Many parents strictly monitor their children’s grades, but when the time comes to put all the A’s in the right direction and choose a profession, the child is left with a problem alone. We tell you how to help high school students gain not only knowledge about the professions of the future, but also their first work experience.
1. Ask friends to talk about their jobs
That way, your child will understand that the list of occupations is broader than what they talk about in social studies. At school, they usually don’t mention 3D designers, herpetologists, data specialists, game designers, or project managers, and these are full-fledged profiles without which it is impossible to imagine the modern labor market. Chances are that one of your friends or relatives is building a career in a field that you don’t understand and haven’t studied. Reach out to them as if they are essay helper free, because that way your teenager can appreciate the direction of blockchain development or the Internet of things.
Talking to adults about career experiences can keep your child from making the wrong choice. Children tend to romanticize many professions and do not always objectively imagine the mundane tasks they will have to face. An honest story from a competent adult will help the teenager see the real picture. For example, it seems great to be a photographer: you work non-stop, you choose models and sets, you travel a lot. But most to afford this seductive part of the profession, have to shoot weddings and corporate parties on a daily basis and constantly adjust to client demands. Every profession has a shadow side, so it’s better that your kid knows about it beforehand.
2. Take career guidance tests
Another method that will help you start looking for that dream job. On the plus side, you can learn about new fields and professions, get interested in them and then explore specific offers and requirements in more detail. But use tests made within the last 10 years at most. Of the disadvantages: often such tests work too generalized and do not report anything new.
An alternative is career guidance organizations, where tests are conducted with a psychologist or coach. Here the chance of finding the right direction is higher. Specialists at such centers assess not only the test results, but also the child’s communication skills, behavior, character, and openness to various topics for discussion. Children’s hr managers can not only assess the capabilities and interests of a young client but also suggest activities that neither the child nor his parents even know about. The specialist will also tell you about the prospects for specific jobs in the near future and universities worth considering.
3. Attend open houses and job fairs
Job fairs and educational exhibitions are a great source of information about career prospects and the variety of current careers. Universities present their fields of study, hold quizzes and contests, tell students about student life and extracurricular activities, and organize career guidance tests. And sometimes they hold lectures and masterclasses on immersion into the profession, where you can learn how to get a targeted referral and where to better prepare for the entrance exam.
Attending job fairs and open days is a great opportunity to develop soft skills. Teenagers can be proactive and adaptive – talk to unfamiliar students in search of the right information. It is not the easiest task, and the skill of such communication will come in handy in the process of studying at university and at work.
4. Explore the Career and Technical Camp Programs
There are some boot camps where kids not only do their exercises and routines but also learn. In addition, they usually have a definite educational bias: programming, robotics, or theater arts – every schoolchild has a place to fit in.
During the short vacation, kids can learn how to make cool presentations, do scientific projects according to the plan, make reports and conduct experiments. Many camps invite foreigners: this will help the schoolchild not only to pump up their English but also to get the experience of studying according to foreign standards.
5. Visit exhibitions
Reading about new technologies and the experts who invent them is good, getting to know them in person is even better. Previously schoolchildren were taken to museums, now you can add a dozen other interactive activities to the list of locations for an informative excursion. Science and engineering exhibitions tell about the conquest of space from the technical side, art festivals introduce creative trends and contemporary artists, and on the Internet, you can take courses in hundreds of professions and often for free. Educational videos are in vogue right now, so it can also be a good habit for a schoolchild to watch videos at lunch.
