6 Career Guidance Counsellor Tips for Parents

Recent research on parental influence on career choice has confirmed that parental influence plays a highly significant role in a teenager’s career aspirations. While parents can be a valid support, the research has also found that their interference can constitute a risk to the individual’s well-being, with important repercussions in terms of school anxiety, burnout, and depression.

Parents take note, I want to share some career guidance counsellor tips for you as your start to have career discussions with your teenager.

6 Insightful Career Guidance Counsellor Tips for Parents

Listen to your Teen’s Career Aspirations

Clear your busy schedule for some time out to discuss and listen to your teenager’s initial career thoughts on what career choice they have. Respect your teenager’s dreams, and use them as a starting point for many more career discussions about their career future.

Communication can take place at the dinner table or can work well if you go to a neutral environment outside of the family home. I find teenage boys tend to communicate better if you take them outdoors for a walk. Do what suits your family and the relationships you have with your daughter or son.

Engage in Career Development

Steps of self-discovery, detailed career exploration, career decision-making, building career tools, and creating a flexible career plan all fit snugly under a Career Development action plan. Assess whether your teenager has engaged in any initial Career Development at school.

Career Development provides your teenager with the skills and knowledge to manage their career lives, learning, and future work. Learning about who they are, what their strengths, likes, dislikes, interests, and beliefs are, gives them the foundation upon which to make career decisions about their future.

If you have no knowledge about what Career Development can do for your teenager, contact me to learn about the benefits of this vital career education. It important at this step to acknowledge when to have a professionally trained career development practitioner take your teenager through the career development process. Advice about Career options can get Career Clarity & Direction quickly and easily for your teenager.

Talk to your Teen about Embracing Change 

Stand back and talk about how the world of work has changed from when you made your first career choice. With AI now dominating all industries and workplaces this has been a significant shift to how and where we decide to build a career. Making them aware that change is the new norm in their lives will encourage them to be flexible and adaptable.

Give them examples of your own career life, where you have had to be flexible in this new world of work. Share your struggles and triumphs. Remember that as parents you are your teenagers’ first role models.

Encourage Life Long Learning  

Talk to them about how learning is vital and will continue throughout their chosen career pathway. They will learn through further education, on-the-job training, and short courses throughout their career lives.

Encourage them to get out of their comfort zone and learn skills that will open out many career pathways for them.

It’s not about the destination but the career journey

Remind them that the career decision they start with is only the beginning. Career Pathways no longer follow a straight line but rather have many detours along the way. Encourage them to see every setback as a positive opportunity to do something new and different.

Share your experiences both positive and negative so they can see the chapters you have written in your own career story. Your teens’ career success will come from helping them understand themselves and understanding the new world of work. You need to teach them how to research their career interests and teach them how to confidently make career decisions. By doing this they can then activate a flexible career plan that reflects who they want to become in the future.

Don’t live out your career dreams through your teenager

The biggest mistake I see over and over is parents trying to control what their teenager’s career pathway should be. While it’s incredibly hard, your job is to help not hinder your teenager’s career choice. If you try to hinder, your relationship with your child will be at risk and I have seen relationships damaged as a result.

So tread carefully and wisely, your teenager deserves the best knowledge and career guidance they can get when starting out on their career journey. Deciding what to do after school can be an easy and simple decision if you have the right tools, support & knowledge on hand.

If you need assistance from career guidance counselling, please reach out. I would be happy to partner with you to get your teen clear about what career choice they can make beyond the school gate.

Written by Gina Bell

Gina Bell is a university-qualified Sydney Career Expert in Career Advice, Career Coaching, and Career Counselling. She also works as a career coach for small and medium business owners & their leaders. She is passionate about aligning a person’s work purpose in a work environment where they can find fulfilment & reach their potential.

Her qualifications include a Graduate Diploma in Career Development, a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting, and a Bachelor of Economics. She is registered with the Career Industry Council of Australia, Professional Member of the Career Development Association of Australia, National Career Development Association in the USA, Asia Pacific Career Development Association & Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.

In her free time, she loves to travel, cook and learn.

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