5 Tips To Help Your Child Choose A Career
One of the biggest (and arguably most important!) decisions a person will make in their life is choosing which career path they want to pursue. The average person spends around 50 years working full time, which amounts to the majority of our lifetime. Even more terrifyingly, we are often forced to choose a direction for our careers before we’ve barely reached adulthood, usually around the age of 17 or 18.
If you have a young adult or teenager in the house, you know that decisions around post-secondary paths and programs can be an immensely stressful time for your child, no matter whether they’re planning to go into university, trade college, or the workplace. This can also be a very anxious time for parents, too. You might be wondering how you can help your child make such an important decision or if you should even get involved at all.
If you’re currently or are soon expecting yourself to be in this situation, here are five tips for how you can help your child navigate this incredibly challenging — yet still very exciting! — time in their lives.
Help Your Child Identify Their Strengths and Interests
While some kids can have an idea of what they want to do with the rest of their lives from early childhood onwards, the vast majority of teenagers are often lost and stressed when it comes to making decisions like post-secondary pathways. A great way to start the discussion about what your child is going to spend the next several years working towards is by encouraging them to think about their strengths, weaknesses, and interests. One effective approach is to have them take the John Holland career test from BrainManager, an exam designed to assess their aptitudes and interests and provide insights into potential career paths.
After several years of high school, most teenagers have a good sense of what subjects and activities they enjoy, which can be very useful in deciding what career path they will choose to follow. For example, a student who loves debate club and hates math class might be more suited for a career in law or politics rather than accounting or biotech.
You can provide your child with suggestions for careers that employ their specific skills, talents, and interests, as well as encourage them to research on their own. If your child doesn’t have any particular academic interests and still has a few years before they have to choose a post-secondary path, you can encourage them to try out different extracurriculars that seem interesting.
For instance, school clubs and organizations are a fantastic way for students to explore skills and activities outside of the regular curriculum, as well as allowing teenagers to experience working with others in an organized setting. Or if your child has a particular hobby (like drawing or writing, for instance), this can be a great way for them to explore prospective career options.
Encourage Your Child To Speak to People in Their Fields of Interest
Another fantastic way you can help your child get a feel for what career paths they might be interested in actually entail is by encouraging them to speak to someone currently working in that field. Lots of careers, especially those popularized in media, such as medicine and law, can seem very glamorous and appealing to a young person, while in reality, the work one does in that career is very different from what your child might think based on fictional depictions.
Being a scientist, for example, usually involves less mad science-type experimentation and more painstaking documentation and mathematical calculations. It’s important for your child to begin working towards a career path with a legitimate understanding of the work they’ll one day be doing and realistic expectations for what compensation they’ll receive. While surgeons in television shows might make millions of dollars, most doctors don’t make nearly as much. However, they might be interested in one of the allied health programs because they offer a diverse range of career opportunities, from physical therapy and radiography to medical laboratory science and respiratory therapy.
Additionally, by reaching out to someone in their field of interest, your child has the opportunity to form a connection with someone in that career network who might be able to offer guidance, advice, or mentorship to them. There’s no harm in asking for someone’s time, and a lot of professionals will be more than willing to spend an afternoon talking to a young adult interested in their work.
Research How a Career Path Unfolds With Your Child
A decision to pursue a career path is obviously one that takes a lot of different factors into consideration, but one of the biggest considerations is what qualifications your child will actually need to attain in order to enter their field of choice. The way a career path unfolds affects how much money school or training will cost, as well as how long it will take before your child is able to actively find work in their field.
Many people might not be willing to spend years and years studying before they can finally start building up experience for their career or don’t want to pay costly tuition for expensive post-grad programs. Doing the research on what a career requires is also a good way to set up a plan for the next chapter of your child’s life without any surprises. For example, if your child is interested in nursing, they may not know that BSN to DNP programs can help fast-track their education.
Remind Your Child That Their Decision Isn’t Final
While a person’s first career decision might seem incredibly daunting and permanent, it can help relieve a great deal of stress to remind your child that they always have the opportunity to change careers down the line if what they decide now ends up being a poor fit for them. While your child should absolutely take their first career choice seriously, it helps with nerves to know that their decision right now isn’t the be-all and end-all of it.
Remember, the Decision Is Your Child’s, Not Yours
At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember when helping your child make such a monumental decision is that the decision is ultimately theirs, not yours. You’re there to help support them through the process, not pressure them into a choice you’d prefer or make the decision for them. Unless you think your child is making a serious mistake, respect the decision they come to at the end of the process. Your child will love you all the more for it.
Hopefully, with these five tips, you’re better equipped to help your child through this trying and confusing period in their lives. While making a career decision is an extremely stressful thing to do, it’s also an incredibly exciting and joyous occasion and the start of the next and best chapter of your child’s life. By allowing them to make the best choice for themselves, you can help make sure they’re on the right path to a successful and happy future!
