WASHINGTON — People who accept that there may not always be a perfect career choice and learn to make decisions despite uncertainty are more likely to find their work meaningful, satisfying and engaging, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
The findings, published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, suggest that workers who understand that their career development may be affected by factors beyond their control develop "career wisdom" that may help them navigate today's increasingly unpredictable job market.
"Many people feel pressure to find the perfect job or make the perfect career choice," said lead author Hui Xu, PhD, of the University of Macau. "Our findings suggest a different possibility: meaningful work may come not only from finding the ideal path, but also from learning how to live with uncertainty, make thoughtful trade-offs and build a sense of meaning within imperfect circumstances."
The researchers describe career wisdom as a developable psychological resource—a capacity that helps people make career decisions when there is no obvious "right" answer. Rather than searching for the perfect job, career wisdom encourages people to gather as much information as they can, accept that some uncertainty will always remain, trust their intuition and move forward despite discomfort. Unlike personality traits, career wisdom can be developed through education and counseling.
The study followed 995 employed adults in the United States over six months. Participants completed assessments at three points, each about three months apart. At the start of the study, researchers measured participants' level of career wisdom using a 20-item scale that assessed how they typically approached difficult career decisions, with items capturing wisdom-related strategies such as making choices with incomplete information, trusting their intuition and embracing vulnerability. Participants rated how strongly they agreed or disagreed with each statement on a scale of 1 to 7, with higher scores indicating a greater tendency to use career wisdom. Three months later, researchers measured how meaningful participants found their work. Three months after that, they measured job satisfaction, life satisfaction and work engagement.
Researchers found that people who scored higher on career wisdom at the start of the study were more likely to report a stronger sense of meaning in their work three months later. That greater sense of meaningful work, in turn, predicted higher job satisfaction and work engagement another three months later. The relationship with life satisfaction was weaker, suggesting career wisdom may have a more direct influence on work-related well-being over the six-month study period.
Xu said the research was inspired by interactions with students and clients who were struggling with career decision-making, despite having plenty of information about their options.
"Many people struggle because they have difficulty finding peace with the inevitable uncertainty surrounding the 'right' career choice," Xu said. "That led me to ask a more practical question: What actionable strategies can people use to navigate career uncertainty and achieve adaptive career outcomes?"
The findings suggest that career wisdom may improve later well-being by inspiring workers to find more meaning in their work. According to Xu, "this tells us that career wisdom is not just about feeling calm in the face of uncertainty. It may also help people actively create or recognize meaning in their work."
"Learning to make decisions with incomplete information, trust intuition and accept vulnerability may actually help people explore themselves and their lives more deeply and find forms of meaning that cannot always be reached through reasoning alone," he added.
The researchers also found that the relationships between career wisdom, meaningful work and well-being were consistent across gender, race and socioeconomic status, suggesting its potential benefits may extend across diverse groups of workers.
"One implication is that career counseling and career education may need to go beyond helping people gather information and make rational plans," Xu said. "Those are still valuable, but people also need help dealing with the uncertainty that remains after all the information has been gathered."
He also emphasized that career wisdom is not about making random or impulsive decisions.
"Rather, it means balancing rational problem-solving with the ability to move forward when complete certainty is impossible," Xu said.
The researchers noted several limitations. Although the study followed participants over time, it was observational and cannot prove that career wisdom directly causes greater meaning at work or improved well-being. All measures were based on participants' self-reported survey responses, and participants were recruited through an online research platform. Future research should examine whether the findings hold across different occupations, cultures and longer periods of time, and whether interventions designed to increase career wisdom can improve people's work lives.
Article: " Facilitating Meaningful Work: How Career Wisdom Relates to Well-Being ," by Hui Xu, PhD, University of Macau, and Blake A. Allan, PhD, University of Houston. Journal of Counseling Psychology, published online July 23, 2026.
