How can parents help their child choose a profession?

• July 18, 2019
• Life style
• Yanika Ivanova

May is the month of last calls, exams and graduations. Some of the schoolchildren have already decided on a profession, while others are still in thought. The problem with choosing a specialty appeared not so long ago. It is associated with many modern factors. This is why you need to understand how a teenager can choose a profession.

Formation

At the age of 11-13, the will of a teenager begins to form. By the age of 15-16 she is completely ready. Sometimes at this age a child does not want anything: he does not know where to study, he is not attracted to any profession, and doing something makes him bored. This is not a critical situation, and in general it can be corrected, but it needs to be addressed.

In the modern world, this situation is not surprising. And rather, it is not psychological, but psychosocial. This is due to the fact that today's teenagers are growing up in timelessness. They are fascinated by everything that differs from the opinion of their parents. They are interested in what is not allowed.

The heroes of our time have also changed. How can a teenager choose a profession if they constantly talk about the power of businessmen on TV and on the Internet?

How can a child decide on a career choice?

Suppose your son or daughter cannot decide what profession he wants to work in. It’s unlikely that one heart-to-heart conversation will help, but it’s worth trying to start with it. Tell your teen that it's okay if they have trouble making good choices, and promise to support them in the process (and keep your promise!). Discuss the areas that really excite him right now. Finally, tell us what career guidance tools exist (I will list them below) and offer to choose the one that is most comfortable for your student.

What's the difficulty?

Before thinking about how to choose a future profession for a teenager, you need to understand the main reasons why it is so difficult for modern children to make a choice.

In fact, for many this issue is like a natural disaster. It seems that just recently they were talking about “what I will become when I grow up,” and now we need to make the appropriate choice. Remember yourself at 15-16 years old: many continued to consider themselves children, although they tried to look and act like adults. Making a choice on which your entire future supposedly depends is not an easy burden.

If someone has already determined their future for themselves, this is immediately visible. Such children are self-confident, because they know for sure that in the future they will treat people, teach children or build houses. It is easier for them to decide which subjects to take in exams, what they should pay attention to, etc.

But this situation is becoming less and less common now. Many parents don’t understand how to help a teenager choose a profession, and here’s why.

Online schools where you can get the profession of the future

Foxford is an online school. After passing the test and consulting with a specialist, the student is trained on an individual educational route. Available for external studies.

"Technopolis. School of Modern Skills" - training children and teenagers in working with social networks, blogging, design, programming, financial literacy.

Prime online - you can take a career guidance course and supplement your training with subjects important for your future profession.

Deti-MBA - training in the basics of management and marketing, creating and implementing startups, solving business cases.

STEP Computer Academy - teaching children programming, creating games, developing mobile applications, digital art and 3D animation. Online and offline.

Hello World is an online programming school for children. Through play, children learn how to create games, programming languages, and web design.

“Academy of Professions of the Future” - training children and teenagers in programming, animation, video blogging and game development.

Lack of interest

All modern teenagers are passionate about the same thing - social networks, computer games and parties. The child does not wander around abandoned buildings or entrances. At first glance, he is really busy with something, but how useful are such activities for his future?

Due to lack of interest, you have to think about how to introduce useful activities into your child’s “heavy” schedule that will help him choose a profession. But, as a rule, he has neither the desire, nor the energy, nor the strength for this.

But there is also an explanation for such a manifestation. Most teenagers are simply afraid of making mistakes. If you don’t want anything, then you don’t have to do anything, and therefore you will never make a mistake.

Calmness and relationship with the child are the main thing

You can help your child choose a professional path, but you cannot control everything along this path and provide him or yourself with a guarantee of success, so do not forget to relax and exhale. Is your teenager reluctant to discuss their future career with you? Think, there is probably some relative, teacher, senior comrade or family friend who can talk to him about this. Are you afraid that your teenager will not be able to earn a living in the chosen specialty? I am convinced that if you do something that inspires you, if you love it and do it with pleasure, you will find a way to make money from it. Believe in your child. I had many adult clients whose parents did not support them in choosing a specialty, put pressure on them, and even threatened that they would stop communicating. In later life they felt unfulfilled, out of place, they had the feeling that they were wasting time in their lives. Allow your teen to choose and face the consequences of their choices.

Remember that he has his whole life ahead of him and many options. Already while studying at a university, you can transfer to another faculty and even to another university if the chosen program is disappointing. You can get one specialty and then work in another, but this will not mean that your time at the university was wasted. The young man will learn to obtain information, think systematically, gain important skills, make friends and useful contacts. Nobody today knows which professions will disappear in five to seven years and which ones will appear. But the ability to consciously choose your path, make informed choices and be flexible will definitely come in handy for your child. Support him in this and take care of your relationship.

PS Registration for the free webinar “In the same boat with a teenager” is open. On it we will analyze several difficult and controversial situations in which EVERY parent recognizes himself!

And also, I present to you my long-awaited new program “My Favorite Teenager. Move closer."

And... I’ll open sales!

IMMEDIATELY after registration, you will receive a checklist “10 stop phrases that act on a teenager like a red rag on a bull.”

Take part in the webinar

PPS If you liked the article, please share it with your friends by clicking on the social media buttons. And, as always, I welcome your comments and questions below.

