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The COVID-19 crisis caused a high level of job insecurity, layoff and low employment opportunities. It generated a worldwide shock, which might have a long-lasting effect on individuals' careers. Changes might occur in terms of individuals’ career choices, objectives, perception of career success and preferences in terms of industries and work arrangements. This study aims to examine crisis-induced career shock among the workforce, which might be translated into changes or doubts related to career choices, objectives and perception of career success, and to analyze individuals' preferences in terms of industries and work arrangements. It focuses mainly on investigating variations among the workforce, based on gender, education level and ethnic origin. These variations are also examined regarding job insecurity, layoff and perceived employability.

Frequency counts, percentages, mean ranking, independent t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for a sample of 317 workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Three research questions were developed and examined, which are: (1) is there a variation in the workforce, based on gender, education level and ethnic origin concerning crisis-induced career shock (specifically changes related to career choices, objectives and career success? (2) Is there a variation among the workforce related to career preference per industry and work arrangement? If yes, is there a difference in the workforce-based gender, education level and ethnic origin? And (3) is there a variation in the workforce, based on gender, education level and ethnic origin concerning job insecurity, layoff and perceived employability?

The findings revealed that career shock was significantly higher among pre-university respondents (specifically, doubts about career choices and perceived career success). As for career preferences per industry, e-business, media and marketing had significant values for all respondents, with e-business as the top-rated choice except for Emiratis who rated it as their third choice. Education was the choice of both men and women. The choices related to other industries (e.g. Healthcare, information, communication technology, etc.) and work arrangements (telework) varied significantly based on gender, education and ethnic origin. Men seem to worry more than women about losing their job as well as Emiratis compared to expatriates, and university-level respondents compared to pre-university.

This study contributes to highlighting variations related to career shock and career preferences per industry among the workforce based on gender, education level and ethnic origin. This can help organizations in these industries to have a portrait of the situation in the employment market to be able to develop relevant interventions. This research provides insights for managers and HRM practitioners.

This study contributes to expanding research on career and career shocks in a context of a crisis. It responded to authors who called for more research about career shocks, as well as their implication for specific target groups, by examining variations based on gender, education level and ethnic origin.