A: The most important thing you can do is talk to your child. At each level of education, talk to your child about her hopes and dreams for the future, what she’s learning in school, and where her interests lie. In middle school, she may begin to explore various careers through workplace shadowing, mentoring, or other school activities. You can help by talking to her about all these experiences and setting up opportunities yourself for her to learn about careers. Late middle school and early high school are good times to be more focused on careers that are interesting to her and to see what it’s like in the workplace, and to talk with professionals in these careers. In high school, she needs to start gaining specific information and to develop a career plan that involves taking appropriate courses and getting experience in the career she has chosen. Encourage her to job shadow, check into cooperative education opportunities, internships, or to take a part-time job in a field she wants to learn more about. Don’t be discouraged if she spends a lot of time learning about a career and then decides that career is not for her. She hasn’t wasted her time. It is much better to learn that a career is not right for her in high school than to go through years of college and expense and then find out she has chosen the wrong career.

For more information, refer to the section in this website, “What Is the Career Development Process?” This section explains every step of solid career planning and provides many activities that you and your child can do to get prepared for a career. The bottom line is stay in touch with your child and with your child’s school. In high school, review her career plan yearly!

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