eliminate 

the social circle that was not supportive, as expressed by P4, who joined the group, 

conforming to her interest. 

"Back in High school, I was associated with particular communities. This 

community helped the surrounding people. I also participated in church 

activities, such as social services for church congregations in remote areas. I 

like this kind of activity, such as health education, which concerns daily life." 

P4 wanted to become a volunteer or work in the humanities sector someday. When she 
was a child, she was inspired by her family to be a volunteer and affiliated with communities 
related to humanity's actions. P4 had done the activities since high school and continued 
through church activities during college. The community was not only helpful in her career, 
but she was being facilitated on how to manage herself in every process. Subject P7 also has 
a similar sentiment regarding bringing positive things to her career plans: 

"If there is a job opening, it would be great to share it with my friends. We were 
applying together. Even though it does add pressure, especially when you know 
they have better skills than you." 

To achieve her goal of filling out her CV, she expects to get from her friends to benefit 
from her in a way that she can get more information about job vacancies. In contrast, she 
also accounts for friends that might hinder her career and avoids them: 

"The important thing is for my friend not to be like that. If it is too bad and they 
saw someone else get an internship, it makes them stressed out on their own." 

P4 expressed how she often received negative comments regarding her career plans in 

humanitarian aid. She mainly underestimated limited salaries and vacancies. Despite trying 

to ignore it, the words made her doubt. Therefore, P4 has relations with supportive friends 

with the same values in humanitarianism to further support her career plans. 
"Now it is better not to listen if somebody says something bad about what I want. 
You just do not listen to other people." 

Exposure to work culture 

Work practice becomes the following one of the strategies in our findings. The participants 

said that preparation in the working industry, such as work practice or internship, can help 

them cope with career anxiety. The mentioned work practice or internship is an activity to 

add working experience or be directly involved in the field of work they are interested in. 

Some participants have carried out this practice to cope with their career anxiety. One way 

of the practice is to open a business. During the pandemic, the opportunity to do small 

business is wide open. As expressed by subject P9, who is planning to be an entrepreneur: 
"I am still determining what my passion is. However, I realized that I like to 
trade the more I do this. I used to endorse or make content on Instagram, and I 



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like these things. I also like to offer my products to my friends. So, I know more 
and more that I like the business world." 

P9 is a college student who initially needed to learn her career direction. Even though 
P9 is a law student, she has fun managing her business. At the beginning of college, she also 
already had business ideas. Then, she succeeded in making her business ideas come true. 
Her vast connections and social skills helped her in advancing this business. Having fun 
managing a business makes her career direction more straightforward. P9 experience is one 
example that students can see clearer when they obtain real experience on the job. 

Opening a business is one of many ways to equip oneself for a student's career plan. 

An internship in a company is another activity that they can do. Students should be 

encouraged to enroll in internships before entering the real working industry to add 

experience. Subject P7 is one of the participants who have to utilize the opportunity. She 

said: 
"It is actually off the track, deviating from my goal. However, how to put it, 
instead of nothing, it is better to fill something in. So, when I do want to apply, I 
already have adequate working experience." 

P7 is an accounting student with more work experience than other participants in this 

research. She has a high passion for working. At the beginning of her college, P7 looked for 

and took many opportunities to work and did the work to get extra money and add to her 

experience. Especially after the pandemic, work was moved online, and she looked for jobs 

that could be done from her home, like becoming a research assistant and lecturer's assistant. 

Although that is the case, P7 is adamant about finding a work-from-office internship rather 

than from home. She greatly values her social experience from working in the office, even 

though the job is unrelated to her study. P7 repeatedly mentions having a portfolio related to 

her work experience during her study. With the high competition due to the pandemic, she 

wants to be viewed as a candidate who can do several things that later become an investment 

in experience. Figure 1 describes the phenomenological dynamics of career anxiety. 

 

Figure 1  

The Phenomenological Dynamics of Career Anxiety and Its Strategies 

 

Discussion 

This research was conducted to explore how students experienced career anxiety during the 
pandemic. The study identifies two main themes related to career anxiety: forms of career 
anxiety and its strategies. From both themes, sub-themes explain more dynamic subtleties, 
such as the participants' experiences related to career anxiety in the context of the pandemic. 

