After spending the last four years studying how individuals choose careers—and building tools to help them make better decisions—I’ve learned one surprising truth: most people don’t choose their careers intentionally. They fall into them.
Despite reading hundreds of books on psychology, neuroscience, and human behavior, and analyzing hundreds of millions of data points on labor pathways, one pattern becomes clear: people rarely approach career decisions with proactive strategy.
And when people ask who our competitors are, I often explain that we’re not competing with other career platforms.
We’re competing against deeply ingrained human instincts and social systems that consistently push people into poor career matches.
Today, three major factors explain how people end up in their careers:
-
By accident
-
Through apathy
-
Through social pressure
Let’s break each one down.
1. Choosing a Career “By Accident”
As unglamorous as it sounds, this is the most common career pathway.
When people give advice like “you should network”, what they’re really saying is:
“Put yourself in places where randomness and luck can work in your favor.”
Many careers begin with a chance encounter, a relative offering a temporary role, or a last-minute job opportunity that gradually becomes a long-term career. One job leads to another, and before someone realizes it, they’ve unknowingly committed to a career path shaped by pure coincidence.
Randomness is such a major factor in career formation that Nassim Taleb could easily dedicate an entire book to it.
The upside?
Accident-driven careers at least give people some direction.
The downside?
These paths often fail to match a person’s strengths or aspirations.
2. Choosing a Career Through Apathy
Apathy might be the most underestimated force in career decision-making.
Many students graduate high school with no clear idea of what they want to do. Educational systems don’t teach self-awareness, strength evaluation, or career exploration. Parents often push generic advice like “just get a degree,” which leads to even more confusion.
This lack of clarity pushes many people into:
-
The fastest job they can find
-
More and more schooling
-
Endless cycles of “figuring it out later”
Countless people stay in post-secondary education simply because they don’t know what else to do. Apathy creates a reliance on low-friction career paths—jobs that are easy to enter but rarely aligned with long-term fulfillment.
These individuals don’t explore enough opportunities to get lucky and instead fall into roles that never tap into their potential.
3. Choosing a Career Through Social Pressure
For many people, career decisions are shaped by years of influence from parents, friends, teachers, and cultural expectations. These become powerful forms of dogma—rigid beliefs passed down from one generation to the next.
Parents and peers remain the top two sources of career advice, even though their guidance is often shaped by their own biases, outdated beliefs, or misconceptions about certain professions.
This shows up most in middle- and upper-middle-class communities. Students pursue “respectable” careers simply because they feel expected to. Degrees and jobs like:
-
Lawyer
-
Doctor
-
Accountant
-
Investment banker
-
Consultant
are seen as socially acceptable paths, even if they don’t match someone’s personality, interests, or strengths.
Sometimes, social biases can be absurdly generational—like inheriting a great-great-grandparent’s dislike of a certain trade or job.
Following the crowd feels safe.
Standing alone feels terrifying.
So people conform.
Why These Three Methods Fail
Accident, apathy, and social pressure all share one trait:
They are reactive strategies.
And reactive decision-making leads to:
-
High career dissatisfaction
-
Frequent career changes
-
Chronic stress and unhappiness
-
A sense of feeling “lost” even years into working life
Studies consistently show that up to 80% of people are unhappy with their careers—not because they lack talent, but because they never chose intentionally.
The Only Two Ways People Find a Career That Truly Fits
After analyzing millions of pathways, there are only two reliable ways individuals end up in careers that align with their strengths and goals:
1. Getting Lucky With an Accidental Career
Sometimes randomness works out beautifully. A chance job becomes a passion. A random opportunity becomes a career calling. But this is unpredictable—and incredibly rare.
2. Proactive Career Planning
This is the only consistent path to career satisfaction.
Proactive planning involves:
-
Understanding your strengths
-
Identifying your long-term values
-
Exploring industries and roles intentionally
-
Experimenting with different environments
-
Making decisions based on data, not pressure
-
Knowing what truly energizes you
This approach helps people avoid decades of frustration caused by poor career matches.
It’s Time to Choose Careers Differently
The current system pushes people into jobs through randomness, confusion, and pressure. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With self-awareness, data-driven tools, and intentional planning, anyone can move toward a career that fits their abilities, values, and future goals.
Choosing a career shouldn’t be reactive.
It should be a strategic, empowering, and deeply personal journey.