How to "Properly" Career Guide Your Teen Yourself? Part 1

If you think you're doing a great job, think again—the numbers prove otherwise. But I’ll be training you in a series of articles to change that.

As I mentioned yesterday, this is the first in a long series of articles aimed at helping parents challenge some common myths about career guidance, learn a few basics to grasp the bigger picture, and, ultimately, tackle practical steps you can take.

Why? Let’s put the situation into context.

Firstly, because if I tell you exactly what to do without you knowing why, that’s a problem. You need to be able to exercise critical thinking at every step.

Imagine if my theories were based on cosmic forces or the “Fourth Toltec Agreement” — wouldn’t it be important for you to know that right from the start?

Now let’s move to the second level, the current state of things.

According to the numbers, about 60% of you are involved in advising your child on their career path. It’s the kind of thing that seems easy to do yourself, that doesn’t look complicated, and doesn’t seem like it would have serious consequences…

Except, that’s not reality. That’s just what we tell ourselves because we think we’re doing the right thing and want to keep a certain "control" over the situation.

The numbers are telling: the consequences of parental guidance (which makes up about 60% of career advice sources) lead to 37% or more of students facing failure or needing to redirect their studies after high school. (Source: CNESCO / Government Services)

So, without a strategy or method, by managing your child’s career guidance yourself, you’re facing a 1 in 3 chance of creating:

• a problem,
• stress and worries,
• significant expenses when you consider the cost of a year of college (not to mention the emotional and relational toll on everyone involved).

In reality, when you dig into the data, it’s logical that the odds are actually even higher... a 1 in 2 chance wouldn’t surprise me.

My job isn’t to stigmatize or judge you, or to give you a pat on the back and say that as long as you’re doing it with good intentions, that’s all that matters.

No, my job is to help you understand and analyze your needs, to work with, rather than against, a parent’s natural desire to help their child, and to guide you in doing it as effectively as possible.

Don’t expect me to tell you what you want to hear. Because if we do that, those statistics aren’t going to budge. Together, we’ll think through a few key issues, which will give you the tools to make changes if you think they’re necessary.

Career guidance season is coming fast, but within a month, you’ll know a bit more about what’s involved.

I don’t know anything about finance, yet I’ve decided to advise my father on his investments.

Sounds crazy, right? Well, it’s not much different from you deciding to guide your child in their career choices.

Let’s fix that. I’ll learn finance (no, not really—I’d rather call in a professional), and you’re going to learn about career guidance.

The stage is set. Stay tuned.