I recently talked with a mom who has a son that knows exactly what his interests are, what he’s really good at, and that he wants to travel right after high school.
I said, “That’s great! And then what?”
“Oh, he’ll probably go to college.”
“Cool! What’s he going to major in?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Ok, what kind of work does he want to do?”
“He doesn’t know.”
This is very common. I often hear from parents, “My teen knows what they are interested in, but they don’t know how to turn it into a career, and it’s an area of interest I know nothing about!”
The most common career guidance teenagers receive is “do what you’re interested in.” So they pick a major within that interest. Then when I ask them, “Which jobs can you get with that degree?” I almost always hear “ I don’t know.”
When it comes to following an interest, you need to keep 3 things in mind…
- Interest = Industry. Your interests will suggest which industries you would enjoy being a part of.
- Personality & Skills = Jobs. Your unique traits will indicate which jobs within an industry are best suited to you. This is where you will feel like you excel and you’ll make a positive impact on the projects to work on.
- Values = Decisions. Your values are the guiding posts that help you make decisions in your life, like, “should I work for that company?” or “should I move to that city?”
What resources do you have access to that can help your teen learn how to turn their interests into a career? If you would like to learn about the 6 step process I use to help teens turn their interests into a career and create a solid game plan for life after high school, click the button below.