Career pandemic context Expectations

Pursuing career plan

Career anxiety Strategies

Career plans doubt Benefiting from the internet Adding competences

Social comparison Beneficial relations

Fear of limited career opportunities Exposure towards work culture Gaining confidence

Employee reductions & 

permanent layoffs

Coping strategies for 

career anxiety

Educational disruptions: 

closing schools; 

reducing academic 

hours; suspending 

classes

Career responses within the 

pandemic context

Maintaning positive 

relationships
Online learning with 

poor infrastructure and 

class management



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The sub-themes were derived from the similar experiences encountered by each participant. 
This research found that the external context encountered by the participants also contributed 
to their career anxiety, such as social environment, technological advancement, health crisis, 
and socio-economic impact generated by the pandemic. 

Deciding on a career is an essential task because it affects self-esteem and one's 
finances. Internal and external circumstances are capable of influencing career selection. The 
emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has a proven effect on career plans; students tend to 
be afraid of limited career opportunities, considering many employees' layoffs and 
reductions during the pandemic. This research underlies several career adjustments students 
carry out, such as discovering more about the dream career, polishing supporting skills, and 
establishing supportive social relations with the career plan. 

This study underlies that the pandemic was perceived as making career plans even 
more nebulous. Participants believed the changed career direction was related to the 
pandemic, such as limited working opportunities, low salaries, irregular working hours, poor 
working environments, and career path uncertainties. This study also discovers that students 
experience extended distress and frustration related to technology implementation, family 
and social relations issues, emotional stress, and financial problems. Students have been 
having issues planning careers since the COVID-19 pandemic; about 5% of students quit 
college due to the pandemic, and 20% or 500 students plan to discontinue their studies after 
spring 2020 (Hagedorn et al., 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic also negatively impacted the 
learning circumstances that forced them to stay at home because students believed that the 
environment at home was way beyond conducive (Hagedorn et al., 2022). These 
circumstances hinder students from exploring their careers because the time to focus and be 
productive becomes limited. The pandemic threatened everyone and was full of movement 
(Nurdiyanto & Harjanti, 2022). In the stay-at-home context, people are in a monotonous and 
boring rhythm of life, and they do not have a variety of activities and spend more time with 
screen time. Not being focused here means that people experience limitations in exploring 
potential career plans and spend time on monotonous activities at home. The pandemic has 
created an effect of fear of failure in planning a career, along with changes in the online 
learning system and restrictions on mobility. 

This research points out that career anxiety occurred to some participants with poor 
support systems. The discussion regarding social support and academic disruption was 
conducted by previous research (Boo et al., 2021), that the students may interpret the family 
expectation as career planning encouragement. Students employ external expectations as the 
main source to validate their career decisions. This research also observed that participants 
wanted social support to help on their career path. Seeking social support is one of the 
strategies students use to develop their career plans (Kang et al., 2020). The positive social 
response has a lower correlation with anxiety than the absence of appreciation (Deer et al., 
2018). Social comparison becomes the next aspect of students' career anxiety. Participants 
described themselves in a lower position than others. This finding aligns with previous 
research in the form of self-blaming and maladaptive strategies (Lopes & Nihei, 2021). 
Regarding the coping anxiety that occurred in this event, it may implement an active strategy 
by redefining self-potential and various opportunities with social support. A previous study 
also emphasized the importance of social support for adaptive development (Minza et al., 
2022). Although career anxiety is seen as no more frightening than a viral infection or health 
crisis, these particular issues need to be anticipated to prevent career delays and focus on 
developing students' potential along with the pandemic disruption. 

Students encountered career doubts due to COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Many 
sectors are considered inactive or dead due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study conducted 
on hospitality and tourism students conveyed that they became doubtful about their careers 
in tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They hoped everything would return to the way 
before the pandemic, though not soon (Minza et al., 2022). The cause of career anxiety is 



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                        Prabawaningrum et al. (Student career anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: …)   

the lack of information and preparation in determining a career (Arbona et al., 2021). 
Moreover, our findings also revealed that the migration to online learning caused career 
anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic; these circumstances decreased their access to 
explore further the career. 