Ekaterina Kes, child and family psychologist. My Instagram

Many hobbies

This is the opposite problem to the previous one. Some children cannot decide what to do because they like everything. In fact, this is not the biggest problem, since now there are a lot of professions, and some of them allow you to combine incompatible things.

Yes, at first you will have to think about how to help a teenager decide on a profession. But when this period is over, the child will find a very unusual and interesting activity. For example, if he is interested in computer games and journalism, why not become an esports journalist?

Middle school: starting testing

In grades 5–9, it is already possible to determine the areas of a child’s professional interests, his inclinations and abilities. You can start “from the opposite” - understand that it is definitely not suitable for the child. For example, it is hardly worth pushing a shy teenager into a profession that requires a lot of communication with people, or a restless tomboy into painstaking and immobile work in one place.

A psychologist will help you decide more precisely. It is in high school that many parents first turn to a specialist with a request to help their child make a decision.

Svetlana Yuryevna Belolipetskaya psychologist

4,92 76

Open profile

A psychologist has a whole arsenal of techniques for determining professional inclinations. For example, in the fifth or sixth grades this could be a short conversation on the topic “My favorite activity.” In the seventh or eighth grade, a child can already write an essay “How can I help people?” With ninth graders I use the “I want, I can, I must” technique.

It’s worth starting as early as possible, says psychologist Svetlana Belolipetskaya, because career guidance is a long process. It is impossible to talk with a specialist for half an hour and get the secret of success.

I have clients who take their first test in eighth grade. Then they return a year later, and we look at the dynamics: some professional areas are leaving, others, on the contrary, are strengthening. It's a really long process.

Svetlana Belolipetskaya, psychologist

Ignorance of self

Modernity, unfortunately, has brought many children to the point where they strive to be like someone else, completely forgetting about their individuality. Some people copy stars, athletes or other public figures, while others want to be like their classmate or friend.

This is a very serious problem. The child cannot understand his own characteristics and abilities. He believes that he is not capable of anything, that he cannot do anything. It’s good if a child has been showing his talents for a long time, thanks to which you can at least understand the direction in his future profession. Otherwise, you will have to contact a psychologist who would point out to parents the characteristics of their child.

Career guidance bittest

The project's career guidance specialists have developed a double test for parents and adolescents.
The teenager will understand how well he knows himself and his interests, what professional direction he is currently attracted to, for example, creative, natural science, economics, etc. And the parent will figure out how well he knows the professional inclinations of his child. It is important to go through each part - for the parent and for the child - independently, and then compare the results. The test will take approximately 10 minutes.

How to read the results? Once you and your child have completed your portion of the test, open or print the results. It’s good if the interest scales in both results coincide. This means you understand the child and know his interests. But if they don’t match, that’s okay too. Be sure to discuss which areas are leading in the results for each of you. If a child has a creative direction as a priority, and you thought that, most likely, economic professions are suitable for him, then talk about why you thought so and ask what creative professions he likes. Use this double test to come to a mutual understanding, because this is necessary for a successful choice of profession.

Ignorance

This is one of the common reasons why many people do not understand how to decide on a profession. Teenagers have no idea about specialties. Of course, if we are talking about bloggers or businessmen, then everything is clear to everyone. But what do they study at the Faculty of Systems and Media? What can you become after receiving a degree in International Relations?

Many teenagers represent most professions, looking back on what they were taught in kindergarten. Therefore, it is easy for them to navigate what a cook, a policeman and a doctor can do.

This is the fault of everyone: teachers who do not talk about professions, the media, which could also be engaged in education, and on the Internet you also need to specifically search for the necessary information. Therefore, all that remains is the parent, who can learn a lot of interesting things himself and help the child expand his knowledge.

Tip 7. Don’t scare your teenager by “not getting into” university

Failure to pass the Unified State Exam is not a death sentence today. More than 50% of high school students leave after school not for universities, but for colleges, where they can also get a decent education. Some people specifically choose to go to college through college or even take a gap year to work and think. In general, educational trajectories can be varied, the main thing is not to lose awareness and look for something you want to do.

Uncertainty

This reason could be combined with the first one, which states that teenagers are not interested in anything. But it is worth highlighting separately, since the problem is really very serious.

Some teenagers may be sure of what they want, but will still continue to doubt. For a child, the period of choosing a profession is not easy, at least because it is something new, unknown, and also requires such high responsibility. And what will happen next? What if I was wrong? What if it's not mine?

It is extremely important to explain to the child that there will be difficulties and they cannot be avoided. There will be doubts, but this is not a reason to refuse the interesting adventures that await him ahead. And a mistake in choice is not death, but only an opportunity to start doing something new.

Tip 2. Be on a team with your teenager

If you do not choose a profession, this does not mean that you should go to the other extreme and let the teenager go free. “It’s his life—let him decide,” say particularly liberal parents. It is important to understand that a teenager still does not know much about adult life. And if he is not helped, then he is left alone with the frightening unknown. Some teenagers will probably become more active in such a situation and begin to look for themselves, but the majority will give up and go to the university or college closest to their home. Be a support, like-minded person and friend in career guidance. Go to exhibitions together, get interested and help set priorities.

