Navigating the Unexpected: Learning from Early Career Popular Musicians’ Problem-Solving During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

Musicians’ ongoing career challenges offer a window into the repercussions of intersecting disruptions on people’s professional identities and working lives. Global decline in adults’ work-related well-being highlights significant gaps in our understanding of how people deploy career development competencies to adapt to the unexpected, particularly when it is not just individuals, but also entire industries, experiencing disruption. This qualitative study aimed to better understand how early career musicians studying at an Australian university coped with the pandemic-as-career-problem using scaling questions taken from Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Findings highlight the importance of individual problem-solving skills and the benefits of community and social support in navigating unexpected career challenges and setbacks. Practical implications include the need for structured, empowering conversations with early career musicians during higher education as a necessary part of understanding their challenges, problem-solving skills, and future thinking. The merits of bringing qualitative career assessment into music careers education environments are also considered.