Career anxiety has diverse dynamics among students. Previous studies have stated that 
women's career anxiety is often higher (Chowdhury et al., 2022). Men choose more 
alternative activities as a diversion when faced with stressors, problems, and negative 
emotions. It implies that male students have more diverse career choices and higher incomes 
than female students. The factors that cause student career anxiety during a pandemic are 
more related to academic problems and their year of study (Bai et al., 2021). Students over 
18 years were also found to have a higher level of career anxiety than those aged 18 and 
under. Final-year students transition from their academic life as students into the workplace, 
while juniors are concerned with academic adjustment. First-year and later-year students are 
more similar than different regarding career issues. This finding warrants further 
investigation to understand better when students are most at risk for career anxiety. Career-
related anxiety is related to existential concerns, such as awareness of responsibilities, 
choices, and creating authentic lives (Pisarik et al., 2017). Career anxiety was identified 
among final-year students during the pandemic, and stress during the pandemic also 
significantly influenced career anxiety. Students who have faculty affiliations have a lower 
anxiety level than those who do not (Daniels et al., 2011). Faculty environment factors relate 
intuitively to students' resolution of career uncertainty.  

This study reflects on various new opportunities and efforts to develop oneself. A 
previous study found an indirect correlation between career anxiety and career adaptation 
through self-reflection (Shin & Lee, 2019). The effect of self-reflection makes an individual 
capable of managing career anxiety and career adjustment. Parallel to the previous research, 
the pandemic leads to personal gains, such as unexpected personal growth (August & 
Dapkewicz, 2020). This personal gain helps the student to see the future with various 
available opportunities and chances. This finding is also supported by other research that 
views the pandemic as an opportunity for self-growth and development (Nunn et al., 2021). 
One of our participants reflected on the pandemic as the propeller to be more developed in 
the education discipline. During the pandemic, the issue of the teaching profession became 
disrupted, leading to many teachers receiving layoffs, indecent salaries, and health risks; 
however, teachers' careers will always be needed.  

This research also highlighted that students' adjustment to the pandemic determined 
their career plans. In this research, participants used these strategies to polish the skills 
conforming to the discipline they chose, such as foreign language and technology. Students 
follow foreign language courses during online learning (Hazaymeh, 2021). Interest in 
technology also developed along with the awareness that the world is highly dependent on 
technology during the pandemic. The skill in digital and computer skills contributed to 
decreasing students' career anxiety (Tsai et al., 2017). 

The lack of preparation, information, and self-confidence makes the students unready 
for the working world (Arbona et al., 2021; Kang et al., 2020). Searching for information 
regarding career and social support is viewed as a way to cope with career anxiety (Boo & 
Kim, 2020). High-confident students tend to have low career anxiety (Deer et al., 2018). The 
study also found that positive responses and support from the environment lead to lower 
anxiety levels than participants with negative responses. The outcome is related to self-
confidence due to favorable environmental reactions. This self-confidence related to 
working experience is helpful in re-planning students' careers, eventually decreasing career 
anxiety (Lopes & Nihei, 2021). Self-confidence is more likely to occur in students with 
higher exposure to the internship experience (Belle et al., 2022). 

We acknowledge the limitations of this research. Data collection carried out through 
teleconference, which was the best solution during the pandemic, needed to improve in 



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Prabawaningrum et al. (Student career anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic…) 

establishing personal bonds with participants. Teleconference technical problems during the 
interview also affect the discussion we have. The research was conducted when the 
pandemic can be controlled, which potentially might be having different career anxiety 
experience dynamics when the pandemic is not under control.  

Conclusion 

This research discovers phenomenological themes identified as the forms of students' career 
anxiety and the myriad of strategies that deal with it. Students said anxiety arose from doubt 
about their career plan, perceived social comparison, and limited working opportunities after 
the pandemic. Adjustment strategy needs to be implemented in students' lives, including 
pursuing careers, technological literation, industrial jobs, and internships. Additionally, 
involvement in the community with the same interest may encourage more positive career 
aspirations. Following our two findings, career doubt and social comparison, this research 
was expected to provide a discussion contribution regarding students' career anxiety. This 
study also suggests an educational and training institution to facilitate students' career training 
to improve their career readiness. Educational and training institutions must facilitate 
managing students' career anxiety to prepare a more adaptive career plan for pandemic 
disruption. 

Acknowledgment 

This research was presented in the COVID-19 National Seminar at Universitas Ahmad 

Dahlan on June 18, 2022. We appreciate our research assistants: Aurellia Amalina, Irene 

Miracle, and Kezia Situmorang.  

Declarations  

Author contribution. FAN led and conceptualized the research design. ABP and ABP 

carried out the data collection and initial analysis. FAN and EPH conducted supervision and 

reviewed the data analysis. All authors wrote and approved the final manuscript version. 
Funding statement. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency. 
Conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. 
Availability of data and material: Unavailable for public sharing in accordance with 

informed consent. 
 

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