Career Advice, Norms, and Aspirations on Social Media: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Short-Form TikTok Videos

People frequently share their work-related experiences and perceptions on social media, communicating abundant career messages—ideas, norms, and expectations about different occupations or workplaces—that may reinforce popular narratives about work, inform how people think about and approach their careers, and ultimately socialize people into the working world. This paper outlines the content and construction of career messages on TikTok based on a qualitative content analysis of 1,049 short-form TikTok videos using socio-technical rhetorical strategies and social cognitive career theory as analytical frameworks. The analysis revealed three ways messages functioned : (1) affective representations to share reflections and evaluations of work; (2) immersion to situate viewers within the depicted environments and routines; and (3) support for explicit informational guidance or requests. Visual and rhetorical devices facilitated these functions, including repackaging existing material, external audio, and strategic recording angles, which often coalesced into recognizable social media genres , such as vision boards, memes, and Day-in-the-Life videos. Altogether, functions, facilitators, and genres shape what and how career messages are disseminated and may influence how viewers cultivate sensibilities about work-life, normalize particular workplaces or routines, and position certain forms of career guidance as credible and accessible. We offer a framework on digitally-mediated vocational socialization , which highlights how platform features, affordances, and user practices may co-construct career meaning-making. This work provides a basis for advancing scholarship on how online environments like TikTok might influence career development processes and calls for future work that considers social media as an influential factor in career formation.