What if the process doesn’t work?

Right about now you may be thinking “What if my child does all this, follows the career development process exactly as this site has outlined, and still cannot find the right career???” Certainly there are no guarantees in following the career development process! How many times have you planned the perfect vacation, the perfect dinner, or the perfect meeting for your boss, only to have everything to fall apart? You probably beat yourself up, wondering where on earth you went wrong!

Just as with anything else in life, there are no guarantees in career planning. Many times, even the most informed planning cannot help us avoid mistakes, or uncontrollable events. But good planning can help minimize mistakes or uncontrollable circumstances when they happen by arming you with information you need to move forward. For example, suppose your child received a 4-year degree in English because he LOVED American Literature and hoped to get a job as an editor for a large publishing company. However, in planning for his college courses, he learned that competition for these jobs is tremendous and that starting salaries could be low – folk don’t usually start out as editors! So he decided to minor in computer science, just in case Plan A doesn’t pan out. His writing and communication skills, in combination with the technical specialty in computer science, made him an extremely marketable candidate for a job in Information Technology, even though his Plan A – to be an editor – did not work out!

Also, we as parents need to accept our children for who they are. We cannot control their lives, and everyone has to make his own decisions and live with the consequences. And…many people don’t actually find the perfect career until later in life! The path isn’t straight and narrow for everybody, and not all of those who have made a contribution to their field started their career path when they were 18. So…if your child works through this process but still cannot find his niche, at least you will have knowledge regarding options available. Be supportive and keep informed about educational opportunities for all students – for example, online courses for someone who doesn’t feel she has time for college, or educational pathways for older students. Then, you will have valuable information when your child says he can’t do this or can’t do that. Mistakes are only mistakes if you wallow in them and don’t learn from them.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” -- Napoleon Hill

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What are the steps in career development?
What if the process doesn’t work?
Parent action plan
Links related to career development