Kelly Hoey
Executive Director, HIEC & Ontario Career Lab
The Ontario Career Lab helps students explore career possibilities by connecting classroom learning with real-world insights from industry professionals.
“The Ontario Career Lab helped open my eyes to careers I didn’t even know existed,” says one Grade 9 student who participated.
For many young people, exposure to careers is limited to the jobs they see around them every day or hear about from family, friends, or the media. Entire industries — and the opportunities they offer — can remain largely invisible.
Research suggests this experience is widespread. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, teenagers across developed countries tend to focus their career aspirations on a small group of familiar occupations, even though the labour market offers far broader opportunities. This disconnect between education and the labour market has become a growing policy concern as economies struggle to align workforce supply with rapidly evolving industry needs.
Connecting the worlds of work and education
Helping students discover those possibilities is exactly the goal of the Ontario Career Lab, an initiative developed by the non-profit HIEC.
For more than three decades, HIEC has worked as an industry education council with a clear mandate: to connect the world of work and education. By bringing together educators, employers, and community partners, the organization translates labour market insights into experiences that help students explore careers and connect their interests and skills to real opportunities.
“Young people are often asked to make career decisions without ever having had the chance to see the world of work up close,” says Kelly Hoey, Executive Director of HIEC and the Ontario Career Lab. “Our goal has always been to connect students with the people, industries, and experiences that help them understand what those possibilities really look like.”
Understanding the career awareness gap
The Ontario Career Lab was created to help bridge the gap between classroom learning and the rapidly changing world of work.
Grade 9 and Grade 10 are pivotal years when students begin selecting courses, exploring experiential learning opportunities, and thinking more seriously about future pathways. Introducing career exploration at this stage helps students better understand the skills and opportunities emerging across today’s labour market.
Being a Career Coach with the Ontario Career Lab was exactly the kind of program I wish existed when I was in high school. Students often feel pressure to have everything figured out, but the truth is that exploration is part of the journey.
The Ontario Career Lab addresses this challenge by connecting students directly with professionals working across a wide range of sectors — including advanced manufacturing, digital media, entrepreneurship, health sciences, clean energy, and the skilled trades.
Through structured career conversations, students hear firsthand how careers evolve, what skills are required, and how professionals navigate their own paths through education, training, and work.
Working to reach all students
Working in partnership with school boards and educators across the province, the Ontario Career Lab aims to reach all 315,000 Grade 9 and Grade 10 students in Ontario, ensuring that young people across the province have opportunities to explore careers and hear directly from professionals working in today’s industries.
“We know from research that early exposure to careers changes outcomes,” says Hoey. “When students hear directly from professionals and see how their skills apply in the real world, it helps them imagine themselves in careers they might never have considered.”
Students frequently say these conversations help them understand what careers actually involve beyond job titles or stereotypes.
“Talking to someone who actually works in that career helps you understand what the job is really like,” one student shared after participating in a session.
Learning from the world of work
A defining feature of the Ontario Career Lab is the direct involvement of professionals from across the workforce. By bringing industry voices into career exploration, students gain insight into how workplaces are evolving and what skills are increasingly valued across sectors.
For many mentors, the opportunity to speak with students is also deeply rewarding.
“Being a Career Coach with the Ontario Career Lab was exactly the kind of program I wish existed when I was in high school,” one participating mentor reflected. “Students often feel pressure to have everything figured out, but the truth is that exploration is part of the journey.”
Mentors frequently emphasize that careers rarely follow a straight line. Instead, they encourage students to remain curious, stay open to new opportunities, and develop the adaptability that today’s labour market increasingly demands.
Strengthening the link between education and work
“Preparing young people for the workforce isn’t just about sharing information,” says Hoey. “It’s about creating opportunities for students to connect with people, industries, and ideas that help them imagine what their future could look like.”
As Canada’s labour market continues to evolve, helping students explore careers earlier and understand the opportunities ahead will become increasingly important. By connecting classrooms and industry, initiatives like the Ontario Career Lab help ensure that students gain not only information about careers but also the confidence to pursue them.
And often, it begins with a simple realization: there are far more career possibilities than students may have ever imagined.
Learn more at ontariocareerlab.ca.