High expectations

Despite the fact that Generation Z spends energy on results and not on rewards, many teenagers still want to immediately receive a high salary. Many people have high expectations from their professions.

If you go to study to become a programmer, it means that in the near future you will be able to buy an expensive laptop and sit in cafes doing freelancing. But you should understand that a lot depends on the level of knowledge and a little on luck.

After all, history knows many examples of successful people who did not even finish school, but became popular in some area. Some people can spend their whole lives studying a particular specialty, but remain mediocre in their field.

Tip 6. Look for a strong university (college)

Everyone has their own path to self-realization, but if a young person can get into the strongest universities in the country in a field that interests him, then as a result he will receive not only a wealth of knowledge and skills, but also a powerful career start. A strong university (college) is a social elevator

, the choice of environment for the next 4-6 years (and maybe for the rest of your life) and, probably, even the choice of a spouse. Focus on reviews and ratings, look for an oxygen environment that will help you grow and develop, and not just get a “crust”.

the main role

No one can help your child better than you. But it is extremely important to understand that some of them cannot even master literature for the summer, and you want him to choose a profession for life. You can give advice and support to your teenager, but it is extremely important not to impose your unrealized dreams and desires on him.

You will have to find out how to decide on a future profession for a teenager. Unfortunately, the statistics are such that almost half of the people who choose a faculty do not work in their profession after graduating from university. But you shouldn’t be afraid of this, since even choosing a not-so-successful specialty can open up something much better and more successful for a person.

But many parents want to know how to help a teenager choose a future profession. There are several tips that may be effective.

Tip 1. Let your teenager make a decision

Why is it wrong when a parent or other adult decides for a teenager what profession to choose? For example, insist that he be a doctor, like a grandfather, or a programmer, because this is a popular field. According to statistics, independently made decisions more often lead to success in the profession. That is, a young person’s own decision will always be more valuable than what others have decided for him. If there are difficulties along the way, he will always remember that the decision about the profession was made by his parents.

Even if you think your teen is unable to make an informed decision, remember that they need to be helped to learn how to choose, because this is the most important skill for life.

Independence

It is very important that your child is independent. It is unlikely that such a character trait can be instilled a couple of years before admission; by and large, it is advisable to do this from birth. But if you are just now thinking about it, then start right away.

Independence will help the child choose his own profession. Otherwise, he will listen to the parent’s opinion or advice, and then will blame them for his lack of fulfillment.

Tip 3. Don’t chase in-demand professions

The demand and high-paying nature of the profession is a fickle phenomenon. It is important to study the world of professions, read about working conditions, the pros and cons. And if ratings of in-demand professions encourage a child to think about the future, then that’s good. But it is wrong to specifically choose the profession of a programmer, economist or oil worker, if they are now well paid. A fashion for a profession may pass, but a person will be left with an unloved and unclaimed profession.

Demand

It is equally important to choose from those professions that are in demand in your country or city. Of course, you can get a specialty that will require moving, but you should talk about it and plan right away.

When it comes to the question of the demand for a profession, it is worth understanding that we are not talking about prestigious specialties, but specifically about those in which one can find a job. To do this, you can use the ratings of local employment centers.

You can also pay attention to more universal specialties. For example, now knowledge of foreign languages ​​is definitely suitable for everyone, since with them you can get several completely different professions at once. For example, a person graduated from English philology, but did not go to work as an English teacher, but became a journalist for a foreign publication.

Recommendations on psychology for teenagers on the topic “Choosing a future profession”

Recommendations for choosing a profession

How to choose a profession - for beginners

If you have dreamed of becoming a doctor or an astronaut since childhood, and still do not doubt the correctness of your choice, you have no problems. No matter what your mother and grandmother say, you study textbooks on chemistry or biology with the tenacity of a fanatic, or attend the “young physics” club and have a good idea of ​​what you will do after graduating from school.

If so, then you are lucky,

because many kids have absolutely no idea “who to be” and where to go and whether to go at all when the long-awaited last school bell rings.

It’s good when the problem of choosing a profession worries you - this means your social and psychological maturity. It’s worse if you don’t care yet: your mother will take you by the hand to law school (because you “kind of like” history), and then it turns out that you hate going through tedious pieces of paper and communicating with people.

Difficulties in professional self-determination usually arise in two categories of children. First

We haven’t found anything interesting in this life yet.
It so happened that teachers were unable to create in them a love for any subjects, and their talents are still buried in the ground. Such guys can study well, but they are not interested in anything, their life is rather boring or simply monotonous. So they can’t decide what they would like to do - because nothing particularly attracts them from what surrounds them in the world. And what to choose from? As a rule, they do not know what their father’s job is, who an ichthyologist is - and in general they have little knowledge of the world of professions. The second
category of children is very active both in their studies and in various other forms of activity. They are interested in everything, they simultaneously attend three clubs, five electives and ten sports sections. Moreover, they succeed. As they say, if a person is talented, he is talented in everything. Whatever this miracle child undertakes, he achieves success in everything. However... he also cannot determine what he likes more, what he would like to connect his life with.

How to understand yourself? Psychologists believe that when choosing a profession, the correspondence between a person’s psychological characteristics and the corresponding characteristics of the profession is very important.

