When deciding on a career for your children, it is crucial to become more than an authoritative figure to your child. Many students struggle with deciding on a job for themselves. Whether they want to be an engineer, or doctor, or take up some other profession, should they sit for the JEE or NEET test, what should they do next for a good career is a common concern for many. As a parent, you should be their friend and understand their likes and dislikes and what they aspire to become in the coming years. You can empower or guide your children to make the right choice based on their interests.
7 Ways to Help Your Child Pick the Best Career
While at college or school, many children do not have adequate life experiences to make big decisions like choosing a career for themselves. Here are seven ways how you can help your child decide their professional path independently.
Find Your Child’s Strength and Passion
It is important to understand what your child is good at to select the best career. As a parent, you can monitor their actions, what kind of movies they like watching, what they prefer doing in their free time, and what they like to keep in their room to understand their interests.
For instance: If you see your child prefers to watch movies that are related to doctors, or they like to watch videos on how a doctor treats their patient, you can give them macro suggestions to become a doctor. You might tell them to sit for the NEET UG examination and get enrolled in the top medical institutions if being a doctor is where their interest lies.
Similarly, if you figure out their interest in engineering, you can suggest your child prepare for the JEE Main examination and register in the renowned engineering colleges to brace themselves for becoming one.
Scope for the Selected Career
After deciding what they want to become, explore the selected career path. If your child chooses to become an engineer, search for career opportunities related to engineering. With an engineering degree, a child can become an aerospace engineer, chemical, mechanical, industrial, and electronics engineer, to name a few.
There is no shortage of career opportunities in engineering. Since the career options are huge, the scope is immense. You can research their preferred field and familiarise them with the career options to make the best choice based on their interest.
Accordingly, you can suggest your child clear the JEE Advanced examination and complete further studies on their selected profession.
Allow Them to Perform Different Activities
Every child has a different personality. Don’t limit your child from doing anything that they want to do. If they like dancing, allow them to dance. If they prefer singing, allow them to do so. This way, you’ll be able to recognise their interest and also give them scope to develop their abilities. If they have expertise in a particular skill, they might find it easier to choose that skill as their profession.
Find a Career Counsellor
Even though everything is available on the internet, sometimes the information can be confusing. Hence, as a parent, you might not be able to guide them as efficiently as a career counsellor. So, consider hiring an experienced career counsellor to help your child make decisions. The career mentor understands the students’ interests and assists them in gaining awareness of their best career fit.
A career counsellor helps in job search and advises students about the educational programmes they need to complete to pursue their passion. If a student is interested in becoming a doctor, the counsellor guides them by telling them the eligibility criteria for the NEET examination, the details of the NEET form, and other details.
Analyse the Remuneration It Provides
Nowadays, everybody wants to earn big. Nobody wants to settle for less salary. Hence, discuss the remuneration a career provides with your child to assist in making an informed decision. If a specific job offers a good package at the beginner level, you can suggest that career option to your child to help in decision-making. With the right guidance, you can build their confidence and help them make the right career choice.
Suggest Your Network to Them
If a child opens up to you regarding their interest, try to help them by suggesting contacts that might help in their mission. For instance: if they want to become an engineer, you can give them the contact details of an engineer in your family from wherein they can take guidance for their career. The network can help them understand the importance of cracking JEE examination, the JEE Main important chapters, the JEE Main eligibility criteria, and other details needed to increase the chances of enrollment in a good engineering institute. By getting into a good engineering college, your child will open up diverse options related to engineering as their career option.
Give Them the Freedom to Select Their Career Path
Every child is different and unique in their way. Parents should understand that their interests might not align with their children’s. So, a parent should not treat their child as an extension of themselves.
- They should motivate them to become what they want to become.
- Provide the right guidance to become the best in their chosen field.
- Teach them to face failures on their path and come back victorious.
Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing the Right Career for Your Child
Parents make certain mistakes while guiding their children toward the right career path. Some common mistakes are as follows:
- Parents often want their children to settle down with an economically viable career and pressurise their students to choose that specific career option. Doing so can result in the wrong career choice for the child.
- Children often feel pressured when their parents tell them to fulfil their dream. Every individual has the right to select their career path. Parents should not force them to complete their own goals.
- You should not get influenced by the market’s trend or what the person next door is choosing as their career choice while assisting your child in making the right career choice.
- Do not neglect the children’s skills, passion, and aptitude while selecting a career. Many parents ignore these and choose a job based on academic performance.
- Often parents do not realise the importance of hiring a career counsellor. They believe they can decide on a job for their child independently. But this is the wrong approach. A career counsellor is experienced in their field, so they can give more insight into a career field. Sometimes, they can provide better advice than you can after searching for career details on the internet.
- Some parents judge their children’s career choices by calling them ‘immature’, ‘childish’, or ‘whimsical’. You must avoid saying such terms and accept their career choices with a broad mindset.
FAQs
1. How can I discover my child’s passion?
To understand your child’s passion, follow the below-mentioned steps.
1. Understand their unique talents or the extracurricular activities they like to participate in.
2. Suggest they to do internships to understand which work profile they find interesting.
3. Hire a mentor and take their assistance to discover your child’s interests.
4. Challenge them to try new things and explore their passion.
5. Make them enroll in different programmes and see if they like doing them. Based on the programmes they attend without missing is the one that interests them.
2. Why should I not impose a career choice on my children?
The following are the reasons why you should not impose a career choice on your children.
1. A bad career choice can destroy your child’s career. While you might select the ideal job for them, if it doesn’t interest them, they might not be able to continue for a lifetime. Hence, allow them to make a career choice themselves.
2. While you might choose a career based on their academic results, they might want to become something else. For instance: you might suggest your child become a history teacher because they have excellent grades in history, but they may wish to become a painter.
3. It is their future, and they should be allowed to make the right choice for themselves.
3. Is engineering a good career option for my child?
Yes, engineering is a good career option. There are multiple engineering roles from wherein your student can make their careers. If this career suits your children’s interests, you can suggest your child take this field after completing high school. Suggest them to sit for the JEE examination, an important entrance test to get admission into the best engineering colleges in India.
4. How can my children decide the best career for themselves?
A child can decide the best career for themselves by asking themselves the following questions.
1. What are my interests?
2. What values do I consider important?
3. What is my personality?
4. What is my educational qualification?
5. are my skills and attributes?
6. What are my strengths and talents?
By answering these questions and listing them down, a child can analyse the answers and decide their best career. Writing the answers can help the child narrow down their potential career options.
5. How can I find my child’s talents?
You can discover your child’s talents from the following techniques.
1. Enrol your child’s name in different extracurricular activities. See which extracurricular activities they take the most interest in.
2. Monitor your child while they’re playing. Your child might do interesting activities that demonstrate their abilities.
3. Ask your child directly about what they like to do.
4. Make a questionnaire and include questions regarding their interest. Let your child complete the questionnaire. Analyse the questionnaire to comprehend their likes and dislikes.
Conclusion
A child’s strengths and abilities evolve as they grow up. Being a parent, you should support them in developing their abilities. Encourage them to take up various activities to understand which is the one activity that they enjoy doing the most. Based on the analysis, you can suggest the right career option. Follow the tips mentioned above to avoid hasty career decisions and choose the one that aligns with your interests. Be patient, honest, and helpful, and help your child like a friend in making the right choice for their career path.
