Pathful

In today's rapidly evolving economy, career readiness has moved far beyond traditional college prep—it requires authentic, industry-informed experiences that connect students and adult learners directly to the skills and pathways employers actually need. Yet many educators struggle to provide meaningful career development without the workforce connections, market insights, or scalable tools to make it impactful. That's where Pathful comes in.

Pathful isn't just another career exploration platform. As the Career Readiness and Development Company, our deep integration with over 5,000 companies, organizations, and workforce entities sets us apart. Through continuous feedback from employers nationwide, Pathful ensures that students and adult learners aren't just learning about careers—they're developing the specific skills and competencies that align with high-demand career pathways and real workforce needs.

The Career Readiness Challenge

Across the country, educators are tasked with preparing students and adult learners for careers that didn't exist a decade ago, using skills that employers are actively hiring for today. Whether meeting state work-based learning mandates or fulfilling Perkins V requirements, there's unprecedented urgency to provide authentic career development—not just career awareness, but genuine preparation for success.

The challenge? Most educators lack direct industry experience, and districts often don't have the workforce connections or capacity to create these opportunities at scale. Many career programs rely on outdated information about job markets and skill demands.

That's the gap Pathful was built to fill. We offer a turnkey, industry-informed approach for K–12 schools and adult education programs to bring real-time career readiness, workforce insights, and employer engagement directly into learning environments—no complex logistics, budget battles, or scheduling headaches required.

Industry-Workforce Intelligence as Competitive Advantage

What makes Pathful fundamentally different is our dynamic feedback loop with the real economy and workforce demands.
"Our competitive advantage is the continuous access we have to industry and workforce partners," says Ryan Hagedorn, CEO of Pathful. "We're constantly gathering intelligence from employers to ensure students and job seekers are developing the exact skills, mindset, and competencies that align with actual labor market needs—not outdated career information."

This ongoing partnership provides real-time market data on high-demand career pathways and the employability skills that employers are actually seeking. Everything from our content development to live, virtual career experiences is grounded in current workforce intelligence, not assumptions.

Because this industry feedback is continuous, Pathful stays ahead of economic shifts, emerging fields, and evolving skill demands. Educators access living career readiness and development content and tools informed by real market conditions and employer expectations with reporting that supports educational requirements.

Engaging Career Experiences That Drive Participation

At the heart of Pathful's career readiness platform are our professionally produced, industry-informed experiences designed to keep students and adult learners genuinely engaged throughout their career development journey.

Live Career Guest Speakers: Our network of 45,000+ industry professionals deliver authentic workforce insights through live, virtual sessions. Through a combination of teacher-requested sessions and industry partner-hosted events available to all Pathful users, we ensure experiences are both appropriate and industry-relevant. Because sessions happen virtually, we overcome traditional barriers like geography and budget constraints.

Career Profiles with Virtual Job Shadow Videos: Pathful's inhouse production team creates high-quality, day-in-the-life videos that provide authentic behind-the-scenes glimpses into real careers. These professionally produced resources go far beyond generic career information, showing students and adult learners what different career paths actually look like in practice.

Lifestyle Calculator: This exclusive tool connects students' life goals—homeownership, family planning, lifestyle choices—to real salary data and career pathways. Students and adult learners think critically about income-lifestyle tradeoffs and reverse-engineer career decisions based on their actual life aspirations, not just interests.

"The engagement we see is remarkable because students recognize these aren't theoretical exercises—they're connecting with real professionals doing actual work in careers they might pursue," says Hagedorn. "When content is industry-informed and professionally produced, they want to stay engaged throughout their career development process."

Beyond Exploration: Career Preparation and Development

While many platforms stop at career awareness, Pathful supports students and adult learners through the complete career readiness journey with tools that develop authentic workforce preparedness:

Industry-Led Projects: These exclusive virtual experiences engage students and adult learners in real-world challenges that address current industry issues. Working through structured phases—planning, research, solution development, and presentation—learners develop critical employability skills while receiving guidance and feedback from industry professionals.

Employability Skills Development: Learners discover and refine the life skills needed to secure and sustain employment through engaging, interactive resources designed to prepare them for career success. Educators can choose from over 75 pre-made career and postsecondary lessons, which can be assigned as-is or tailored to suit their specific requirements. Through professionally produced Employability Skills videos and interactive content, learners build essential workplace skills like communication, teamwork, and problem-solving that transcend any single career pathway.

Experience Tracker: Students can log and track work-based learning hours, job shadows, internships, and career development activities—even live experiences outside the Pathful platform. This supports compliance with state requirements while providing students with comprehensive career development records.

Scalable Impact: Real Career Readiness at Scale

Pathful's industry-workforce model enables unprecedented scale for authentic career readiness programming. During the 2024 solar eclipse, Pathful helped Lawrence Township Schools in Indiana reach 16,000 students across 21 schools in a single day through a coordinated learning experience with Emmy-winning science educator Janet Ivey. No additional costs, logistics, or disruptions—just high-quality, industry-informed career exposure delivered at district scale.

"Pathful creates equity in career readiness access," says Hagedorn. "Whether learners are in rural communities or urban centers, whether their families work in professional fields or not, everyone gets authentic exposure to workforce insights and high-demand career pathways."

The platform includes comprehensive accessibility features— multilingual content, closed captioning, and accommodations for diverse learners—ensuring inclusive access to career development opportunities.

A Vision for Workforce-Connected Education

Pathful integrates seamlessly into existing curricula with educatorfriendly tools that make implementation effortless. Teachers and instructors can quickly access industry-aligned speakers and resources, assign interactive assessments and employability skill courses to students, and integrate career readiness into academic learning with built-in tools and on-demand workforce-informed content.

For administrators, Pathful provides comprehensive dashboard tools to monitor student engagement, document work-based learning and career development experiences, and demonstrate compliance with educational funding mandates while tracking progress through their complete career readiness journey.

Pathful's vision is transformative: a world where every student and adult learner has access to industry insights, workforce connections, and authentic career preparation they need to succeed in high-demand careers.

That vision is already reality in thousands of schools and programs nationwide. By combining educator support with real-time workforce intelligence and engaging technology, Pathful has become the model for modern, equitable, and effective career readiness.

"We're not just exposing learners to career possibilities," says Hagedorn. "We're providing industry-informed career development that prepares them for success in the careers and workforce of tomorrow."