Isabel Bescoby was active in several student organizations. She graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1932 with Honours in History. She received an M.A. in history three years later after completing a thesis on the social aspects of American mining advance in the Cariboo and Kootenay regions in the 1870s. After graduation, she joined the B.C. Department of Education as Director of the Elementary Correspondence School. In 1937, Bescoby became principal of the Provincial Model School in Victoria until World War II. After that, she joined the Unemployment Insurance Commission and National Employment Services. In 1950, she moved to Vancouver and became a regional supervisor of staff training before moving on to Ottawa as chief of the Civil Service Commission's training division. Bescoby remained active in adult education as a lecturer and as a panellist at conferences throughout Canada and the United States throughout her career.