THE indispensable thing to do BEFORE trying to help your teenager with their career orientation.

It’s the framing discussion, and here’s how it should go, or rather the points to address.

You’ve decided to help them navigate, ask themselves the right questions, and intelligently define their professional project. You’re absolutely right.

The first step is to create a precise framework.

You need to have an initial discussion with them with the objective of making a serious moral contract, in which you will specify a framework.

Otherwise, it’s going to be a mess, they’ll stall, drag their feet, and make no progress.

The contract is simple:

1. You must choose a career path by March. To choose it, you need to define the job you want to do.

Yes, I’m clarifying this again, and I won’t explain it all over again every time, but a career path is not motivating; a job is. Especially to start getting interested in it on their personal time, if it’s not already the case. Example already used: between someone who wants to become a "Meilleur Ouvrier de France" in pastry making and someone who wants to work in the restaurant industry, which one will get up at 6 a.m. to make macarons next weekend?
Surely neither, but you get the idea.

Let’s continue.

2. Choosing this job will require a certain amount of introspection, reflection, self-questioning, and evaluating all this rigorously — your values, your desires, etc.
   (Grades? Not always a reliable indicator. You alone will be able to evaluate this question, based on the real gaps and the requirements needed to achieve a professional goal. There’s no general rule here.)

3. I suggest that every week we check in on a fixed day and time, and each time you will identify what you need to think about to progress by our next check-in, including doing the necessary research, etc.

Hold them accountable in a simple and straightforward way. Don’t get into any discussions, debates, bargaining, or arguments.

4. The final goal is for you to be as sure as possible about your choice, knowing why you want to do this job and not another. You should proceed as if you were able to convince anyone, even the most skeptical interviewer, in an entrance interview for the school you’re aiming for.

5. This doesn’t mean you’re necessarily choosing a job for your whole life. It simply means that you’ve reached a key stage where you will have to make a choice, and you need to do it knowingly, because it will impact your life for the next 5 to 10 years at a minimum.

Go, don’t wait until next week. Time will fly quickly from one week to the next.