.
The profession should be INTERESTING
. If you like animals and plants, then you will be interested in encountering objects of living nature in your professional activities. If you love technology, your interest in it will support you in your work as a design engineer or theoretical physicist.

Any profession requires that a person have so-called “professionally important qualities”

- for example, attention is important for a proofreader, imaginative thinking is important for an artist, etc.
Therefore, when choosing a certain profession, it is important to realize whether you have ABILITIES that correspond to professionally important qualities
. In a situation of doubt, choose the profession where your abilities will be maximally realized; in this activity you will achieve the greatest success.

Finally, the type of professional activity you pursue must coincide with your PERSONAL, characterological type

. For example, if you are sociable, professions associated with numerous contacts are more suitable for you, but if you are emotionally unstable, you will not be able to perform routine activities that require concentration for a long time.

So, in order to choose a profession, you must first of all know yourself.

You probably often ask yourself questions: “What am I?”, “Who am I in this world?”, “Why do I live?” A simple exercise will help you get to know yourself better and partially answer these questions (you will never answer them completely): look at yourself through the eyes of another person. A specific person whom you know well - say, a friend or deskmate, mother or girlfriend. Try to explain your actions the way another person would do it - without knowing the true motives. You will understand how other people see you, but, on the other hand, you will get rid of subjectivity, because, as you know, there is not a log in your own eye.

Your character is still just being formed, so you don’t need to label yourself and give up the profession of an artist just because you are supposedly “shy.” Fight, work on yourself, get to know yourself. And remember that a person’s mental properties (be they abilities, interests or character traits) are extremely flexible, changing qualities. There are many cases where a person who has no ability for music, but passionately wants to study it, managed to develop an ear for music. The main thing is interest; remember : abilities are formed in activity

. Get used to working, working hard. You won't get far on abilities alone. On the other hand, interest is also not a completely stable thing. Many kids think they love a certain subject, but in fact they really like the teacher. In addition, it is difficult to understand whether you will like psychology or economics - you didn’t study anything like that at school... In order not to make mistakes, you need to expand your horizons in relation to the world of professions. Ask older people questions about their professional activities - as a rule, people are happy to talk about their current work and their student years. Then you will be able to consciously decide whether this field is interesting to you, or whether all you know about the specialty for which you are applying is its name...

So, having understood your abilities, interests and personal traits, you begin to choose not a profession, but a university, college or department. Find out which specialties and specializations correspond to the type of activity you are interested in

. This is not always a one-to-one correspondence (for example, to repair computers, you need to obtain a specialty in radio electronics). The decision-making should be based on many factors of a non-psychological nature: the reputation of the university and the competition, the opinion of friends, parents, the cost of education. Don’t be lazy and write down the pros and cons of each option on a separate piece of paper. Analyze the data with friends and family.

And always remember: the final choice is yours, because when you choose a profession, you choose your destiny.

.
A profession should bring pleasure (positive emotions to you) and ensure the maximum realization of your capabilities (benefit to society).
Every person has chosen a profession at least once in their life. To make the right decision, you need to take into account many factors - your desires, psychological characteristics and capabilities, as well as the needs of society. There is a formula for choosing a profession, which in general shows how to make the optimal choice.

Formula for choosing a profession

To reach a balanced solution to this formula, you need to take seven steps.

Seven steps to an informed decision

1. COMPLETE A LIST OF SUITABLE PROFESSIONS.

Make a list of professions that you like, that are interesting, that you would like to work in, that suit you.

2. COMPLETE A LIST OF REQUIREMENTS FOR YOUR CHOSEN PROFESSION.

Make a list of your requirements:

• chosen profession and future occupation;
• chosen profession and life values;
• chosen profession and life goals;
• chosen profession and my current hot issues;
• chosen profession and actual employment in the specialty;
• desired level of professional training;
• chosen profession and my inclinations and abilities;
• Desirable content, nature and working conditions.

3. DETERMINE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EACH REQUIREMENT.

Determine how significant all of the listed requirements are. Perhaps there are less important requirements that, by and large, can be ignored.

4. ASSESS YOUR COMPLIANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF EACH OF THE SUITABLE PROFESSIONS.

In addition to the requirements that you have for the profession, there are also the requirements of the profession itself. Analyze whether your professional qualities are developed, whether your intellectual abilities, psychological characteristics, and state of health meet the requirements of the profession.

5. CALCULATE AND ANALYZE THE RESULTS.

Analyze which profession from the entire list suits you best in all respects.

6. CHECK RESULTS.

To make sure your thoughts are correct, discuss your decision with friends, parents, teachers, psychologist, and career counselor.

7. IDENTIFY THE BASIC PRACTICAL STEPS TO SUCCESS.

So, you have made a decision, now it is important to determine: in which educational institution you can receive a vocational education, how to develop professionally important qualities in yourself, how you can gain practical experience in this specialty, how to increase your competitiveness in the labor market.

Choosing a profession is not an easy matter, there are rules, and mistakes happen.

Mistakes in choosing a profession

1. ATTITUDE TO CHOICE OF PROFESSION AS UNCHANGEABLE

In any field of activity, there is a change in occupations and positions as a person’s qualifications increase. At the same time, the greatest success is achieved by those who have passed the initial stages well.

