1 min read

So.. what do you want to do when you grow up?

Quite often nowadays I will bump into families with kids at community gatherings and we get into a conversation about how they are finding school and what are they thinking about doing post-high school.

 

Specifically I am always interested in hearing what kids in in years 10 to 12 have to say.

 

The feedback and answers I get are almost universal … 

  • "I don’t know yet"
  • "I'll think about it later when I'm in year 12"

 

A select few will say for example, they want to study IT, or engineering, or medicine, but when you ask if they've thought about anything specific in those fields, the answer is often "I don’t know"

 

Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with not knowing exactly what you want to do. 
30 odd years ago, I didn’t either.


BUT the answer I would prefer to hear instead is "I haven't decided". This indicates to me that they have at least had a look at potential career options and maybe have a short list that interests them.

 

Those who tell me they might look into IT, I recommend them to get onto LinkedIn.

  • Get onto LinkedIn, create an account.
  • Build a profile.
  • Start searching areas of IT you might be interested in, follow OR connect with professionals who are active in posting about their areas on LinkedIn.
  • Follow companies, see what they are posting.
  • The LinkedIn search will also display the job posting types, follow those recruiters… See what type of roles they continue to post on LinkedIn.
  • If they come across any new terms or concepts.. Google it …  And continue to drill down wherever their interest takes them.

 

To parents who may have kids in senior high school… engage them and get them thinking about what they might want to do post-high school. If possible, reach out to professionals who might be able to offer advice in their domain specialty.

 

Kids who have some knowledge and idea on what they might want to do will likely be better focussed on their school subjects and will also likely select the more correct course type and university to match their goals.

 

And BTW… the above advice is valid for students already studying in university.

I have a bit more to say about what to do in university, but I'll make that as a separate post.