How To Help Your Child Choose A Career Path.

As a parent it’s never too early to begin asking your kids what they want to become in the future, this, in fact, is one of the easiest conversations to have with your child. If you are a parent of a primary or junior school student, or even one in the early years of high school, your child’s career choice is probably the farthest thing from your mind. At this point in his or her life, you and your child are probably more concerned with grades, friends and other things they may be up to at the time.

Sometimes, children get to their teenage years and are still not yet ready to settle on a career choice, it is beneficial for children to begin thinking about all the options available and what goes into choosing a career. Knowing the correct way to do it can help young children and even teenagers avoid getting confused with all the career planning myths that could lead them in the wrong direction.

Why Career Exploration Is A Big Deal

Most Children are only aware of a small number of occupations to which they are exposed, for example: doctor, lawyer, teacher, engineer, etc. The occupation of their parents and relatives go a long way to influence the career choice of these growing minds, therefore it is crucial to teach children about other occupations in order to broaden their choices and increase their chances of finding careers that are suitable. As they get closer to preparing for them, they can narrow down their choices and even begin to take related courses once they are in high school.

How You Can Assist Your Child With Career Exploration

1. Encourage them to read about different career fields; they can get information about every career imaginable online. When a child expresses interest in any occupation, encourage him or her to research it to learn more about it.

2. Urge your child to talk to people in different occupations. Provide opportunity for them to ask people about their jobs, and what kind of training is required for them to be involved in the occupation.

3. When your child expresses an interest in learning about a particular career, be sure to find someone who can talk to them about it.

4. Help your child learn more about themselves. When children get into late high school years, they should do a self-assessment to discover their interests, and find out what they are good at, although there is a very high chance that they have already discovered that in their earlier years.

5. The self-assessment may involve them asking themselves critical questions and honestly answering them. A teenager choosing a career path should have already known what he or she loves to do. Therefore all they need to do at that point is figure out how to make a living, doing what they love.

Educate Yourself

It is not uncommon for your child to express interest in a career you think is wrong for them. You may be right, and there is also a very high chance that you may not know enough about that particular occupation to have formed an opinion. Do some research together with your child; you may learn something and your child certainly will.

One of the most efficient ways to learn about a career is to watch someone actually do that job. As a parent, you should utilize any opportunity to bring your child into the workplace not only to learn about occupations in which they express interest but also to reveal to them, the ones they have never heard of or which they know very little about.

Most Parents are petrified about letting their child do anything other than the conventional courses, even though awareness about new subjects may be there, but acceptability is missing. Art is still considered a poor cousin of science subjects, even though it offers plenty of interesting and even well-paying career options with just a little out-of-the-box thinking.

It is essential for you to constantly remind your child that the quest to do what they love is most times a long process of self-discovery and experimenting. They may change courses as they go through their career path. Be patient with your child during these tough decisions, and encourage them to keep learning more about themselves so they can keep growing into the person they want to be.

Enroll your child in a school that teaches thinking skills

This will not only help support your child’s brain development but also teach them effective and proactive decision making, as well as skills to help highlight the qualities that are necessary in the workplace.

A school with a well-established and proactive careers department is also worth investing in, as they will help your child understand their interests and skills and how these translate to roles that interest them. Talk to your teenage children about what they enjoy both in and out of school. Help them see how they are learning various skills (employable) through their work, hobbies and extra-curricular activities, for example, teamwork, and creativity and leadership skills. If your child is struggling to choose a particular path, encourage them to consider a breadth of subjects so they can still keep their options open.

See to it that you as a parent reassure them that by choosing one option now, they aren’t committing to one role for the rest of their working life. They have simply opted to develop a set of skills and experiences that they can use to transfer roles should they wish to.

Encourage your children to take on a part-time job, work experience or internships when possible. This will help them get a feel for the type of work they might enjoy, and develop their work ethic and employability skills. Learn when to encourage your child and when to let it go, let him know that it isn’t such a big deal if he goes back for required prerequisites or changes programs.

Take your child to see a Guidance Counselor

Many people are dissatisfied with what they do for a living. That is because they make mistakes when choosing a career and end up in an occupation that isn’t a good fit. This is by no means surprising since going through the career planning process, the steps one should take when choosing a career is difficult. It may seem like it would just be easier to pick a random occupation. While making a random choice may be simpler, it is certainly not wise. Given the amount of time you spend at work, you should do everything possible to make an informed decision. Getting help from a professional who provides career guidance can be the difference between your child ending up in a satisfying career or one that makes him miserable.

A career development professional, such as a career counselor, may use self-assessment instruments to help a confused teenager learn about his interests, values, skills, and personality type. After coming up with a list of occupations that seem suitable for him, based on the results, he or she can show you how to explore them and then weed out the ones that are not as good a fit as others. The counselor can help your child create a career action plan that will allow him to pursue the occupation of his choice.

Show your child what resources to use to locate job announcements

There is no point in choosing a vocation if you don’t know how to find a job in your chosen career. Assist your child in providing job search assistance when they are looking for their first job or any subsequent ones. Show your child what resources to use to locate job announcements. Help them write an effective resume and teach them how to network. When it’s time to go on job interviews, you can also advise them on how best to answer questions and negotiate a job offer.

It is also important that we teach our young adults that though it would be nice to choose a career that they will be comfortable with on a long-term basis, most people do not stay in the same occupation their entire working lives. Some individuals even switch careers multiple times; there will probably come a time when he will want to make a change.

Raising children comes with a whole lot of responsibilities. Among the most important of these is instilling the virtue of hard work and determination in your child that will serve them as they mature into adults. Teaching your child to have a strong work ethic can often be a cumbersome chore, but it’s best to start early. Simply using words to inspire your child to work hard is often not enough to ingrain a deeply rooted sense of responsibility and dedication.

Lastly, teach your child that there is no easy career, every career no matter how simple it may seem requires some level of hard work, patience, and dedication. If they have that in mind, the odds are high that they will be distinguished in their chosen career.