Giving childrens careers advice

[teacherrk]

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie to this forum, I hope you're all well. I'd just like to pick other parents brains about advising your children about their future career options. I've looked online and found a few resources but nothing that really makes things easier for a parent of secondary school aged children who are both nearly 14. Does anyone know of any more interactive resources on the subject of careers aimed at children that we could look at together? What's everyones thoughts on current careers guidance provision in schools? My children dont seem to be too bothered about future career options as of yet and claim that their school hasn't mentioned much in the way of careers yet.

teacherrk

[BarkisIsWilling]

What resources did you find? I ask in case they are same ones I'd suggest.

[Milliways]

SOme Schools use Fast Tomato where you can get a guest login.

[dietstartstmoz]

I'm a careers advisor in school (Connexions Personal Adviser). If you live in England, and your children go to a state school there will be Connexions advisers working in that school. Most time is spent working with Yr11, or those that are seen to be most needy, e.g. issues with attendance, behaviour, SEN, likely to be unemployed after yr 11 etc. There is usually some contact with Connexions for pupils around option choice time, maybe some in Yr10 but it will be Yr11 when most of the contact will be. You could go into a local connexions centre or call and speak to the advisor responsible for their school. The best website is
www.connexions-direct/jobs4u

[purpleduck]

diet - it depends where they are and what the provision is. I'm the same as you, and I can see students in y8 - y11 if its required. Some students I have seen numerous times accross the years.

Hopefully its been some help

[teacherrk]

Hi,

I am very grateful for all your responses , I have found them extremely inciteful. My children are at the age where the subject choices they choose with regards to diplomas and GCSE?s will help shape their future whether it be university or a job. I have had a look at the information connexions currently hold but found the job descriptions rather broad and not interactive enough to hold and inspire my attention let alone my childrens. It would be much simpler if there were resources of young people talking about their current careers/jobs that me/mychildren could have access to which would help me feel like I was having some positive input into their future rather than a careers advisor just suggesting a career based on aptitude. I guess I am just a worrier....... although any parents who are in a similar boat of confusion, I would love to hear your views on the subject.

[mummytime]

The advice I was given centuries ago still hold. Study what you are interested in, and keep your choices as broad as possible.

They may well change their mind on what they want to do between now and 18. There is always a possibility to change career direction. There is the OU, further education colleges and alternative routes.

They will not have one career for life.

And as one person said at a career lecture once, the saddest situation he had come across is someone who had worked since 14 to become a doctor and then at 30 realised they didn't want to do that any more.

If you children have a specific direction they want to go in, then research it. If not, just let them follow their interests, and use their work experience to see if they like careers in that direction. It has also been said that you should have a job in the thing you like 2nd best, and keep your favourite thing for a hobby. I think my DH has and he is happy.

[teacherrk]

Kids will sometimes dream about doing a certain career based on little or no information or real insight into what the career really involves, instead they just rely on minimal information of the more 'glamourous' sides of certain careers portrayed on the television or other mediums they have access to. This is why I was hoping to find a resource where children can really find out what a certain career they are interested in really entails (positive and negative attributes) and having been told today that connexions will be losing 50% of their posts, I am even more determined to take some kind of pro-active approach in helping my children with their future career choices.

teacherrk

[purpleduck]

Careers advisors do NOT suggest careers based on aptitude. I don't tell students what to do. It is their life and and I encourage them to think about what they like - the kind of activities they enjoy etc

THE best thing you can do as a parent is to encourage your children to take part in activities - sports, musical instruments etc. THIS gives them a good idea of what THEY like, what their strengths are etc.

If they are really stuck, have them start making a list of what they DON'T like.

On the jobs4u website, encourage your kids to have a look and see what draws them in. It may be that they are interested in engineering - they can then click on "related jobs" - from spending some time with this they can start to narrow things down.

Professional bodies are a fantastic way to start getting more information as well

[senua]

It's a while since I used it, but this was quite useful**. Our Connexions office had it so we went there and used their password.
It doesn't just ask about favourite subjects but also asks about what sort of person you are: teamplayer/stand-alone, indoor/outdoor, theoretical/practical etc.

Have you started thinking about work experience yet? That can be good for clarifying matters eg one of DS's mates is doing w/e in a Solicitors office, which a lot of people would give their eyeteeth for. Unfortunately, he is having a rotten time but there is a positive that has come out of it: he now realises that he doesn't want a desk job, no matter how well paid it is.

** caveat: you do know don't you that, no matter what you put into these programmes, they will always recommend a career in teaching?

[SuzieHomemaker]

I think that the work experience thing is a great idea. A while back I was able to take my DD on a business trip with me. She got to see what work in an office actually looked like (mostly people drinking coffee and gossiping!). It was a real eye-opener for her and she no longer says 'I couldnt ever work in an office'. So work experience doesnt have to be weeks and weeks of slog.

[teacherrk]

Hi senua, that cascaid website certainly looks interesting, ill try and get a closer look at it. My children will be undertaking work experience in the not too distance future, so I am hoping to help them find some work experience that they may have an initial interest in rather than being sent to work in a retail store like I was at school. My search for a good resource site has been rather fruitless, however I have found some good videos on youtube of young people talking about their current careers/jobs and what they involved on a daily basis. However these are quite hard to find as you have to seperate the wheat from the chaff on youtube. I might put them in a playlist for other parents/children to find easily on youtube when I get the chance. With us living in a web 2.0 era with the likes of facebook and youtube etc, you would think there would be sites that embrace these technologies when trying to reach children ( their target audience) in the same way brands have when trying to reach the same audience. 21st century kids will pay attention to anything that is interactive rather than just pages of written word.

[kayah]

food for thought...

look... www.damienriley.com/preparing-students-for-jobs-that-dont-exist-but-will/

[JulieAnne35]

I've worked in schools delivering careers advice for years and I've always thought a lot of the Cascaid Kudos programme. It has been around for a long time but does the best job because its not psychometric. However none of these programmes can be used alone, in my schools we have them to start off careers lessons and then do group work and interviews to help students get their plans formulated.
The biggest problem is the lack of time, careers is way down the agenda in most schools so the time kids get with people who can help them think about what they want to do in the future is getting less each year. I send all of the parents of students in my school this to give ideas of how they can help

[teacherrk]

Hi thanks for all your posts guys
For anyone who may be interested, I have found an excellent youtube channel for a company called Careers4u.tv, who have some wonderfully inciteful videos featuring a number of young people talking about their different professions. While only a number of them are full length, there are many trailer clips on there as well. My children have found the ones I have shown them informative especially the dance choreographer video. They are both far more twinkle toed than their dad

Here is the link to the channel for anyone who is interested:

YouTube - Muirgarth's Channel

[teacherrk]

Sorry mistake with the link www.youtube.com/muirgarth

[Kez100]

I am also of the view a child should take subjects that are broad and they are interested in. If I had an academic child I'd be saying look at sciences, an humanity, an arts based subject you love (maybe art, drama) and a language. Very few children can understand the reality of future work or professional exams at 14 and, even if they do, there is also the question of opportunity. Broad bases allow for movement if opportunity arises.

I dearly wanted to be a cartographer when I was 14 and never thought I would be anything else. However, circumstances changed, I had taken a wide range of academics at O level. At 17, I saw an advert for an accountancy training contract - looked into it more with the college careers advisor, applied and got it! Sat here now, 20 years later, with my own accountancy practice. Not a contour in sight!

Broad bases allow for opportunities to be nabbed. IMO.

[NR22]

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It's at //www.runningontothespike.com