The proposed study is based on a double causality, such as: the need to improve the counselling tools for high school students for the appropriate choice of a career development path; the existence of the category of disadvantaged students from an economic perspective, whose difficulties in choosing a training path for their career have been augmented during the pandemic. Our research provides an analysis of how the motivational essay can be substantiated as a useful tool in career counselling activities, as (...) well as how it can be integrated into counselling approaches for the economically disadvantaged teenagers to choose the academic development path. We have used a mixed research methodology, which complements the peer review approach with the qualitative analysis of a set of motivation essays developed by the 11th and 12th Grade students. The research aims to identify the level of development of self-analysis, self-reflection and self-assessment of motivational factors, which may be decisive in choosing a future career. The essay analysis highlights a series of elements, which reflects the dynamics of the change of motivational resources in the context of the digitalisation acceleration, of the upheavals on the labour market generated by the new social and economic context. The obtained results allow the formulation of conclusions: confirming the need for such an approach; certifying the possibility and usefulness of integrating the motivational essay into the career counsellor’s methodological portfolio and professional counselling approaches; illustrating useful effects and limits of the reflective effort generated during the essay. (shrink)

The educational area is a social sector where the COVID-19 pandemic impact involves making many exponential changes. In many countries, the transition from face-to-face education to on-line education implies a revolution in the hierarchy of job domains/jobs offer. Young people’s career plans may be different under the impact of internal and external factors generated by this new context. Theoretical framework revealed that under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the career decision-making process becomes more difficult to assume by taking into (...) consideration the job nature, the sense of belonging, and the balance between passions and risks involved. By referring to these aspects a question arises: Will the pandemic also create a crisis in the career-making decision process for young people? The research group consisted of 108 undergraduates' from 12 grades, attending high schools from cities under 10,000 inhabitants. Hypothesis: There is a tendency to focus on training areas dominated by the practical aspects than the theoretical one as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used a Romanian adapted version of the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator Questionnaire used in counseling and carrier orientation services for identification of professional interests of the students. The obtained results show that it is important for high school students to receive quality services for carrier guidance and psycho-educational support to prevent over-introversion and over-critical attitude about others and themselves, self-isolation correlated with a high level of sensing and sensitiveness. (shrink)