How do you choose the correct career path for your child? Choosing the correct career path can be simple and complicated at the same time. However, if you plan early, you can help them get on the right path at an early age.
One of the best ways to ensure the same is to find out what they love doing and help them pursue a career in that. You can also take the help of career counselling coaches to help your child find the right career path.
However, there are quite a few unknowns. For example, when should you start exploring career options, will they have the same interest as they grow up and so on. Here are a few tips to help you explore the right career path.
- Career Quiz:
This is one of the smartest ways of zeroing down on career paths. There are a lot of career-related quizzes that you can find on the internet. Answering them will help your child find out the right career path for himself or herself. You can try to print out these quizzes and career tests and let your child complete them.
There are a few career assessment exams as well. These assessments help to discover the personality characteristics of your child that would suit different career options. This could include a personality test, job interest test, career quiz, etc.
- Getting Familiar with Job Marketplace:
You can take a more reality-based approach to help your child determine the right career option. You can encourage them to get information about different career options from as many sources as they can. A quick look at the job market scene will also help them get additional perspectives. Keeping up with career trends is another goal that you and your child can aim for.
- Narrowing Career Options:
It is only natural to be intimidated by the task of choosing the right career option for your kid. There is a possibility that you might not be aware or entirely sure of the career options. You might want to know where each of these options leads to and the kind of jobs that they provide. In such cases, it is better to take the help of a career counsellor and narrow down the career opportunities. Once you narrow it down, you can continue with the research along with your child.
- Shadowing a Professional:
A lot of children might be already interested in some career paths or roles that interest them. In such cases, it might be a good idea to get them to shadow a professional to understand what they do. There are different ways by which you can facilitate this. If they are interested in the career path of one of your friends or relatives, you can ask them for shadowing. Or reach out to the Human Resources department of an organisation and schedule shadowing in advance.
Choosing the right career path can be daunting. However, if done properly, can lead to a lot of healthy bonding with your child as well.
