A study on how perfectionism affects career decision-making and anxiety in students

By: Lior Tweg (24-25)

Deciding on which career path to go down is a challenge faced by many students, but for perfectionists, it can be even more emotionally exhausting and high-pressure. Many different factors will influence a student’s choice-both individual and circumstantial (Savickas, 2002; Chen et al., 2023; Rudolph et al., 2019). In today’s digital age, it becomes even harder to avoid comparison to peers and feelings of inadequacy and anxiety, despite the individual’s own successes (Chakraborty, 2024). Influences of social media will mean an individual with perfectionistic tendencies already will experience heightened pressure to perform and make the “perfect” career choices. What is supposed to be an exciting time in a student’s life-entering the professional world, becomes one riddled with anxiety and negative emotions. 

A brief history of Perfectionism:

The definition of perfectionism is striving for flawlessness, having high personal standards for performance and being concerned over mistakes and expectations of parents (Flett & Hewitt, 2002). The concept of perfectionism has often been seen in terms of being “good” or “bad”, and the different definitions used in research has not helped decide whether perfectionism is positive or negative (Stoeber & Otto, 2006). Instead, it is better understood as a layered concept, which can be both positive and negative depending on the individual’s experience of it. The original research paper framing perfectionism as a complex concept, made up of different types of perfectionism was from Hamachek (1978), who argued perfectionism has two types: adaptive and maladaptive. These different types had different experiences associated with them, such as having high but realistic standards for adaptive perfectionists, while maladaptive perfectionists battle constant dissatisfaction and fragile self-esteem. Different distinctions between types of perfectionism have since expanded to account for whether the behaviours are directed outward or towards oneself (Hewitt & Flett, 1991), multiple different elements (Frost et al., 1990), as well as more recently, introducing a new model that can be applied to individuals from different cultures and backgrounds (Smith et al., 2016; Rahman et al., 2025).

This study

To understand how perfectionistic students experience career decision-making and anxiety in light of their tendencies, we interviewed nineteen Master’s students and one recently-graduated Undergraduate student about their experiences. The participants’ ages ranged from 22-47 and had a variety of different educational and occupational backgrounds. 

Findings

Through analysis of the interview data, we found that participants mentioned having high standards and wanting things to go according to the way they planned, and feeling distressed when this did not happen. Furthermore, participants mentioned procrastinating, either putting off tasks by doing something unrelated (yet still productive, such as cleaning) or something purely for comfort (such as watching a favourite TV show). Perfectionistic students mentioned wanting to show their superiors at work that they were capable in order to maintain a positive reputation, but also potentially to gain financial security (in the form of bonuses or better salaries). In their academic lives, the students mentioned the heightened pressure they faced to perform and get the best grades possible, while also mentioning that being in charge of their own schedules and timings increased their perfectionistic tendencies as they only relied on themselves. When asked about their job search experiences, participants mentioned struggling to find the “right fit”, either due to feelings of being underqualified or waiting for the “perfect” job, or due to feelings of indecisiveness. The students also mentioned that while on their hunt for jobs, the emotions associated with pre-and post-applications. During the pre-application phase, participants mentioned overthinking and anticipatory anxiety, causing them to spend extra time and devote extra energy into the application process. While post-application was riddled with rumination and threats to self-worth if they were rejected. 

What this means/Future directions

This research shows the importance of understanding lived perspectives of students in an understudied population (predominantly Master’s students), as they may feel heightened pressure and distress when choosing their career path compared to a non-perfectionist population. Understanding the way perfectionist students experience this stage of life can help us help them in future, by encouraging universities and other institutions to provide specialised careers advice and more effective coping strategies for students who experience career anxiety and distress (Kang et al., 2020). By aiding those students to overcome their internal challenges and understand that rejections and ambiguities are a natural part of choosing a career path, as well as knowing nothing needs to be permanent, this may help students with perfectionistic tendencies to alleviate some of their stress and see it for what it could be—a time full of promising potential. 

