Career Guidance Tips for Parents

Today’s parents are beginning to add career counseling to their list of must-do activities to prepare for college. The reasons are varied. The financial squeeze of the recent recession, the staggering costs of college, the overwhelming choices of majors, and the increasing competitiveness in the job market – are all compelling reasons to obtain career advice before students begin looking at colleges. The most basic reason, though, is that research says parents want their children to be happy, and career confidence is a significant component of well-being and healthy adjustment.

If you are a parent, you may have a first child heading toward college. You know things have changed dramatically since you were in college, and you are actively seeking out the resources and information to make informed decisions. On the other hand, you may have had a first child who identified a career goal and major early on and has followed that path successfully, and now Child No. 2 is the polar opposite. You see a need for this second child with diverse interests and career choices that change daily to get some expert guidance to avoid bouncing between academic majors and colleges later on. You know the potential financial and emotional impact of this indecisiveness.

All Career Assessments are Not Equal
Most high school and college students are offered access to online career resources that may have an assessment component. However these instruments may be insufficient, since they provide information primarily related to interests. If there is a self-report skills inventory, the results reflect students’ subjective perception of their abilities, and most individuals underestimate most of their abilities.

Seek out a multi-faceted assessment that includes objectively-measured aptitudes, or innate abilities, as well as interests, and possibly values and personality instruments. This comprehensive type of assessment provides a “full-color” picture of an individual instead of the limited “black-and-white” picture painted by only looking at interests, academic grades, and college entrance exam scores. Of particular value is a student’s aptitude profile which reveals areas of natural strengths that must be used as much as possible for maximum job (and life) satisfaction.

Even the American School Counselor Association recognizes the value of a multi-faceted assessment, stating: The three main variables predicting career satisfaction are talent or aptitude, interest and personality. In other words,well-matched Aptitude + Interest + Personality = Career Success.”

The Value of a Consultant who Facilitates the Conversation
Students look primarily to their parents for career guidance. In Decisions Without Direction: Career Guidance and Decision-Making Among American Youth, the research found that 78% of high school students turn to their parents for helping them plan for a career. However, there is also a distinct advantage to inviting an objective, third-party expert to work with you and your student.

Personal attention and clear explanation is very important to the process. The consultant you work with should be credentialed in career counseling. This may include a Master’s degree in counseling or a related field as well as a license as a Professional Counselor or Clinical Professional Counselor. Your consultant also needs to have in-depth training and experience with all the assessments used, particularly extensive training on interpreting aptitude profiles. He or she also must have a deep understanding of the workplace requirements of a wide variety of careers, particularly emerging careers. Consultants keep up on workplace trends, too.

When and How to Talk to Your Child About a Career Assessment
The transition from high school to college and beyond is an exciting and challenging time for parents and their children. When students have a career direction and academic major, they make this transition more smoothly and have the motivation and confidence to persist to graduation. Often parents are convinced that their son or daughter would greatly benefit from career counseling, but they are not sure how to present the idea to their child. Suggestions on how to do this are provided below.

•	The ideal time for an aptitude-based career assessment is when high school students are second-semester sophomores.   ○  Many students at this age have developed a “career readiness” – they are beginning to think about college and careers. Sophomore year is still ahead of all the college search activities that begin to demand time and attention during junior year such as college fairs, testing, and campus visits.   ○  If students don’t seem to be “ready”, this career counseling experience can jumpstart their awareness of the link between college and career, and ignite a curiosity about their future options.
•	Help your student understand that career assessments are not like school tests or college entrance exams, which are knowledge-based achievement tests.   ○  Students cannot study for aptitude tests since they measure natural talents. Also, unlike school tests, scores are not good or bad, pass or fail. Aptitude tests provide scientifically-valid information on which to base educational and career decisions. They also cannot study for interest, values or personality surveys.   ○  Research says that aptitudes remain relatively stable over time. So when students receive their aptitude profiles revealing their unique pattern of strengths, it’s important for them to know that they can use that self-knowledge to make future career decisions, too.
•	Students often call the aptitude tests “games” or “brainteasers”.   ○  They are unlike any tests they have taken. Most are only several minutes long, so the assessment process keeps their attention and moves at a good pace.   ○  You can tell your student to simply do their best. They just need to be well-rested and alert when taking these timed tests.
•	An aptitude-based career assessment promotes motivation, confidence and goal setting.   ○  This kind of career assessment process focuses on the positive strengths of students and the kinds of careers that will enable them to use their strengths as much as possible.   ○  Too often, school and other tests hammer on areas of weakness and areas of improvement and send messages to students about how they fall short.

The career assessment process and the conversation consultants facilitate provide both you and your child with a credible framework and common vocabulary to talk about their strengths and future direction. When you begin to investigate options that resonate with your child, you will be able to tell. You will see their excitement and enjoyment of a project, a class, a summer job or internship, even though it may require hard work and persistence. Your child will find satisfaction in the challenge, and pride in their accomplishments.

Look for an ongoing relationship with your family’s career consultant, who can provide ongoing support and additional coaching on an as-needed basis. And remember that the career confidence doesn’t stop at just one child. Many of our families have more than one child participate in a career assessment, with younger siblings asking, “When will it be my turn?”