Knowledge of Career Opportunities Across Academic Disciplines: A Systematic Literature Review
A Systematic Literature Review
Abstract
This study was conducted to systematically review and synthesise existing literature on students’ knowledge of career opportunities across various academic disciplines and their relationship to employability skills and industry needs. Using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach based on PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a total of 25 reference articles were analysed, obtained from Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar databases. The search strategy involved the use of keywords such as career opportunities, employability skills, academic disciplines and TVET. The results of the thematic synthesis identified three main focuses, namely the level of students’ knowledge of career opportunities, factors influencing their awareness, and the gap between graduates’ skills and industry demands. The findings indicate that the effectiveness of the curriculum, the integration of educational technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and micro-qualifications, and the implementation of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) are important elements that can improve students’ readiness to face the global job market. This study provides theoretical and practical contributions by proposing a model of collaboration between academic institutions, industry and government to strengthen the marketability of graduates, bridge the skills gap, and ensure that students are better prepared to face the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the 21st century job market.
Copyright (c) 2026 Gading Journal for the Social Sciences (e-ISSN 2600-7568)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