Analyze the situation on the labor market. Please note that every year new professions appear.
Be prepared for the fact that you will have to regularly improve your skills and master related specialties
. Do not be afraid that the choice of profession now, in grades 9 and 11, will fatally determine your entire destiny. Changing your choice and mastering a new specialty will make you a valuable specialist in demand in interdisciplinary fields of activity. Your first profession, even if you later change your mind and find something more attractive, will come in handy in unexpected situations. For example, the first education of an art critic will help a lawyer with his second education to understand the complex issues of inheritance of antique values...

2. CURRENT OPINIONS ABOUT THE PRESTIGE OF THE PROFESSION.

In relation to the profession, prejudice is manifested in the fact that some professions and occupations that are important to society are considered unworthy and indecent (for example: garbage collector).

An economist or a psychologist is no more useful to society than a chemist or mechanic. The prestige of the profession should be taken into account - but after taking into account your interests and abilities. Otherwise, you can get a “fashionable”, but not enjoyable, specialty. Or, what the hell, you will find yourself unfit to perform basic job functions...

3. CHOICE OF PROFESSION UNDER THE DIRECT OR INDIRECT INFLUENCE OF COMrades (for the company, so as not to fall behind).

We choose a profession according to our “taste” and “size” in the same way as clothes and shoes.

The feeling of a group and orientation towards peers are very positive characteristics of children your age. They are needed to master the norms of behavior in society, form the image of “I” and self-esteem. Therefore, look back at others, COMPARING (yourself with friends), and not blindly repeating. Try to see how you differ from your comrades - and how you are similar. This will help you understand that if Vasya becomes a firefighter (and he is a risky person), you may not like this profession (you are very careful and reasonable).

4. TRANSFER OF ATTITUDE TO A PERSON - A REPRESENTATIVE OF A PROFESSION - TO THE PROFESSION ITSELF.

When choosing a profession, you must take into account, first of all, the characteristics of this type of activity, and not choose a profession just because you like or don’t like the person who is engaged in this type of activity.

Being fascinated by a teacher is especially dangerous (if you admire the sincerity of a physicist, this does not mean that you like physics in itself, outside the “set”). In addition, children often make the mistake of trying to get the profession of an idol - an athlete, politician, journalist, artist.

5. PASSION ONLY FOR THE EXTERNAL OR SOME PRIVATE SIDE OF THE PROFESSION.

Behind the ease with which an actor creates an image on stage, there is intense, everyday work. And journalists do not always appear on television programs - more often they “shove through” a lot of information, archives, talk with dozens of people - before preparing a 10-minute message, which, moreover, will be voiced by another (TV announcer).

6. IDENTIFICATION OF A SCHOOL SUBJECT WITH A PROFESSION OR POOR DISTINCTION OF THESE CONCEPTS.

There is such a subject as a foreign language, and there are many professions that require language ability: translator, tour guide, international telephone operator, etc. Therefore, when choosing a profession, you need to take into account what real occupations and professions are behind this subject.

To do this, it is best not to just study profession charts or dictionaries of professions. It is worth analyzing newspapers with vacancies on the labor exchange (they usually indicate what education is required for a specific vacancy). For example, a person with a linguistic education (“Russian language and literature”, “foreign language” at school) can work as a teacher, translator, editor, and assistant secretary. Moreover, keep in mind that there are more professions than school subjects. You can become a lawyer, a marketer, an apparatchik... Professions can usually be associated with several school subjects (usually corresponding to entrance exams to a university when entering this specialty). For example, a future economist may like both mathematics and geography at school.

7. OUTDATED CONCEPTS ABOUT THE NATURE OF LABOR IN THE FIELD OF MATERIAL PRODUCTION.

Complex and interesting technology is being introduced into all professions, and especially blue-collar workers, and the work culture is improving. And computers are being introduced into absolutely all areas of activity - right down to livestock farming.

8. INABILITY OR REluctance TO UNDERSTAND YOUR PERSONAL QUALITIES (inclinations, abilities).

Career consultants, parents, teachers, and comrades will help you understand yourself.

Psychological tests, as well as articles and publications on popular psychology, may also be useful. However, keep in mind that many of them are unprofessional, so be critical of both the test results and what is written in psychological books. The purpose of popular tests is to intensify the activity of self-knowledge (self-observation, introspection), and not to give you a ready-made answer to the question of who to be, or to stick a label on what kind of person you are. 9. IGNORANCE OR UNDERESTIMATION OF YOUR PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS, DISADVANTAGES SIGNIFICANT IN CHOOSING A PROFESSION.

There are professions that may be contraindicated for you, because... they can worsen your health. There are few such professions and they include mainly those that require prolonged stress of certain physiological systems. Computer scientists, for example, strain their eyes, and pilots strain their hearts...

10. IGNORANCE OF BASIC ACTIONS, OPERATIONS AND THEIR ORDER WHEN DECIDING, CONSIDERING THE PROBLEM IN CHOOSING A PROFESSION.

When you solve a math problem, you perform certain actions in a certain sequence. It would be wise to do the same when choosing a profession.

Choosing a profession is a multi-valued process, it is influenced by various factors.

