Choosing the career path, a person chooses for himself his future lifestyle, social circle, and even fate. Sometimes it takes decades to find yourself. And it’s very difficult to understand who you want to be when you are only 16-17 years old. Those who graduate from school this year have to decide on the choice of their future career right now.
How to help a teenager choose the right career: 9 useful tips
This is the first adult choice in the life of the child, and he is very afraid of making the wrong decision. So, what should you look for when choosing a career path?
- Forget about the desires of loved ones. Even if the future applicant has no idea where he would like to go, relatives usually have no problems with that. They know exactly where their child should study. Of course, collecting the opinions of adults is not a bad idea. Perhaps they will tell you those areas that will be interesting and about which you did not even think. But nevertheless, you cannot live with someone else’s mind, and only you can decide where to go to study. Think about what you want from life. Not what your mom or dad want, but what YOU want for yourself;
- Pay attention to your hobbies. In order for a person to feel his realization in the career, it is important that the work brings not only income but also a pleasure. Think about what talents you have and how it can be applied in your future profession. For example, if you draw well, perhaps it makes sense to consider such specialties as a designer, architect, decorator, illustrator, etc. Write poems? There are many professions in which the ability to master the word will be useful to you: PR, journalism, and even a scriptwriter of computer games. You have no particular predisposition to anything? Watch your computer history for the past six months. What queries are repeated regularly in the search? What makes you interested? Perhaps this will also be a kind of hint for the right choice;
- Pay attention to what you do best. Understanding how good you are at math, languages or science will significantly narrow the search for possible options. After all, if you are not on friendly terms with mathematics, it is unwise to choose professions in which the main emphasis is placed on it;
- Remember what you liked to do as a child. Perhaps you wanted to do air modeling but your mother made you study the piano. Or maybe you are good at maths only because of your regular tutoring sessions but in fact, you hate it. Remember what you were fond of in your childhood, when you were not yet “crushed” by extraneous opinion;
- Follow the dream. Remember who you wanted to be in childhood: a pilot? A doctor? Or maybe an astronaut? Maybe later you abandoned your dream in favor of more realistic plans. Imagine that you can choose any career in the world and you have no limitations. But that’s impossible, you say. Leave this word for a while. For example, you really wanted to become an astronaut – yes, this is quite difficult, but there are many careers that are related to the aerospace industry and, perhaps, will be of interest to you. Just collect more information about the dream profession and you will understand that there are many options to realize yourself in this area;
- Imagine your perfect day. If you have a choice between two or more careers, see how your day goes if choose one or another specialty. Cover your eyes, imagine what your life looks like in 10 years. Where do you work? What conditions do you work in? Do you have travel on business trips? For example, if you constantly communicate with people in your dreams, choose a job related to communications; if you wake up for dinner – be guided by the specialty in which freelancing is possible. This method will help you prioritize, understand what is really important for you and refuse unnecessary options;
- Look at the promising careers of the future. Universities are now graduating in huge numbers of specialists for whom it will be quite difficult to find a job. We are talking about the once prestigious economic and law faculties, which exist literally in every institution of higher education. Try to look into the future. Designers of clothes printed on a 3D printer, IT genetics and cosmogeologists – scientists are confident that these professions will soon become highly relevant;
- Take up career guidance. You can independently pass simple career counseling tests found on the Internet. They will be helpful. Or go to the center of vocational guidance. Experts will help determine your strengths and weaknesses, interesting areas of your work, and based on the information collected, they will tell you in which direction to go;
- Try the job in practice. The profession may be different from the inside. For example, it seems to you that a geologist spends all his time on fascinating expeditions. But in fact, he goes there once a year, and the rest of the time he works at the computer. A lawyer is not only a person who brilliantly appears in court but also someone who constantly studies the law. Try to get an intern or courier to the company you are interested in (for example, during the holidays). The internship will help you understand whether the chosen path is right or just an illusion.