Poonam Singh Jamwal

                                                                Director –AmityCARE

What is the recipe for successful achievement? To my mind there are just four essential ingredients: Choose a career you love, give it the best there is in you, seize your opportunities, and be a member of the team.

Benjamin F. Fairless

Today parents are anxious to help their child explore their potential .They are ready to take risks and explore less treaded career paths. But most times they don't know how and they are worried that they might not be equipped to do it. As parents have the best interest of the child in their mind, they just need to equip themselves with basic principals of charting a career path. First they need to believe they can.

WHY PARENTS- THEY KNOW THEIR CHILD BEST

• Parents can help their child make wise career choices because they know their child the best. They have a genuine interest in their success and failure and they impact their child's life the most. The choices they make now, have a life long effect therefore it is important that some career planning be done rather than leaving everything to chance.
• Research into possible choices is a good idea as we know of careers in our immediate context and similar is the case with the child. Matching the child's potential to his field of study should be the first priority.

Have the career plan in place before committing effort and money to his higher education.

HOW DO PARENTS HELP MAKE A CAREER PLAN

STEP I

Identify Child's Interest

Career is something that remains with us for a lifetime. It is important that we like what we do and to do it well. Before we tell the child what is good for him, it is important to find out what her interests, skills and personality traits are and how they match with their career choices. You can either use the assessment tools used by counselors(which are more indicative then absolute) or you can help your child think about his or her inclination and aptitude by sitting together and exploring their likes, dislikes and personal vision.

Once a few career options are identified, your child should get as much information as possible and then talk and work with people who work in that profession.

How does one know the child's interests?

Informal Dip Stick

ASK

• What is your favorite school subject?
• What extracurricular activities do you enjoy the most?
• What are your hobbies?
• What do you like to do with friends?
• What special skills do you think you have?
• What have you done that you are most proud of?
• What do you like to do in your free time?
• What interests you the most?

WATCH

Most children don't have any obvious interest and thus are happy to flow with the moment. But if you watch carefully there are somethings that he is gravitated to naturally. Draw his attention to those and explore to find out if that is within his interest area.

Pay attention to:

• the activities your child likes;
• the books your child reads;
• the television shows your child watches;
• the websites your child visits; and
• the way your child spends his or her free time.

DO AND DISCUSS

Identify their attitude to life and their special interests.

Take your child to:

• museums;
• art galleries;
• zoos;
• musical and theatrical performances; and
• community and sporting events.

Let your child try extracurricular activities like:

• art classes;
• computer classes; and
• a sports team.
• Formal Interest Assessments

Many organizations and internet companies offer interest assessments for students. It is advised to have a Career counselor can help interpret the results as these tests are indicative and need to be matched with the availability of training options and exploring alternatives that might match the skill sets, interest and aptitude. Most times young people are interested in what they are good at. Their personality might have aspects that are not explored. If the family is still unsure, they should not hesitate in taking career advice but their choice is based on what suits them best at a given time.

STEP II

Explore the Career Options

Career books, magazines, internet, counselors etc give you enough options to explore and identify the ones that match your child's aspirations and aptitude.

It is important to pursue a dream career and it also important to have alternative options in place because if the first does not work through there are related fields which need the same passion and skill sets, for example your child wants to pursue medicine but doesn't clear the entrance to medical college, she has alternate goal of stepping in pharmacy sector, dentistry, physiotherapy and other wellbeing sector.

The child needs to understand the job. Suggested questions to be asked to help them in the career exploration.

• Test your knowledge about the job and match your interest and aptitude.
• What will I do in a typical workday?
• What preparation/education do I need?
• Where can I get training for this career?
• Will there be jobs available in the future, when I complete my training?
• How much does this job pay? An exercise in budgeting can help your child decide if he or she will be able to maintain the lifestyle of his or her choice on the expected salary.
• What knowledge and skills are used in this work?
• Are these knowledge and skill areas in which I am already strong, or will I need additional development? How do I get that developed?
• What are the opportunities for advancement in this career?
• Is the work environment (indoors/outdoors, office/factory, groups/alone) one in which I work best?
• Does the work require physical activity, and am I willing and able to perform at the level required?

Experience the Career

While your child is in high school, he or she can participate in few career exploration activities. These activities may include:

Informational interviewing. Encourage your child to call people who work in his or her chosen career. Your child should let each person know the purpose of the call and determine how much time the individual has to talk. Important questions to ask include:

• What daily activities do you do on your job?
• How did you decide to choose this career?
• What kind of training did you need to enter this career?
• What do you like most about your work?
• What do you like least about your work?

Career fairs. Attend career fairs with your child so he or she has the chance to learn more about various careers.

Job shadow experiences . Help him identify the people in his chosen profession and put in a request for him or her to spend a day with the concerned professional to see people in the work environment. This will help them get the first hand feel of the job.

Summer jobs,part time jobs and Internships Internships and work-based learning may be paid or unpaid experiences but they help the child understand the job work place dynamics.

Career Choice may be a guided decision, it may be an informed decision but it needs to be a personal decision of the child and not yours.

Continue to encourage your child as career choices change -- the more informed he or she is about careers, the better his or her career decision will be. It is important to start the process before it is too late. It is better not to start too early as the child is evolving and so would his interest. The final two years of school are a good time to begin and chart the course of their career.