Rant Against Career Guidance Salespeople: They’ve Created Two Types of Parents—Which One Are You?

On one side, there are parents who think that making mistakes, changing majors three times, is normal. Better yet, it's a natural process in choosing a professional activity.

On the other side, there are those who consider that making a career choice is a thoughtful decision that should be taken seriously. For them, being lost in studies is neither a religion nor a necessary evil, but a waste of time, money, and energy.

If you belong to this second group, you can stop reading here. This article will be of no use to you.

Today, I'm taking aim at this concept that has apparently convinced the first group to think this way.

How do you turn a vocational failure into a norm? Oh no, sorry: into a necessary development process!

This phenomenon is not limited to career guidance. It affects many fields: when you can't offer something effective, the best thing to do is to flip the script. Turn the problem into an opportunity. Normalize failure. Integrate it into the "process."

You see the trick?

It's like those training sessions where they tell you: "If you get even 1% out of it, that's great!" It's the lines at Disneyland that turn into "fast lane tickets"...

In career guidance, it's the same. A discourse is spreading everywhere, in LinkedIn posts, articles, conferences: 📢 "Career choices aren't set in stone, you can make mistakes, it's no big deal!"

Sure... 🙃 But hold on a second. You'll see how they subtly mix up career guidance and career paths to sell you the idea that making mistakes is normal.

It's all this pseudo-benevolent talk that praises the 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 journey, where every step is an opportunity for learning and self-development. It's beautiful...

What's really beautiful is that it legitimizes hesitations, vocational wandering, and at the slightest discussion, they'll say: "Well, it's normal to experiment, change your mind, evolve, learn on life's journey!"

Then, you're stuck. Impossible to disagree without seeming like a rigid parent who stifles their child's growth and, above all, without seeming inconsistent and contradicting yourself.

Your whole stance crumbles: You don't seem to know what you're talking about, so why should they keep listening to you?

You'll no longer be a guide.

And who will suffer the consequences? The pseudo-orientation expert you decided to believe? No. It's your kid who will pay the price. I'm not trying to be alarmist. But beyond a questionable automatism, these mechanisms are logical...

How many of them are sure of their skills to make you think deeply and question yourself to make a choice?

Have they even thought deeply about their own choices? Why do they suggest doing a career assessment? Why is it the right method? The best? Can they defend it against other approaches, other than by brandishing the fallacious pseudo-science of their tests?

Because even if they add "coaching" to it, it's not always real coaching, and the basis and support for the whole reflection remains the test.

Fortunately, there are still many parents who don't buy into these stories.

A high school senior who makes a bad career choice and fails in their second year of college can only be justified by poor guidance in their choice.

It's often the result of superficial thinking.

If you find a professional who sells you career guidance and tells you that making mistakes is part of the process, isn't there a problem?

Why do they want to protect themselves?

A parent who seeks career guidance services for their child does so precisely to avoid them having to reorient themselves.

That's the number one goal.

Normalizing the failure of a method, isn't that shooting yourself in the foot if you've chosen to implement it?

We must not confuse reorientation with changing careers during one's life.

Reorientation is changing paths during studies. Changing careers is evolving after several years in a profession.

These are two completely different things. Yet, they are sold to you as if they were the same dynamic.

Do they make this confusion because they use the same tool? Career assessment for some, skills assessment for others, always with the RIASEC model as the basis?

And since the tool is very limited, and even dubious, they prepare their excuse in advance: "If your teen changes paths, it's because they're growing, evolving, it's natural and important!"

No. If you reorient yourself, it's because you made a bad choice.

A bad choice is often the result of:

• too quick thinking,
• an influenced decision,
• or poor guidance

In 20 years, I've had 2 clients who reoriented themselves. The first sent me an email explaining that he continued to think (I used it on my site to illustrate the effects of autonomy in my approach) and eventually changed his mind but BEFORE choosing a training, and the second, I assume, because I don't know.

At this point, I have only one question for you:

Would you have your iPhone 15 PRO repaired by someone who tells you it might break down again next year?

So, how is it different for your teen?

For 20 years, I've been fighting for quality career guidance, and apparently, there's more work to be done than ever before.