Navigating career advice for your children is tough. The working world is not the same as when we first entered it and with so many more career options out there, guiding your teenagers isn’t always easy.
So fellow parents, I wanted to share some of my own experiences to help you support your children on their journeys.
About me
Feels right that first I should share my credentials. I’m Kate, Transformation Finance Director in Kier Infrastructure. I have two daughters, Emily, 21 and Charlotte, 18: prime age for thinking about their first career move.
My own career started on a Youth Training Programme (YTS), like an apprenticeship. I didn’t like school that much, so learning on the job suited me perfectly.
Ending up in finance was a happy accident. I was good at maths, and it was the logical career path to follow. Studying as I worked by completing my B-Tec, AAT and ACCA qualifications throughout my teens and early twenties, my learning didn’t end there though, as last year I completed a degree in Applied Accounting – supported by my manager Paul Jackson – which is something I’m incredibly proud of.
Emily and Charlotte’s journey so far
My eldest, Emily, has always been drawn to academia and has always been set on being a teacher. She loved school, loves books and particularly loved History at school – now her university subject. She’s due to graduate in the summer, then start her PGCE in September this year (26) to become a primary teacher.
My youngest, Charlotte, is a bit more like me: practical and financially minded. At first, she was unsure whether to choose an apprenticeship or university. She weighed the pros and cons carefully, and ultimately, it came down to figuring out exactly what type of experience she wanted to have. Once she finishes her B-Tec in Business, Finance and Marketing in the summer, Charlotte will be heading off to study Business at university
Apprenticeships vs university
As an apprentice myself, I’m of course a massive advocate for the earn as you learn method. When supporting my girls, I wanted them to see apprenticeships as a serious option alongside university.
When I left school, the “done” thing was to do your A-Levels, go to university to get a degree and if you didn’t do that, then you were to get a job wherever you could. However, that job may not necessarily have had a training plan associated with it. That’s not so much the case now.
More employers are offering even more apprenticeships, and with government-backed schemes like the Youth Guarantee, I can imagine apprenticeships becoming more of the norm.
However, this doesn’t discount the benefits of a traditional university education – something which both of my daughters have decided was right for them.
Emily’s decision was straightforward. She wanted to be a teacher – one of the careers you can’t currently do an apprenticeship in!
Charlotte was torn for a while of which one to choose. She loved the idea of working and earning a living but also drawn to the independence of university. In the end, I think she has been inspired by her sister’s university experience and wanted a piece of that for herself.
What helped inspire their career journeys
Work experience played a big part in this. Through my role as school governor, Emily was able to spend time in a primary school and realised she loved working with primary-age children instead of secondary.
Work experience was also good for Charlotte; however, office experience can be trickier since so much is digital now you can’t really “do” anything. What helped most was hearing people’s career stories and learning how varied career paths to the same role can be obtained.
Speaking to other adults is key. Encourage your children to talk to everyone – family, friends, everyone! – about what they do. There are countless jobs they won’t know exist until they meet someone who does one of them.
And if you can, speak to their schools about offering career sessions. In my experience, schools really welcome input from local employers. At Kier, we run “Kierriculum” sessions that link school subjects to careers in construction and the kids love it (at all ages). If your child’s school would like a session, just let the social value team know and they’d love to help.
What can a parent do to support their child’s career decisions
Firstly, remember it is a daunting time for both you and your child, its probably the first big “grown up” decision they are having to make for themselves.
Going to careers fairs and university and college open days was invaluable. I would strongly advise to go to them as you get a feel for the course, lecturers and the place itself. Neither you, nor your child, can decide on what’s right for them without going and getting the feel.
If it’s university, this is somewhere your child has to live for the next three, four, sometimes five years. It’s important that you both get a feel for what it’s like to actually be there.
And as a parent, it’s important you help prep your children before you go. Talk to them about questions they could ask and make sure you’re prepared to ask your own. As parents, we ask questions from a different perspective and think of things our children wouldn’t know to ask, so it’s important that you know you’re there to do your research too (even if your child tells you, you can’t ask anything).
If it’s college, it’s important the school’s teaching style matches your child’s learning style. We’re lucky to have three great colleges local to us but they all had very different teaching styles. My girls went to two different colleges because it suited them. It’s your job as a parent to help guide those sorts of decisions when it can be easy to be swayed because friends, or family already go somewhere.
And my biggest tip is to talk to the students! The teachers and lecturers are great to get to know the course a bit more, but to get to the juicy stuff, you have to speak to the kids.
Ask them what they like about their course, their uni halls, their teachers, everything. Do they feel safe? Is the nightlife good? How easy is it to travel home?
And don’t be put off by the grade requirements. If they seem slightly ambitious, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try, especially if it’s somewhere they really want to go. We saw the universities grading requirements reduce over the period of application to the actual results day (and probably clearing but thankfully we didn’t have to utilise that process).
There is so much more I could say, but hopefully this has been a helpful starting point. Good luck to you and your children on this journey – it’s an incredibly exciting (and daunting) moment in their lives!