What influences the choice of profession

What factors determine a person’s choice of a particular profession? In practice, it turns out that inclinations are taken into account last, but the opinion of parents has a huge influence. 8 factors for choosing a profession /According to E.A. Klimov/:

1. POSITION OF SENIOR FAMILY MEMBERS.

There are elders who are directly responsible for how your life turns out. This concern also extends to the question of your future profession.

2. POSITION OF COMrades, FRIENDS.

At your age, friendships are already very strong and can greatly influence your choice of profession. We can only give general advice: the correct decision will be one that suits your interests and coincides with the interests of the society in which you live.

3. POSITION OF TEACHERS, SCHOOL TEACHERS, CLASS TEACHERS.

By observing the behavior, academic and extracurricular activities of students, an experienced teacher knows a lot about you that is hidden from unprofessional eyes and even from you.

4. PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL PLANS.

In this case, the plan refers to your ideas about the stages of mastering the profession.

5. ABILITIES.

The uniqueness of one’s abilities must be judged not only by academic success, but also by achievements in a wide variety of activities.

6. LEVEL OF CLAIM FOR PUBLIC RECOGNITION.

When planning your career path, it is very important to take care of the reality of your aspirations.

7. AWARENESS.

It is important to ensure that the information you acquire about a particular profession does not turn out to be distorted, incomplete, or one-sided.

8. ADVANCES.

Tendencies manifest themselves in favorite activities, on which most of their free time is spent. These are interests supported by certain abilities.

Kaleidoscope of professions

What is a profession

?
A profession unites all people engaged in this type of work. People of the same profession have similar interests, knowledge, skills, and lifestyle. Another meaning of the word “profession”
is “a system of knowledge, skills and abilities inherent in a particular person.”
They say: “He has mastered the profession,” “He has a profession.” A profession
is also called a type of activity (the same as work).
Finally, a profession
can be called a necessary for society and limited (due to the division of labor) area of ​​application of a person’s physical and spiritual forces, which gives him the opportunity to exist and develop.

There is also the concept of “specialty”.

In meaning it is close to the concept of “profession” and corresponds to the types of areas of work within professions. For example, you won’t meet “a teacher at all.” This will be either a mathematics teacher, or a geography teacher, etc. The same can be said about other professions: doctor - pediatrician, dental surgeon..., lawyer - lawyer, prosecutor's notary..., mechanic - emergency repair mechanic, tool maker - mechanical mechanic... etc.

The world of professions is changing.

People create new professions, combine, separate or eliminate old ones.

Depending on the subject of work, all professions are conventionally divided into five types:

“H E L O V E K - P R I R O D A”

Here the main, leading subject of labor is nature.

Professions:

seed breeder, master livestock breeder, livestock specialist, agronomist, dog handler, laboratory assistant for chemical and bacteriological analysis, etc.

Among the professions of this type, one can distinguish professions whose subject of work: plant organisms, animal organisms, microorganisms.

These are professions related to agriculture, food industry, medicine and scientific research (biology, geography). Oddly enough, a psychologist, tourism and hotel business manager should also have a certain interest in nature (although, of course, not the main one) ...

This division does not mean, of course, that human labor is directed only at the objects mentioned above. Plant growers, for example, work in teams, use a variety of equipment, and deal with issues of economic evaluation of their work. But still, the main subject of attention and concern of plant growers is plants and their environment.

When choosing a profession of this type, it is very important to understand exactly how you relate to nature: as a place for relaxation or as a workshop in which you are going to devote all your energy to production.

And one more point that must be taken into account when choosing a profession. The peculiarity of biological objects of labor is that they are complex, changeable (according to their internal laws), and non-standard. Plants, animals, and microorganisms live, grow, develop, and also get sick and die. An employee needs not only to know a lot about living organisms, but to anticipate possible changes in them, which are sometimes irreversible. A person is required to have initiative and independence in solving specific work problems, caring, and foresight.

“H E L O V E K - T E H N I K A”

Here the main, leading subject of labor is technical objects (machines, mechanisms), materials, types of energy.

Professions:

tunneler, carpenter, metallurgical technician, mechanical engineer, architect, electrical installer, radio mechanic, builder, computer assembler, telecommunications specialist, etc.

Of course, the work of workers here is aimed not only at technology, but, nevertheless, the leading subject of professional attention is the area of ​​technical objects and their properties.

Among the professions of this type are:

• professions in the extraction and processing of soils and rocks;
• professions in the processing and use of non-metallic industrial materials, products, semi-finished products;
• professions in the production and processing of metal, mechanical assembly, installation of machines and instruments;
• professions in repair, adjustment, maintenance of technological machines, installations, vehicles;
• professions in installation and repair of buildings, structures, structures;
• professions in the assembly and installation of electrical equipment, instruments, apparatus;
• professions in repair, adjustment, maintenance of electrical equipment, instruments, apparatus;
• professions related to the use of lifting vehicles and their management;
• professions in processing agricultural products.

When processing, transforming, moving or assessing technical objects, the worker is required to have precision and certainty of actions. Since technical objects are almost always created by man himself, in the world of technology there are especially wide opportunities for innovation, invention, and technical creativity. Along with a creative approach to business in the field of technology, a person is required to have high performance discipline.

“H E L O V E K - H E L O V E K”

Here the main, leading subject of labor is people.

