Work in Progress
Once upon a time, children were asked: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Across the life course, people need different things to successfully navigate a rapidly changing economy. From conversations with middle schoolers around what the future of work could look like to mid-life career shifts, efforts to retain experienced workers and people of all ages seeking flexibility in their employment options - WMHT will share job seeking stories from across the lifespan in a new series - Work in Progress.
Work in Progress
Explore the Series
Story 1 of 13
How to Find Your Career Path with Ikigai
Tech Valley High School students use the “ikigai” concept to explore career paths. “Ikigai” is a Japanese phrase that translates to “reason for being.” The concept teaches students that careers are non-linear and shows the need to be adaptable in your career as your needs and interests change over time. What is your “ikigai”?
Watch on YouTube ↗All Work in Progress Stories
Select a story to play it above.
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Work In Progress Career Collection
Build career-ready skills with educational resources from Work In Progress, covering networking, interviewing, professional communication and other tools for navigating the world of work.
Explore Career Resources →More from PBS LearningMedia
Career Resources
Explore additional PBS LearningMedia resources about career pathways, workforce readiness, technology and emerging fields.
Resource 01
What is a Semiconductor? | MIT's Science Out Loud
Semiconductors are in everything from your cell phone to rockets. But what exactly are they, and what makes them so special? Find out from Jamie, a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.
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Resource 02
Career Connections | Construction Worker
Meet a construction worker who followed his father’s footsteps into a rewarding career operating large equipment like bulldozers. Hear about how he feels about being able to see what he has created.
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Resource 03
E-Business | Jeffrey Bezos
Hear about the flexibility of the internet and its shaping by new technologies and decreasing costs in these early years of development, from Jeffrey Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com. The rise of the Internet has provided a new market for North Dakota businesses. With shopping at a store now being as easy as typing in a web address, distance from consumers is becoming less of an issue in the business world.
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Resource 04
Career Hacks for Workforce Readiness
Success in one’s career depends on much more than just earning good grades in school. Help increase learners’ workforce readiness by building strengths in key interpersonal skills, such as problem-solving, leadership, communication, teamwork and collaboration, and critical thinking, using this collection of resources produced by WGBH.
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Resource 05
Careers in Up-and-Coming Fields | Future Jobs
Today's workforce is changing. WQED wants to help students discover new, promising career options when they start their job search and raise awareness about the workforce development that is already underway, helping the economy grow as workers find fulfilling careers and thrive. Learn about up-and-coming career fields and future jobs!
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Resource 06
STEM Career Labs
This is your career lab, designed to help you explore a future STEM career! STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Today's STEM professionals create virtual worlds, design amazing machines, invent new materials, construct earth-friendly buildings, and engineer cutting-edge air vehicles.
Learn More →
Resource 07
KSPS Career Explore Northwest
Career Explore Northwest is a community tool designed to guide youth and adult learners, through job spotlight videos and job/industry data information, toward a successful job or career. Under each industry cluster you will find a collection of videos that highlight different types of jobs that are available in the Spokane/North Idaho region.
Learn More →From the Archive
The Original Project
The Future of Work
The Future of Work was the first chapter of our ongoing investigation into the changing landscape of work raising critical questions and explores compelling diverse individual experiences. Hear from expert perspectives to help us understand what the future holds for the U.S. workforce and why that matters in today’s world. Is the right to work a human right? Is the future of work about entrenched haves and have-nots? What are the merits of college vs. training programs in preparing for the jobs of tomorrow? How do we protect and preserve employment opportunities that sustain families, communities, and the nation -- fundamental aspects of the American Dream?
WMHT's exploration of the Future of Work explores these and other questions with profiles of millennial, single-parent and other workers, in addition to leading economic, employment, training and technology experts.
Future of Work Video Archive
Explore the original nine-video Future of Work collection from WMHT.
The Future of Work Town Hall
We discuss workplace and workforce changes, equity and inclusion & creating quality jobs.
View this video on PBS.org ↗The Future of Work: Upstate New York
The Future of Work
2021–2022 Project Partners
Organizations and individuals who contributed to the original Future of Work project.
- Workforce Development Institute
- Hudson Valley Community College
- Questar III BOCES
- PHI
- Capital Region Workforce Development Board
- New YorK Association of Training and Employment (NYATEP)
- MAPP
- Rural Migrant Ministry
- LifeWorks
- Young Futures
- Mission Accomplished
- Sunhee's Farm and Kitchen
- New York State Migrant Education Program
- Capital Region BOCES
- WSWHE BOCES
- Expertise Project
- Schenectady County Community College
- Stockade Works
- L&K Consulting and Development, LLC
- Fyfe Consulting
- Libby Coreno, Esq.
- Dr. Kerry Murray O’Hara, Psy.D.
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