What career would you recommend for your kids?

[PinkChaires]

Dd is 16 and currently researching careers. She's noticed that many careers she's interested in have a resounding ' don't do it' vibe.

Tech/law/finance - lack of jobs , taken over by AI, no work life balance etc
Med- lack of pay, horrible working conditions,NHS etc
Midwife-NHS.
Teacher- do i even need to explain?

Which one is the least worse?

She would prefer to not be in office every single day and want a job where its not the same day after day

Mine are studying towards what they're good at and interested in

I saw a foley artist on Blue Peter in the 70s. Would have loved to have done that job, but had no clue how to go about it!

My husband is a lawyer, loves what he does, and earns well into 7 figures to boot. We do see him!
advocacy / barristers won’t be taken over by AI - just the very dull standard bits

medicine - lots of them too absolutely love what they do. The striking consultants on average earned 127k p.a. Plus can end up practising anywhere in the world. Career for life - also subject to risks from AI

i wouldn’t steer clear of any career just based on some simplistic stereotypes of what they’re about.

she should ask herself:

• what type of information do I like dealing with?
• what type of problems do I like solving?

And go from there…

If she's interested in science and possibly something related to medicine but with the ability to move into different fields, how about radiation protection?

Reasonably well paid, huge variety of opportunities and sectors, shortage profession so unlikely to be short of work, very varied job with mix of office and field work.

https://srp-uk.org/careers-and-registration/career-information

I'm steering my kids towards town planning, planning in general and building surveying. Hopefully AI proof, interesting and well paid.

Honestly - anything online where she can work from home.

Work life balance is very important.

Those both require excellent interpersonal skills.

She would prefer to not be in office every single day

As in working from home or out visiting clients/patients?

With the right approach and mindset you can find financial success and life balance (not necessarily at the same time) in any field. At that age, pursue the topic that interests you the most and then get as much work experience as possible so you can figure out jobs as you go. The best career path is the one you can sustain and are happy to learn and grow in over time.

It's really hard when you don't know what to do, I was the same even post uni and fell into software dev by accident. Definitely don't regret it (lots of variety, lots of jobs, lots of potential and no, not particularly threatened by AI) try not to worry, just follow what she enjoys and be open minded about trying new things

I’d be very encouraging to law and medicine. The rewards for both in the long term are limitless

There's a variety of HCP not just doctor or nurse. Some have a lot of opportunity to go private once qualified, no need to keep working for the NHS. Especially as more people seek private healthcare.

The usual issue with these types of roles is scale, you work one-on-one with patients. So to earn more/progress you could move into a leadership role, work independently. Become an expert, create and deliver training courses. There's not really 'climbing the ladder' in the conventional sense IME.

If she likes science, but doesn’t want to be a doctor, help her learn about the many other less well known career paths available. Pharmaceutical research, medical equipment development, water safety, the list is endless.

Science,business or a trade.

very wise girl

Out visiting clients. It's really hard as she would be the first in our family to be able to pursue a career so doesn't have much advice. Is there something like a school careers counsellor that i can book?

There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of kids wanting to study medicine, I assume the ones who find the NHS a nightmare will try to work abroad.

Most science degrees will have a significant coding component. Even way back I know several PhD scientists who moved into different roles with finance companies.

Getting a trade as they're mostly always in demand.

I'm a psychologist and love it. Feel very privileged to do this job. It's well enough paid and very family friendly. Also very in demand- I get 4-5 calls a week on top of emails from recruiters looking for immediate starts/locums paying £650 a day. Training route includes a psychology degree and doctorate (very competitive).

I was having this conversation with DH earlier about AI, he works in a high tech private company. They aren't allowed to use AI software, it's not secure enough and to much of a IP breach risk apparently. Which I had thought about previously, but wouldn't surprise me if a lot of high tech companies feel the same. They don't want their corporate secrets leaked. Keeping track of IP is a hard job at the best of times, so I don't see it taking over everyone's jobs quite as quickly as they think.

As for other jobs, if she really does like medicine side of things but maybe isn't sold on the whole doctor. Then there are lots of other health care roles, DD(17) is currently looking to study biomedicine at University. With this degree she could either become a biomedical scientist, within the NHS, convert and do medicine (it's another 2 years, she really doesn't want to do this but it is an option if she where to change her mind) or go into research in private companies.

I'm assuming she's picked her A-level's, as that can be a limiting factor for degrees. One of the reasons I encourage DD to do maths even though she initially wasn't keen as doing a science degree you often need at lest 2 STEM A-level's. And she did pick an odd mix as at 16 she wasn't sure what she wanted to do going forward.