In August, UNITE-LA’s Research & Evaluation team delivered a presentation on our Los Angeles Regional Consortium (LARC) Student Career Interest Survey findings to approximately 100 attendees of LARC’s Quarterly Collaborative Meeting. The survey, conducted in the spring, assessed career interests, goals and challenges of 651 students across L.A.’s 19 community colleges. This research effort represented the culmination of more than two years of collaborative planning with LARC. Results will be used by UNITE-LA and LARC to align curriculum and workforce training programs more effectively with students’ interests and needs.

The presentation included student interest in specific career fields, noting that Cybersecurity and Data Science emerged as top tech career choices and Nursing was a top choice in allied health. The findings also shed light on short-term employment goals, with a substantial 66 percent of students indicating a desire for full-time employment, 47 percent interested in part-time, 37 percent in internships, and 18 percent in apprenticeships. For career supports, students especially value paid internships (75 percent) and career exploration events (71 percent). The presentation concluded with strategic recommendations for improving recruitment and training alignment. This research effort demonstrates UNITE-LA’s commitment to fostering workforce readiness through comprehensive data-driven insights. See the presentation, and follow the links at the end for full survey results and insightful narrative analysis.