Professions

: doctor, teacher, psychologist, hairdresser, tour guide, manager, artistic group leader, etc.

Among this type of professions we can distinguish:

• professions related to training and education of people, organizing children's groups;
• professions related to production management, management of people, teams;
• professions related to household and commercial services;
• professions related to information services;
• professions related to information and artistic services to people and management of artistic groups;
• professions related to medical care.

To successfully work in professions of this type, you need to learn to establish and maintain contacts with people, understand people, understand their characteristics, and also acquire knowledge in the relevant field of production, science, and art.

A short list of qualities that are very important in work:

• a stable good mood while working with people,
• need for communication
• the ability to understand the intentions, thoughts, moods of people,
• ability to quickly understand relationships between people,
• ability to find a common language with different people, flexibility

«HUMAN - SIGN SYSTEMS"

Here the main, leading subject of work is conventional signs, numbers, codes, natural or artificial languages.

Professions:

programmer, project architect, business architect, translator, draftsman, engineer, topographer, secretary-typist, etc.

Professions of this type include:

• professions related to document preparation, office work, text analysis or their transformation, recoding,
• professions in which the subject of labor is numbers, quantitative relationships,
• professions associated with processing information in the form of a system of conventional signs, schematic images of objects.

To successfully work in a profession, you need special abilities to mentally immerse yourself in the world of seemingly dry designations, to be distracted from the actual objective properties of the surrounding world and focus on the information that certain signs carry. When processing information in the form of conventional signs, the tasks of control, verification, accounting, processing of information, as well as the creation of new signs and sign systems arise.

“HUMAN - HUMAN IMAGE”

Here the main, leading subject of work is the artistic image and methods of its implementation.

Professions:

artist, painter, musician, designer, stone carver, literary worker...

Professions of this type include:

• professions related to visual arts,
• professions related to musical activity,
• professions related to literary and artistic activities,
• professions related to acting and stage activities.

One of the features of professions like “a person is an artistic image” is that a significant share of labor costs remains hidden from an outside observer. Moreover, special efforts are often made to create the effect of lightness and ease of the final result of the work.

In fact, this is a conditional division by type of profession.

It makes sense not just to classify a profession into one of the five types (this method is only suitable for some professions that clearly correspond to one of the five subjects of labor). For each profession, psychologists determine which subject of work is closer

, with which you mainly have to deal - there may be three such objects that characterize the profession. Such a differentiated assessment allows us to distinguish professions within one group: by which of the subjects of labor is called secondary for a given profession.

So, you have made a decision, now it is important to determine: in which educational institution you can receive a vocational education, how to develop professionally important qualities in yourself, how you can gain practical experience in this specialty, how to increase your competitiveness in the labor market.

Don’t take the instructions literally; it’s even better if you approach the matter creatively and develop your own plan for yourself - a list of actions necessary to choose a profession. This may include: analysis of offers on the education market, analysis of demand in the labor market, objective assessment of one’s abilities, inclinations, knowledge (using tests or otherwise), etc.

Information sources:

https://kemocpom.chat.ru/marsh.html (Kemerovo Regional Center for Vocational Guidance of Youth and Psychological Support of the Population)

https://www.proforientator.ru (Testing and Development Center “Humanitarian Technologies” at Moscow State University)

https://www.1c-personal.ru/show_group/49.html

Here you will be helped in choosing a profession:

CENTER FOR CAREER GUIDANCE AND SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF YOUTH “HORIZONT”, Southern Administrative District of Moscow.

GOU Education Center No. 504 “Polyus”

Telephone: 8-499-794-72-91; 8-499-794-79-05

The Center for Career Guidance and Social Adaptation of Youth (CPOSAM) is a structural unit of the state educational institution Education Center No. 504 “POLYUS”. During the existence of the center, departments were created: career guidance, social adaptation, youth employment. One of the goals of the Center is to prepare students for professional and career growth, developing the ability to independently set goals and determine the stages of achieving them, while making optimal use of available resources.

The center offers:

• Consulting on career guidance
  (psychological express diagnostics, computer testing)
• Consulting on employment issues for minors
• Visit to the exhibition of Moscow colleges

All center services are provided free of charge!

Center website: https://prof.sch504.edusite.ru/naschi_ludi.html

Telephone: 8-499-610-33-79

Studying professions

Ignorance of professions is one of the main reasons for difficult choices. You probably have many friends who have a variety of professions. Ask them to talk about their specialty and nuances that are not even known at the training stage.

Some organizations also hold open days. But in this case, it is better to be interested in hidden details that are usually not discussed at presentations.

Tip 8. Give your child the opportunity to try a profession

It’s rare that a teenager can try out a profession in practice. Yes, it is difficult and not always feasible. For example, if a child decides to become a surgeon, who will give him, without education and experience, to operate on patients? But it is quite possible to get as close to the profession as possible—to communicate with surgeons, work in a hospital, and feel the atmosphere of your future place of work. With the help of the so-called “professional test”, a teenager not only receives some information about the profession, he tries it on himself, forms his own opinion about the profession.

Trying a profession means forming your opinion about the profession.

Vocational testing is one of the most effective methods of career guidance, which has been used in the Japanese school system for 80 years. Japanese schoolchildren try different professions for 3 years. In our country, either parents or projects such as Ticket to the Future can help in this matter.