Final summary

In summary, the study showed that students with perfectionistic tendencies spoke of having high standards, but procrastinating on tasks sometimes, wanting to be seen as competent and gain financial security and recognition, while also balancing demands of their studies, such as having control over their schedule. When applying for jobs, these students mentioned feeling demoralised when receiving rejections, while some people said they were put off from applying if they did not feel they met all the criteria in the job applications, or did not apply because they were waiting for the perfect fit. Higher education institutions and careers services could help alleviate the added pressure students put themselves under (often unprovoked and unnecessarily) by helping students face these internal challenges and by helping them understand this is a natural part of the job search process.­

Blog References

Chakraborty, A. (2024). Navigating Career Anxiety in the Modern Age: Understanding Its Roots and Remedies. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Approaches in Psychology, 2(1), 13-24.

Chen, H., Liu, F., & Wen, Y. (2023). The Influence of College Students’ Core Self-evaluation on Job Search Outcomes: Chain Mediating Effect of Career Exploration and Career Adaptability. Current Psychology, 42(18), 15696–15707. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02923-4 

Flett, G. L., & Hewitt, P. L. (2002). Perfectionism and maladjustment: An overview of theoretical, definitional, and treatment issues. In G. L. Flett, & P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment (pp. 5-31). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10458-001 

Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive therapy and research, 14(5), 449-468.

Hamachek, D. E. (1978). Psychodynamics of normal and neurotic perfectionism. Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior, 15(1), 27–33.

Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(3), 456-470. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.3.456

Kang, M., Lee, J., & Lee, A. (2020). The effects of college students’ perfectionism on career stress and indecision: Self-esteem and coping styles as moderating variables. Asia Pacific Education Review, 21(2), 227-243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09609-w

Rahman, S. N., Allen, L. K., & Natoli, A. P. (2025). Predictive Invariance of the Big Three Perfectionism Scale (BTPS) Across Race when Predicting Mistake Rumination. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 07342829251334269.

Rudolph, C. W., Zacher, H., & Hirschi, A. (2019). Empirical developments in career construction theory. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 111, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.12.003 

Savickas, M. L. (2002). Career Construction: A Developmental Theory of Vocational Behavior. In D. Brown (Ed.), Career Choice and Development (4th ed., pp. 149–205). Jossey-Bass. 

Smith, M. M., Saklofske, D. H., Stoeber, J., & Sherry, S. B. (2016). The big three perfectionism scale: A new measure of perfectionism. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 34(7), 670-687. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282916651539

Stoeber, J., & Otto, K. (2006). Positive conceptions of perfectionism: Approaches, evidence, challenges. Personality and social psychology review, 10(4), 295-319.

By Benjamin Finbow (24-25)

Reports suggests that nearly a quarter of all UK employees will have left their roles voluntarily by the end of 2025. This reads more than just a statistic, this is a costly drain of resources and finances, let alone the affect that this has on a teams morale, for graduates who often see their graduate scheme as a strategic step into the professional world, the retention risk is even higher. 

Hiring graduates into your company is a huge investment! On average companies spend upwards of £5000 on a graduate, before a single day of training or the managers’ lost time is factored in. Immense resources are poured into developing this young talent pipeline through these graduate schemes, yet so often these graduates do not stay beyond their graduate scheme.

So, what’s going wrong?

If companies are offering competitive salaries, what makes these early in career, talented individuals, look to leave so early?

This study looked to answer this very question, by sitting down with 12 graduates on graduate schemes across different business sectors, including finance, defence, automotive and recruitment to understand their experiences as to why they would stay. 

The findings were clear and powerful. A good salary was an important factor for many of the graduates; however it is rarely the main reason that they stay.  The real drivers of why people stay tended to be far more human centric. Below are the main experiences that the graduates reported. 

