Helping Your Teen Find A Job They'll Love

Thirty years ago, you could train on the job to be an auto mechanic. Today, many employers look for a two-year degree. Journalists must have a four-year degree and at least one internship. Even secretarial and administrative positions expect a degree – not just a typing score.

Getting a job now requires an investment of time, if not money, and that’s leading to record levels of career anxiety in teens. How can you lead your teen through their wide variety of choices to find a career they’ll love?

Is going to a career fair enough?

A career fair shows your son or daughter the choices that others are willing to offer them – these offerings tend to be fairly limited. There is no opportunity for your student to examine his or her own interests. Those interests are crucial to finding a career that he or she will love, not simply tolerate.

• Find out what your teenager’s interests are. If her heart is set on being a part of the music industry, it’s fairly unlikely she’ll want to look into careers in dentistry. But you will know that you can look into the wide variety of musical options – like promotions, management and technical work.
• What about volunteer work? Encourage your teen to get some hands on experience at jobs they may be interested in. Think outside the box on this one – your church or synagogue may need someone to design brochures or the local soup kitchen may need a volunteer to help with basic maintenance.
• Invite friends and family to talk about careers with your child. Let your teen get the benefit of everyone else’s experience. If Uncle John is a small business owner, ask him to let your son or daughter follow him around for a day. If Aunt Jane is a nurse, maybe she’ll be willing to talk about what it took for her to get her job.
• Look into aptitude testing. A test won’t show that your teen will be the perfect scientist, but it can point him or her in directions that they might like to try out. Most high schools offer aptitude testing through their guidance offices.
• Let your son or daughter try out jobs. Summer or after school jobs are an ideal way to find out if your teen likes specific career paths. A camp counselor may come away with the knowledge that she never wants a job working with young children, or a sales clerk may find out that he has a real flair for product promotion.

Most importantly, give your teenager room to decide on his own. This may not be the career a kid will spend the rest of his or her life on, but committing even a year to training or working in a field that he or she hates can be hard to deal with. Make sure that your child knows that they have options and that, within reason, you will support them. You may need to establish what those limitations are – with more kids moving back home after college, you may need to make sure you really are able to convert Junior’s bedroom into that gaming room you always wanted.