Career Discovery Week
Introducing public high school students to the world of work and the extraordinary range of career choices that New York City employers offer.
Career Discovery Week Impact
185+
Participating Employers
8,000+
Tenth Graders
5
Boroughs Reached
Career-Connected Learning
Launched in 2020 as a joint initiative between the Partnership for New York City and New York City Public Schools, Career Discovery Week introduces public high school students to the world of work and the extraordinary range of career choices that New York City employers offer.
To date, more than 185 of the city’s major employers have joined forces to build a bridge from the city’s classrooms to the world of business. Since its launch, Career Discovery Week has given more than 8,000 tenth graders the chance to gain a better understanding of the future job opportunities available to them as they spend a day at company worksites, learning about the city’s varied industries and wide-ranging career possibilities.
Employer Activities
Examples of previous Career Discovery Week activities include:
Hearst – Students toured the Good Housekeeping Institute, decorated cupcakes with Food Network Magazine, wrote their own headlines and learned about careers and life at Hearst from colleagues across the organization.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. – Students participated in technology-themed career development programs, joined a build-a-thon with employee volunteers and met with the data and analytics team to learn about their work.
NBA/WNBA – Students learned about a career in sports, how to build their personal and professional brand, and what the business of basketball looks like.
New York City Transit – Students rode in the MTA’s new EV bus to tour the Zerega Bus Maintenance and Training Facility and participated in an MTA bus simulator exercise.
NYSE – Students toured the historic stock exchange and presented mock company pitches.
PwC – The PwC team gave a creative computing and technology demonstration followed by a career readiness workshop, panel and hands-on activity requiring collaboration and team work.
The Howard Hughes Corporation – Students visited the brand-new Tin Building & Pier, and worked on a “build your own city” project.
Tishman Speyer – Students got a behind the scenes tour of Rockefeller Center and Radio Park, learned best practices for interviewing, and heard from employees with diverse career pathways during a panel and Q&A.
About Career Discovery Week
Career Discovery Week is part of NYC Public Schools Student Pathways, an expansion of career-connected learning that provides work-based learning opportunities and career exposure. Tenth grade students are selected for Career Discovery Week from participating schools, focusing on students whose exposure to careers is limited.
Schools have been matched with public and private sector employers based on alignment between curricula and industry sector: students from the Bronx Academy of Letters visited Hearst to learn about the world of publishing; students from the Business of Sports School visited the NBA; students from the Theatre Arts Production Company School participated in programming by the Shubert Organization.
Career Discovery Week is a major collaborative effort by a pan-industry group of employers from the city’s public and private sectors that builds on a 2018 research report developed by the Partnership and Oliver Wyman. It demonstrates the commitment of the business community and employee volunteers to help young people in New York City take the first step toward building a career path.