How to decide on a career choice for a teenager: leading activities

Why is it important to make a choice in advance?

Making the right choice is extremely difficult, and many people, having entered a higher or secondary specialized educational institution, at some point realize that the chosen direction is not suitable for them .

Some realize this even later, when they begin to work in their specialty.

Despite the fact that not all people during adolescence are ready to consciously choose a profession , there may not be an opportunity to make a choice later.

Therefore, it is important for loved ones to help them make up their minds, while eliminating psychological pressure and the imposition of their own opinion.

It is important to make a choice as early as possible because:

There will be an opportunity to begin acquiring knowledge and skills that will be useful upon admission and during future work. The sooner a teenager begins studying the chosen field, the better. In just a few years, he will be able to thoroughly study all the necessary branches of knowledge and gain insight into the chosen field.
At the same time, his loved ones need to completely eliminate the element of pressure: there is no need to force him to study the necessary disciplines, threaten him with punishment, and so on, since the likelihood will increase that he will begin to turn away from what he previously liked.
Give him the opportunity to freely explore his chosen field, give gifts that will increase his interest in the field (books, interesting toys, models), offer help.
The teenager will get more time to get acquainted with the profession. If he said that he has made his choice, invite him to delve into the essence of the profession, start studying various disciplines, remind him that you are ready to help financially, provide tutors, pay for courses. If he begins to get acquainted with the profession, then over time he will be able to say for sure whether this is his direction or not. And if the direction is not his, he will have time to find something else.

Before entering, a teenager needs to try to learn more about the profession, because otherwise his choice cannot be called conscious.

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Analysis of your own skills

Choosing a university is not all the work you have to do. In addition, your own desires, what you want to become in the future, are of great importance. First, decide whether you want to become a doctor or a teacher. If yes, then all you have to do is choose a specialty. Well, if not, then this will help narrow the range of professions.

First, think carefully about who you want to become. Which profession are you more inclined towards?

But keep in mind that these should be your thoughts, and not those imposed on you by your environment or aptitude tests (by the way, these tests are advisory in nature and were created only to help you decide). Think about which subjects at school were easier for you or aroused your interest and build on that. For example, if you like foreign languages, then you should go to study to become a translator, because you have a high chance of achieving success in this field. Well, if you like to explain and help people understand something, then think about becoming a teacher.

What should you pay attention to before deciding on a future job?

Basic recommendations:

You should not choose a profession just because of its prestige. Professions that were considered prestigious at certain periods of time invariably aroused great interest among young people and their parents. Also, many parents try to put pressure on their children to choose a profession that looks prestigious and highly paid, rather than the one they like.
As a result, the picture is the same: there are many people in the country with legal, economic, and technical education who cannot get a job because there are too many people willing to get a job.
In addition, the picture is gradually changing, and those professions that were relevant twenty to thirty years ago no longer have such value.
The priority areas should be those in which the teenager has a predisposition and interest. When a child is truly interested in certain areas, he will be more interested in studying and working, he will be more creative, more productive and will be able to achieve success because employers are interested in people like him. If an employee is passive and chose the field because “dad made him,” he will not be able to achieve much.
Don't rely on stereotypes. A “non-prestigious” job can bring a person much more money and pleasure than a prestigious one. A good and diligent worker who knows his field well will always be valued.
Ask those who are already working in the areas of interest. It is important to find out what their workplace environment is like, what the basic requirements are, and how difficult it was to find a job after graduation.
A teenager can also try contacting an employment center: they annually hold “Profession Days”, where important information related to each profession is shared. This will help you understand which professions are most relevant on the market and decide on an educational institution.

Leading activity in adolescence

Leading activity is an activity that can radically influence the formation of a child’s personality and takes up a significant part of his time.

For example, in preschool age the leading activity is play .

In the process of play activities, the child gets to know himself and the world around him, and develops comprehensively.

Researchers have identified dominant activities for each age period, from infancy to ages ten to eleven, but there is still debate about the dominant activities during puberty.

The following points of view are common:

From 12 to 15 years of age, the leading activity is close communication with peers. The child actively tries to find friends, build the most harmonious relationships with others, often falls in love for the first time, experiments, begins to better understand many moral and ethical postulates thanks to involvement in communication, and looks for his place in the microsociety. He is highly influenced by the opinions of those around him, and his choices during this period may have a connection with the point of view that is common in his social circle.
For teenagers aged 15-17 years, the main leading activity is educational and professional direction. They strive to better understand what they expect from life, begin to study more actively, and take a closer look at professions.

Also, some researchers believe that the leading activity of adolescents is socially useful activity (opinion of D.I. Feldshtein) and socially significant activity (according to the opinion of V.V. Davydov).

How does a hobby influence your profession in the future?

A hobby does not always become a professional activity and often remains as just a favorite pastime.

Moreover, according to statistics, 25% of people chose professions in some way related to their hobbies.

A teenager who decides to connect his life with a hobby often faces pressure from loved ones who believe that his choice is not reasonable enough.

As a result, many children give up their dreams and agree with the opinions of their parents, enter universities that they do not like, work in fields that disgust them, and do not achieve success in them.

