What kinds of career options do rural disadvantaged youth want to know about? Career needs assessment framework and findings from two different contexts in India

In this paper, we present a framework to examine the kinds of careers that rural disadvantaged youth would like to know about in a career guidance intervention as also related findings from two different rural disadvantaged contexts in India. Differences across gender, age group, region, and participation/non-participation in youth programmes are also explored. The results validate the importance of comprehensive career needs assessment and provide specific directions for designing and adapting career guidance interventions for rural disadvantaged youth. Implications for research and practice are discussed in general as well as for the specific contexts included in this study.