1. The psychological contract: a broken promise makes for broken trust

Before the graduate even signs the physical contract, an unspoken agreement is formed. In the academic world this is called the “psychological contract”, but this can just be thought of as a collection of promises and expectations set during the interview process. 

According to the graduates in this study, this is where the companies first go wrong, recruiters often find themselves over promising on exciting career development, hands-on-training and a fantastic work-life balance. However, once the graduate is in the position and these promises aren’t met, the trust in the graduate scheme is ruined – the psychological contract, broken. 

The study heard directly from graduates whose trust was broken: 

• One participant spoke to how they were promised a 6-month training program with rotations throughout the business, just to be told when they arrived that it was 2 months with no rotations at all. 
• Another was lured in by the recruiter on the promise of upwards of £100,000 in commission, only to be told when they arrived that no-one has ever made that much in their first year. 

When the psychological contract is broken, it’s not just disappointment for the graduate, it feels like a breach of their trust in the company. Once the trust is gone, good luck getting it back! 

• Where am I going here? 

You might think that career planning is an issue for people in their 30s and 40s, however, this study found how important career development planning is from day one for the graduates, they don’t just want a job – they need clear guidelines and a trajectory! 

Non-negotiable: A clear career path 

The graduates who were happiest on their schemes and most likely to stay were those who could see a clear path forward in their careers. One of the participants spoke excitedly about a linear progression from “assistant to underwriter to senior underwriter”. Another participant appreciated the clearness of their company policy, “Five years until you get a promotion, if you don’t get it then you’re not going to get it ever” – while harsh this did provide clear trajectory. 

In complete contrast, graduates at companies without a clear structure felt lost and ready to leave. They expressed fears of being “stuck in middle management”, or felt their career would be “stunted” if they stayed too long. One summed up their future slightly bleakly “I don’t really know, I guess I just won’t be a graduate at the end of the 18 months”. 

Learning cannot be an afterthought 

Aligned with a clear career path is the need for quality training to help the gradates progress. The most positive experience came from companies that truly invested in learning. One graduate described their scheme as “one continuous cycle of learning”, where the company would pay for “any course, be it sporting , professional or literally any scope of things”. 

However, many participants reported a frustrating conflict. They were told training was essential but were given no time during the workday to get it done. Instead, they were expected to learn on their own time, which meant that the training either wasn’t done or it was done with very minimal effort. 

• The old saying rings true: You don’t quit a job, you quit your boss 

The single biggest influence on a graduates day-to-day experience is their direct line manager. This relationship, more than any company policy, determines whether the graduate feels supported, valued and engaged.

A good manager is a game changer: 

• Hold regular meetings and be invested in the success of your graduate 
• Provide actionable feedback that actually helps the graduate improve 
• Make them feel valued! Listen to what they have to say 
  

Conversely, a poor or absent manager was a major cause for graduate dissatisfaction.  One participant revealed “We’re supposed to have a weekly or bi-weekly meeting, my manager hasn’t set one up this year”, with another participant saying “You just have to assume you’ve done a good job” because feedback was non-existent. 

So, how do you keep your graduates?

1. Draw a clear map – graduates need to see the journey ahead.
   
   Don’t let them try and figure it out and don’t leave it to chance. Create clear career ladders that show exactly what it takes to get to the next level. In addition to this, add a competency framework that outlines the specific skills they need to develop 
   
2. Protect their time to learn – not just a login to an eLearning platform!
   
    Block out time in their calendars specifically for training and development. Treat it as a core part of their job, not an extra task to be squeezed in at home. 
   
3. Train your managers!
   
   The most impactful change you can make is to train your manager. Teach them how to give useful feedback, how to mentor and how to support someone at the beginning of their career. Even, consider reverse mentoring to make the graduates feel heard and allow them to share their expectations with the graduate schemes.  

Graduate schemes are a brilliant investment in your talent of tomorrow, don’t waste them!