Introduction. Career guidance and education are two categories dominating the discourse of government educational policy with the issues of increasing human resource development and increasing the competitiveness of the state. In the scientific literature, both categories have not been considered in close connection with each other. Existing research in the field of extracurricular activities reveals a gap between the demands of families for the educative nature and the demand of the industry for career guidance and training of the future personnel reserve. Aim. To consider the problem of determining the educational effects of career education as an instrument of the state's educational policy in the field of human resource development. Methods. In 2021, we conducted a study of the maritime youth programs in Russia—a survey of directors, teachers, cadets, graduates who continued their studies in maritime college or university. The coverage of respondents was 1,583 people from 70 educational institutions of extracurricular activities and 17 maritime colleges and universities. The results of the study confirmed the hypothesis about the predominance of educational effects of career guidance over recruiting in organizations of industrial extracurricular activities. The results obtained allow us to take a fresh look at the current model of career guidance in the industrial extracurricular activities and encourage the search for tools for balancing it—greater attention to the industry when designing extracurricular education programs while maintaining the general attitude to education.