Helping your child choose a career
As parents, we all want the best for our children. We want their career choices to bring them happiness and success. But living in a rapidly-changing global environment, with thousands of job options, choosing a career can be quite bewildering.
Here are some tips on how you can assist your child:
• Start early – encourage them to dream and to be aware of the world around them. Try to tie up what they learn in school to the working environment.
• Encourage them to delve deeper into fields that interest them. High schools encourage job shadowing (this also helps when they need to make subject choices).
• As a parent, you need to keep in touch with the ever-changing opportunities. Be available to guide, but take care not to push them.
• Encourage self-reflection: What are their strengths and development areas? What motivates / inspires them?
• Once they’ve indicated a preference, get them to explore the requirements for the role – both in terms of typical personality traits as well educational requirements.
• Assist them in developing a realistic career path, with clear goals.
• Manage expectations – ensure that they understand that education alone will not get them to where they want to be. They may need to “start from the bottom”.
• Assure them that any decision they make is not cast in stone. Regularly revisit the career plan with them.
• You may want to refer your child to a career guidance counsellor. Most universities provide free career counseling to students. There are also many private therapists who do psychometric testing and career counseling.