Introduction: In the post-pandemic era, the cultivation of vocational adaptability among college students holds equal significance to fostering subjective well-being in the face of an increasingly daunting professional landscape. This intricate process can be influenced by exploratory expeditions into potential career paths, sincere introspection, and a profound sense of vocation. Methods: Drawing upon Bandura’s self-regulation theory, this research project employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to scrutinize the interconnectedness between career exploration, self-reflection, vocational calling, vocational adaptability, and subjective well-being within a sample of 1077 Chinese undergraduates. Results: The findings demonstrated that career exploration and self-reflection positively predicted career adaptability and subjective well-being. In addition, career calling had a significant mediating effect in this model. Conclusion: The findings of this study shed light on the significance of career exploration and self-reflection in fostering both adolescent career adaptability and subjective well-being. And are expected to provide a reference for the career construction and development of college students and career education in colleges and universities.

Job-search is considered as a developmental task for college students to move from campus to workplace. Based on the self-determination theory, 859 Chinese college students were selected as the study sample and hierarchical regression analysis was used to explore the perseverance of effort and consistency of interest on job-search intensity and clarity. The survey showed that the perseverance of effort has a significant positive effect on the job-search intensity, while it has no significant positive effect on job-search clarity. Consistency of interest has a significant negative effect on job-search intensity and a significant positive effect on job-search clarity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and the directions for future research are outlined in this study.