Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy and Its Implications in High School Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Aims: Self-efficacy in making professional decisions refers to people’s confidence in their abilities to complete tasks and display particular behaviors, which enables them to successfully connect these activities to their career goals. This study aimed to examine and determine the level of self-efficacy of high school students in choosing a career during the Covid-19 pandemic. Instruments Methods: This cross-sectional pilot study survey was conducted on 469 high school students in Boyolali Regency and Surakarta City, Indonesia, who were selected using the cluster proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale-short Form was used to gather the data. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23 software. Findings: The self-efficacy of high school students in making career decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic was rated as moderate. There was no significant difference in the level of self-efficacy in career decision-making between the male and female students (p 0.05). However, there was a significant difference between junior and senior high school students in Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy (p 0.05) and problem-solving (p 0.01). Conclusion: Problem-solving indicators can be used to create guidance and counseling programs in schools and have implications for future career planning.