BY CHAVALA WEISS
How young is too young to start thinking about careers? While even older students are not yet ready to settle on a career choice, it benefits 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 students avoid falling for all the confounding career planning myths.
Children are aware of only the relatively small number of occupations to which they are exposed, for example, doctor, dentist, teacher, firefighter, police officer, and whatever it is their parents and relatives do to make a living. Learning about other occupations broadens their choices and increases the odds that they will be able to find suitable careers. As they get closer to having to prepare for them, they can narrow down their choices and even begin to take related courses or practice-related tasks.
HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUR CHILDREN WITH CAREER EXPLORATION:
-Read About Different Careers: When your child expresses interest in any occupation, encourage him or her to research it to learn more.
-Talk to People In Different Occupations: Ask people about their jobs. Find out what training they needed and if they like what they do.
-Use Your Network: When your child expresses interest in learning about a particular career, access your professional network to find someone who can talk to him or her about it.
-Help Your Child Learn About Himself or Herself: Have your child do a self-assessment to discover his or her interests, values, personality, and aptitudes.
-Keep Your Opinions to Yourself: Your child may express interest in a career you think is all wrong for him or her. You may be right, or you may not know enough about that particular occupation to have formed an opinion. Do some research together. You may learn something and your child will as well.
OTHER WAYS TO LEARN ABOUT OCCUPATIONS:
One of the best ways to learn about a career is to watch someone doing that job. Job shadowing presents the opportunity for your child to get an up-close look at a career by following someone at work for a few hours or a few days. Last but not least, Career Days present another way to learn about the ways people make a living. By inviting parents and others into the school each year to discuss their occupations.
Wishing our students loads of luck in their future careers!