Come the time of year when long-lost relatives contact us to know our 10th or 12th exam results. Also, the perfect time to opt for career counseling and assessment. But no matter how good one is at sports or extra-curricular, academic performance is all that matters for some. This situation rightly describes our country’s obsession with marks.

Recent Bollywood movies have addressed this very gracefully. As the dialog goes,

‘Everyone has a plan after success, however, if one fails, no one wants to talk about how to deal with failures.’ - Chhichhore (Movie)

Over the top are the parental expectations for their children’s careers, as correctly portrayed in the blockbuster movie 3 Idiots. While you haven’t received a name, the family contemplates the career that would suit you when you grow up.

As you grow and start schooling, you are preached to aspire to become a doctor or an engineer. No one bothers asking the child about their preferences are and what they would like to become. This is where the gap widens between passion and career for an individual.

The Element of the Unknown

Since career scopes have changed, children have to deal with different environments and parents’ choices. This could cause hindrance as those imposed, out-dated ideas or views do not match today’s reality.

In a search for the right career option, the factor of the unknown always rears its head. An individual might fear that they won't like or enjoy the profession once they commit to an educational path.

Realistically, choosing a career can prove to be daunting. Anything from fear to lack of awareness can toss up a roadblock on the path to a career decision, especially when one has stepped into College Life.

College and Pre-Adult Life

In India, students, upon entering college, believe that they have grown up; however, the parents still treat them as kids. Many restrictions are still imposed on them like the chance of being denied to study the subject they want to. Thus, the very famous and accurate phrase goes as,

'In India, students first become engineers then decide what they want to do in life.'

But college days are the most memorable days of one's life. Especially if it is the Junior College, i.e., 11th and 12th grade. It's the time when students have the most freedom to explore and experiment around with things. Apart from a developing personality, teens explore their interests and try out new things. And finally deciding what they would want to become in life. Therefore, it is one of the most important phases of life. But being stuck with limited choices, narrow perspective of peers, and parental expectations, a teen, is left confused.

Parental Expectations + Peer Pressure = Loss of interest + Frustration

A teenager is immensely inspired and motivated by the parent’s active interest in their field of choice. But the parental expectations along with peer influence, ends up causing the teen to lose out on their choices and dreams and fall in line with the crowd. This creates frustration and causes the teen to lose interest in things soon after starting them. Thus, the role of parents in career selection is crucial to provide the necessary career guidance.

Parents Aspirations ≠ Child’s Interests

Parents want their children to opt for a career they know well about, but what their child wants or aspires to become can be, at times two non-aligning stories. Caregivers projecting their incomplete aspirations on children often leads them to bear the burden of unreal expectations.

Moreover, parents knowingly or unknowingly enact their idea and perception of success by defining a “respectable job” or a “perfect career.” This instils a notion of and a calling for a high earning careers and occupations at the cost of their aspirations and interests. Thus, parents encourage your teens to build “their perfect” by helping them figure out who they are, what they want to do and become in life. This can be simply done by taking up career assessments and career counseling.

Book an appointment

How can a parent guide their ward through career counseling and selection?

Generally, parents tend to be their child’s role models, where children look up to their parents' personal and professional way of life. Thus, parental experiences and education can prove to be beneficial in their child’s career selection process. Instead of forcing parental opinion on children; parents can-

Help children discover their passion and motivate them to follow that route.

Encourage children to express their opinion to select the best fit career for them.

Impart career awareness by discussing various career fields or simply by discussing their own career paths.

Educate their children to prevent them from succumbing to peer pressure and herd mentality.

Offer to introduce them to various professionals from their fields of interest.

Parents and children need to work in tandem in gathering the required educational and career information to make a guided choice about a suitable career choice.

What to do when your child makes an incorrect career choice?

Children may sometimes make a wrong decision, but rather than reacting in contempt and rejecting their idea, parents could listen with patience, to help them come up with a solution. Parents then need to act supportively and respectfully to their children’s choices and decisions.

Demotivating the children could have a negative effect on their mental health and overall personality development. Trial and error in the career decision-making process are some of the pitfalls and inevitable hiccups that parents need to guide their children through, using their education and professional experience.

That is why teens need constant reassurance from their parents about being comfortable with the uncertainty that the future prevails to avoid stress.

So how can a parent help in making effective career decisions?

Instead of misguiding the children with false information, please take a moment to research their queries and then provide them with the information about all the aspects of career, education, and work-life. This could also mean seeking help from a professional career and guidance counselor.

Fortunately, some parents these days hold a liberal view when it comes to defining mainstream career opportunities. Parents are now able to realize that things are not as foggier as they appear. Hence, they are more willing to embrace unheard ideas. Of course, there is still some resistance to more unusual choices.

Thus, parents should explore careers as early as elementary age to help build self-confidence and career awareness in the children. Parents should take the required steps to evaluate their child’s personality, ability, and interest to guide them into making informed choices. This can be done through Career Assessments which are followed by intense and unbiased Career Counseling session determines the type of careers the child should pursue. Involved parents know their children the best and about new career paths and career choices that they can facilitate selection for them.

Parents may help their teen to start developing a network for the future, infusing the realistic views. By pulling a few strings, children can have an opportunity to shadow a few experts on the field. This could also be motivating for them to take up short-term courses in related fields. Moreover, opportunities to intern for the industry experts will help them receive hands-on exposure to the interested career.

The more you know about the pitfalls of choosing a career, the more prepared you'll be when faced with the process. All this would help the teens make realistic, informed career and educational career decisions.

Conclusion

The parents’ over-involvement and coerced decisions on their children could cost irreversible damages for their young ones. Career decisions should not be on the foundation of parent’s half-baked knowledge. Teen needs to be aware about the maximum number of available career options and their educational paths before making a conscious choice. In such a case, parents need to consult a trained professional career counselor who could guide the child with the best suitable career option based on his/her potential. The potential is assessed using career aptitude test, interest test, ability test, and personality test.

If you enjoyed reading this blog, would you mind taking a second to share it with your audience?

How did you make your career choices?