Therefore, parents who want their child to be happy and content should not put pressure on him . It is important to take a closer look at what he is interested in, since many hobbies can be turned into a profession.

This profession will not necessarily be directly related to him, but at the same time it will arouse the child’s interest.

Examples of professions depending on hobbies:

computer games: programmer, computer graphics specialist, computer journalist, game tester;
writing prose and poetry : writer, journalist, linguist, philologist, teacher of Russian language and literature, proofreader and text editor;
drawing: designer (and there are a huge number of types of design), artist, sculptor.

If desired, for each hobby you can find a number of similar professions that can arouse interest in a teenager.

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What professions are suitable for a girl?

How to choose who to study for the younger generation of women? Many school-age girls dream of becoming a singer, actress or model, wanting to bask in luxury, wealth and applause. However, not everyone has the necessary data to make their dream come true and is unaware of how much work is hidden behind a beautiful picture. Parents need to convey to their daughter in an accessible, but not critical manner, how to choose a future profession, where she will be a truly sought-after specialist, and will not join the ranks of the unemployed after spending years studying.

How to decide on a career choice for a teenager? The main criterion for choosing a job for a growing girl is the opportunity for self-realization, and not material gain. If after school she enters a prestigious university for a sought-after technical specialty, but her soul lies in art, it is unlikely that after receiving a diploma, the student will become an excellent engineer. It is much more likely that she will change her field of activity or work without much professional achievement or pleasure.

The most popular specialties for women are:

advertising specialist;
PR manager;
accountant;
tourism manager;
stylist-cosmetologist;
dentist;
hairdresser.

In these areas of activity, rapid career growth is guaranteed, and earnings depend on the degree of qualifications and professionalism. When thinking about how to choose a profession for a child, remember that everything depends on his individual personal qualities and talents. Doing what you love, which brings a stable financial profit, is much more pleasant than sitting in the office waiting for the end of the working day.

Methods for choosing a professional field

Basic methods that can help teenagers choose a professional field:

Career aptitude tests. They can be found in large quantities on the Internet, and they are also often taught in schools and clubs. The most valuable of them are the following: the career guidance test created by J. Holland, the method of O. F. Potemkina, the testing of E. A. Klimova, which allows one to determine the type of professional orientation, the test of L. Yovaisha, which reveals professional inclinations. To make the result as accurate as possible, it is recommended to take several similar questionnaires.
Conversation with a career guidance specialist. There are specialists who can help a child decide on a future profession. They conduct testing, talk with the teenager about what interests him, analyze his hobbies and report the results. Various centers offer similar services.
Recommendations from close circle. Kind, pressure-free advice from a parent, family friend, or relative can help a child make up his mind.
It is advisable not just to give advice, but to talk about the profession, answer questions, and offer to talk with a friend who works in the specified field.

There are also books that help teenagers choose a professional direction. The most famous of them are:

A.G. Gretsov, “Choosing a profession. Advice from a practical psychologist";
E. A. Klimov, “How to choose a profession”;
A. Gretsov, T. Bedareva, “100 popular professions.”

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How does the opinion of parents influence?

During adolescence, many children withdraw from their parents and begin the primary stage of emotional separation.

This is an entirely correct and natural direction in this age period.

That being said, parental support and approval are still very important to teenagers , even if they don't show it directly.

Teenagers look closely at the professions of their parents and gradually build their conclusions, depending on what their parents say and do at home. They can ask questions and seek opinions if their area of interest coincides with the profession of their parents.

Parents have ample power to put pressure on a teenager who is trying to make a choice, and often resort to them when they realize that the child may be choosing, in their opinion, the wrong direction.

In most cases, this pressure leads to negative results: either the teenager rebels, worsening relationships with parents and complicating his life, or he agrees and chooses an area that does not attract him.

It is important for a parent who wants a child to be happy to give up the idea of imposing an opinion or forcing it. The best option is to choose the position of a friendly, open parent who is ready to give advice, help with money and discuss options.

If you are categorically not satisfied with the child’s choice, you can express this, but in a gentle form and with the clarification that you will accept any choice, despite your point of view.

Why do people choose the wrong profession?

Often clients come to see a psychotherapist who are dissatisfied with their professional choice. They say that they continued the family dynasty against their will, that they wanted to learn as quickly as possible in order to separate from their parents, that they were hasty in making decisions. Often they come with the desire to change their profile, choose a new profession. And none of them have yet said that this is due to lack of money. The main request is happiness at work, which brings joy, the opportunity to follow one’s inclinations and abilities. Yes, if you really want to, you can almost always replay a choice you once made. But with age it becomes more difficult. Therefore, it is better to give yourself a little more time in your youth so that the choice is not too hasty or made under the influence of other people's ideas.

When choosing a profession, I advise both children and parents to remember that the basic unit of self-determination is interest. This means you need to know yourself, listen to yourself, understand what ideas are behind your interests, clarify, talk, ask questions, be honest with yourself, seek advice from a specialist, dig deeper to understand the underbelly of the profession, and most importantly, trust to yourself. So that later, 10 years later, sitting in a psychotherapist’s office, you don’t have to say: “I knew from the very beginning that this was not for me, but my mother insisted!”

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