A whole new ball game!
Over the last few decades, the globalisation of the economy, the pace of technological change and the ageing of the population have impacted on both the way work is organised and the skills we need to get the most out of our careers.
Confronted with these dramatic changes, you probably find yourself wondering about how best to help your child to make the most of their working life in order to be happy and successful.
Young people’s careers
Times have changed. A career is now seen as the sum of the learning and work roles people choose to undertake in order to construct the lives they want to live – lives which take into account important priorities such as family, social, and community responsibilities.
The notion of having one job for life is a thing of the past for most people. With jobs changing constantly, people now need to keep learning throughout their lives and take charge of their own futures.
Importantly, most of the career choices that will be available to young people will require them to have completed some post-secondary education or training. With this in mind, they will be better placed to move smoothly through school and on to further education or training if they start exploring their options sooner rather than later.
Your influence
For most people, the earliest and often most powerful learning about their career occurs within their family. Their earliest perceptions about the nature of work are shaped by the adults/carers in their lives, as well as the images they see on television and other media.
Your role
There are easy helpful ways you can assist and encourage your child’s career development while making the most of their optimism, energy and curiosity. Positive and encouraging parental influence can produce great results and boost your child’s confidence when searching or making decisions about their career choices. You can:
-
provide practical support when they find a part-time job or work experience
-
instil an understanding within your child that they are a capable and resourceful person
-
actively listen and be open to talking about special moments such as activities in and out of school
-
share your positive stories of working life with them
-
build confidence by inspiring your child to dream and plan for their future
-
encourage them to explore their options when and where they arise.
Apart from the above suggestions and others you may have already thought of, positively engaging your child in learning about topics that interest them can also give them a head start while making them feel comfortable and connected to their future. Keeping it ‘real and relevant’ can also be a great advantage.
Help Them Prepare To Make Career Decisions
Help your children inform themselves by encouraging them to:
-
acknowledge the full range of their strengths and interests
-
find out about a range of options and alternative pathways rather than focus on a single career direction
-
collect relevant information
-
talk to as many relevant people as possible about the decisions ahead
-
visit a career counsellor.
Encouraging them to get part-time jobs or work experience helps them learn by experience about different types of work, their rights and responsibilities as a worker, and the range of tasks required in a job.
Explore Career Fields With Them
A ‘career field’ is a cluster of similar occupations, each requiring a certain level of education and training. Career fields are broader than single occupations, presenting your children with a wider choice of work. For example, the “medical field” may include nursing or medical administration. Similarly the “construction field” would include the full range of trades like plumbing and bricklaying. Exploring career fields helps you and your children plan school subjects, further study and extra school activities around their favoured career path.
Once they’ve worked out which career fields interest them, your children can explore occupations within those fields.
As a first step towards working together to realise your children’s career goals visit My Guide with them. My Guide is designed for all people seeking career information and offers many activities to help decide on a career pathway.
Start together by working through the Identifying, Exploring and Deciding sections to:
For further information on careers, visit:
Encourage Them To Be Lifelong Learners
The working world is constantly changing and workers must continually update their skills and knowledge. To succeed at work, it helps if your children are committed to learning for the rest of their lives. The more they enjoy new challenges and information the better off they’ll be.
