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Take high school
technical courses
Do volunteer work
Try out a hands-on job
training course at a local
community college
Shadow a professional
on the job
Join a school organization that
promotes career readiness
Complete an internship
6 WAYS
teens can explore
career options
"If we try to direct kids too much, we end up driving
them too hard and doing them a disservice," says
Dr. Jess P. Shatkin, a professor of child and
adolescent psychiatry and pediatrics at New York
University and author of "Born to Be Wild: Why
Teens Take Risks, and How We Can Help Keep
Them Safe" (TarcherPerigee, October 2017).
Instead, parents need to "take a deep breath,
slow down, and let kids explore," says Dr. Shatkin.
"The longer they keep flexible, learn and get exposed
to new and different things, the more flexible and
less anxious an adult they'll become."
Talking the talk
You can talk to kids from an early age about what
you and your child's other parent do for a living,
suggests Dr. Shatkin. Then, around the sophomore
year of high school, give kids a chance to chat with
family friends or people in the community in more
detail about their careers, says Genevieve Boron,
associate director of NYU's Wasserman Center for
Career Development.
Throughout high school and even into college,
"kids should take the time to think about the
skills they most enjoy using and what they value,
[such as] do they like helping people, working alone,
being creative, having recognition," says Boron.
Tool kits
A variety of tools and assessments can be good
sources of career guidance for teens as well.
High school guidance counselors use an
online tool called Naviance, which helps align
students' strengths and interests to colleges and
careers. The U.S. Department of Labor offers
Careeronestop.org to encourage students to
determine their interests, while Myplan.com
features a video library of professionals talking
about their careers.
Job website CareerBuilder.com recently created
an offshoot website called FindYourCalling.com that
starts with a six-question quiz to help young people
find their passion early. According to Gwen Burrow,
FindYourCalling's content manager, it's great to
get kids to think about what they love even as early
as middle school, when "they're excited about
things, less jaded and not under pressure to make
a decision. Between the ages of 8 and 15, we just do
what we love, which is why that is the common time
for our calling to show up," she says.
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