Career Guidance Note to Parents and Grandparents of Teens

As a parent of a teenager you want only the very best for your son or daughter. One area that is so very important is often ignored or simply left to chance....Namely...helping your son or daughter choose a career direction and helping them with their student career planning.

Most teens have very little, if any, help in developing a career direction while still in high school. They are often influenced by the media or by their peers with little thought of what they might personally be interested in or motivated to do. If they are college bound, they may simply keep changing majors until they 'find something they like'.

There is a better way. You can help them NOW by introducing them to the Career Liftoff® Interest Inventory that can be the beginning of 'career guidance process' leading to self-discovery of their values and interests and how they can explore careers before it's too late.

Helping Students Plan Their Careers
If the young people you know are like most, they leave the decision of what to do after high school until they actually leave school. There is very little thought put into developing a career plan for the typical student.

What's more, according to a recent survey, only 10 percent of high school students get any career guidance at school. More than half could think of no one at school who helped them with career exploration or their student career planning. Many teens' career decisions are influenced by the media or by their peers with little thought of what they might personally be interested in or motivated to do. If they are college bound, they may simply keep changing majors until they "find something they like."

Fortunately, there are steps parents, teachers and others can take to help. For one thing, you can look into the Career Liftoff® Interest Inventory. It's an on-line career assessment program that helps students discover their interests and set your child on their student career planning path.

According to the program's authors, Jim Lewis and Gary Anderson, for students to identify their interests and connect them to a college major or a career, they need an interest inventory. That is, a way to discover what the student wants to do to have a satisfying career and life. Work may change, Lewis and Anderson believe, but an individual's interests remain true for a lifetime.

Once the direction of interest is set, the student can go about getting information about colleges, career options, salaries, training and so forth.

Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life, experts advise parents to tell students.