A career decision can feel very big when you don’t know what’s possible or what options are out there. For many young people, the world of work can feel like a collection of familiar job titles and pathways they may not know exist, making it difficult to imagine where their interests and skills could take them.
That’s where mentorship and exposure can make a difference. According to MENTOR Canada’s Mapping the Mentoring Gap study, 54% of young adults recalled at least one time during their childhood or adolescence when they wished they had a mentor but did not have access to one (MENTOR Canada, 2021). This highlights the importance of creating opportunities for young people to build supportive relationships and explore their futures.
JA Canada’s World of Choices is designed to change that by helping youth explore what’s possible, discover new career pathways and build confidence as they prepare for their future.
Through conversations with professionals across a wide range of industries, gives young people something they can’t get from a career list, the opportunity to see the possibilities for their future.
Throughout the 2025–26 academic year, World of Choices connected 18,925 young people across Canada with professionals who shared more than their job titles – they shared the experiences that shaped their careers.
These conversations can be powerful because career paths rarely happen in a straight line. A student who arrives thinking they have one future in mind may leave having discovered an entirely different possibility.
But perhaps the clearest measure of that impact comes from the students themselves. Their reflections offer a glimpse into how these conversations can shape the way young people think about careers, possibilities and their own potential.
World of Choices is made possible because professionals and organizations are willing to open the door and share what they’ve learned. Their role goes beyond supporting an event. By sharing their experiences, volunteers help young people understand that careers are built through exploration, curiosity and sometimes unexpected opportunities.
The world of work continues to change, and the choices young people face are becoming increasingly complex. That makes access to real-world perspectives more important than ever.
As JA Canada enters another year of World of Choices, the goal remains simple: give young people more possibilities to consider before they decide what comes next.
Because sometimes, one conversation is all it takes to make a career feel possible.
Learn more about the World of Choices program and how you can get involved: Learn more here
Source: MENTOR Canada. (2021). Mapping the Mentoring Gap: The State of Mentoring in Canada.