Building a career can be hard from the get go, and most of the time, people have to start young. It seems normal to have your entire life planned by the time you’re in the last year of high school, and if you don’t you can feel quite lost.
And that means if there’s a teenager in your household, there’s a good chance you’re currently trying to steer them towards picking the path for their future. They’re still young, and whilst they’re more than likely taking their education seriously if they’re over the age of 15, it’s still hard to understand the true ramifications of not knowing where you’re going, and not being able to achieve the results you need.
So you’re there, encouraging them to get their head down and study hard, to get all top mark grades, and then making sure they take the right breaks afterward so they don’t wear themselves out. And hopefully this all pays off, your teenager gets into the college or the training program they want, and now it’s all in their own hands. However, is that really the long and short of it?
Is it college or bust in the modern world? Are we putting our children under far too much stress and productive exhaustion? It all tends to depend on how informed you are. So whilst you’re currently combing through college scholarships applications, throwing out information to try and get your child sponsored through their semesters, make sure you’re exploring the other options out there as well.
Sit Down and Have a Think Together
Your teenager has all their own thoughts and opinions, and you should never push them out of the way when you’re trying to help them decide on the career they’re going to work for. And because of that, it’s time to have a proper sit down and chat about your child’s passions and talents, and what they could do with them. Being yourself shouldn’t ever be sacrificed because of a few hours each day you’re going to spend in a job position, and your child isn’t going to enjoy any of the time they’ll be there if they didn’t want to train for it.
People shouldn’t ever ignore their own skills and how much energy they have to go through with them when it comes to choosing the further education they want, and your teenager is just going to resent any degree program they’re in that they don’t actually enjoy! So never force a topic, and listen to their complaints and reactions to every option you suggest to them. Otherwise it’ll just make their time in college a lot harder!
Use their hobbies and the subjects they love to full advantage here: do they like art, or do they prefer the sporty side of things? Do they prefer to learn hands on in the field or inside of a classroom with theory? Is coursework something they excelled at or did they prefer to get it all over and done with in a two hour exam? These things all matter, and should weigh the decision they make about their future.
Know About the Kinds of Jobs Out There
The jobs currently available in the world are so different to the jobs we were open to when it came to going through college ourself, and because of that, you should get your teenager to pay attention to the all of the positions in their career path they believe they could go through. There’s new demands on this working world, and all the kinds of skills we didn’t quite believe in when we were younger now have a lot of potential value: if your teenager is able to accomplish something unusual, such as being able to code a website or being able to get through a pile of laundry in a couple of minutes when a day’s washing needs to be done, these talents could be used in their attempt to get a higher education!
So write down all the kinds of skills you and your teenager can think of, and then go researching the jobs these skills can be used in. There’s so many more than you might think, and that can take a huge weight off of any of the worries your teenager might be having about their opportunities. After all, a lack of information is something that turns a lot of young people away from properly exploring their options and then locking themselves into a single career path: they think it’s the only one available, and they’re reluctant from the beginning to go through with it. No parent wants that for their child!
Even ten years ago, something like a social media manager was never even heard of, and now every single brand out there has one to run all their online channels for them. Staying on buzz whenever a customer has a problem or being able to promote something 24/7 is a talent we don’t think much of, but it takes a lot! Similarly, there’s so many more jobs open in retail and customer service careers, and someone can become a branch or district manager in a matter of a couple of years. More people need jobs, and the demand is slowly being met, so explore these!
They Can Choose to Study Online
Because we live in a digital world, education is more accessible than ever. And that means a traditional college route might not be so necessary in order for your teenager to follow their dreams and finally be properly educated for the career they’ve wanted since they were a kid. Just because it’s a newer idea and we rarely hear it talked about on job descriptions when people go to apply to them doesn’t mean it’s a non-viable option! A degree is a degree after all, even if it’s not considered prestigious.
And when you’ve got an online world to learn from, a lot of the other worries associated with going to college can be wiped away. If you know your teenager is dreading having to move hundreds of miles away and only being able to reach you on the phone, or they have some serious anxiety issues that’s going to make their social life and overall mental health a lot worse, this is a great option for them.
There’s all sorts of programs to find, whether you want to study English Literature or you’d rather tinker about electronics and machinery; you can easily find an engineering management program online from many different providers, most of which have physical universities to accompany them and a long history to guarantee the reputation.
Is Your Teenager Ready to Decide Their Future?
They might not be, and honestly they don’t have to be! Even with the amount of pressure on young people to settle down and make money, and have an entire academic history behind them at the same time, you can chop and change careers whenever you feel the need to. Nothing has to be guaranteed!
As long as you have some plans in the bank to tide you over during a time like this, people are more secure in their lives than you might realize, and that’s something to tell your teenager at this crucial point in preparation for standing on their own two feet. Hopefully these tips can help you out with the stress your child might be under!