Search for studies

How to choose a profession for a teenager? Psychologists recommend paying attention to specialties outside your city or country. This advice is especially useful for those who live in small towns where there are a limited number of educational institutions.

By looking at the capital's universities, it will be easier for you to understand the opportunities that are open to your child. There is always a large number of different specialties here. But there is another side to the coin - moving a child to another city. Here, not every parent is ready to support their child, especially if there are problems with independence.

Tip 10. Tell us about yourself

Career guidance specialists have long understood that the first professions that a person considers as possible for himself are the professions of his parents. Therefore, it is in your hands to objectively talk about how you chose your profession, how you work, what you like and don’t like about the profession. What is important is objectivity and honesty: there is no need to idealize the profession or, conversely, exaggerate. If you feel driven because you have realized yourself in your profession, this is perhaps the best thing you can do for your child in career guidance.

The benefits of career guidance tests

If it is necessary to figure out how a teenager should choose a profession, most parents believe that they should immediately search for appropriate tests that will help, or at least hint at the future. But it's better to forget about them.

Career guidance tests, especially on the Internet, are absolutely useless, so psychologists advise not to even pay attention to them. They have a limited number of professions, and trivial questions actually do not give an objective result.

Why is career guidance needed for children?

Views on career guidance for children and how such an approach to finding a specialty can affect a child’s future vary. Some believe that a formalized approach is necessary in a highly competitive environment, while others, on the contrary, consider this to be unnecessary pressure on a young person who must determine his own preferences and decide his own destiny. From a psychological point of view, career guidance is a set of techniques that help to find out about a child, whether he is an extrovert or an introvert, what his temperament, character are, what his characteristics and inclinations are. As a result, we can assume, for example, whether the human-human sphere is suitable for the child, or whether he will be more productive in working with data analysis, technology, or whether his strong point is creative tasks. It makes sense to find out. The world around is changing quickly, professions disappear and appear, but many things inherent in a person from birth remain unchanged at any age. At the same time, such career guidance does not oblige either the parents or the student to anything. It only helps to outline the circle of professions or specialties towards which it makes sense to look. A competent career guidance specialist will not insist on one specialty, but will determine a set, a block of professions on which you can focus. The process of vocational guidance will help you understand what will be more suitable for a person’s personality as an adult, which will not cause him additional difficulties or stress.

Mandatory admission

How to decide on a career choice for a teenager? Psychologists believe that the child may need a little more time. Some guys go to work, and only after receiving such experience do they begin to understand what they need in life. In addition, such a decision will definitely play in favor of developing independence.

After school, you can go to college: it is not as expensive as a university, and it is easier to get into it. In addition, after 3 years, your child will already have acquired a profession, will be able to visit a potential place of work several times, and also understand the correctness of his choice.

Tip 4. Focus on the child’s personality

The world of professions is changing bizarrely. Just 20 years ago there were no SMM specialists or product managers. And in another 20 years they may disappear. Therefore, the only compass in choosing a profession today is the person’s personality, his interests, abilities and character traits. A profession may or may not be in demand, but a person who truly loves his job and is ready to develop in it will be able to be useful to society and have a decent salary.

Discuss with your child his interests at the moment.

Compulsory education

How to choose a future profession for a teenage girl or boy? Psychologists say that you need to listen to your child. If he has already made his choice, but during the learning process he realized that it is completely not for him, you should not force him to study.

From 18 to 23 years of age there is a sharp maturation. It is because of this that many decide to leave the profession they chose as a schoolchild. Of course, it’s good if the child justifies his action and talks about his future plans. Perhaps he found another hobby.

A diploma is not a reason to force a person into a framework. He must understand that his tastes and outlook on life may change, so he should be prepared for the fact that at some point he will change his mind and quit his chosen occupation. Explain to the teenager that there is nothing wrong with this, but this is an everyday matter.

A little about career guidance

Vocational guidance is a fairly young system of activities aimed at helping people choose a profession. This includes:

• informing people about the professional world;
• individual counseling;
• selection of professional areas taking into account personality characteristics;
• selection of potential specialists according to criteria for certain professions;
• adaptation of new employees to working conditions;
• instilling hard work in the younger generation;
• advanced training of specialists, career building;
• professional retraining.

Unfortunately, career guidance at school is not always ideal, and it is good if there is at least some lesson where children are taught about the world of professions. Most often, children are faced with difficult choices unprepared.

According to some data, only 1.5% of high school students have decided on a professional field and have begun to move towards their future. And if we talk about adults who have already entered the labor market, then approximately every second person works outside of their specialty. The reasons for this situation are various: lack of jobs, insufficiently high wages and changes in interests.

As we see, career guidance does not end immediately after a young person enrolls in the 1st year. Any of us can face the problem of career guidance, even if we are a good specialist in our field.

The myth about “that same” profession

There is a stereotype about the “dream job” that is waiting to make you successful and rich. This myth echoes the idea of ​​a “soul mate” that needs to be found among thousands of “strangers.” But adults understand that life works differently: there are quite a lot of men and women in the world with whom we could build a good family, and quite a lot of things that we could do with pleasure and benefit. To do this, it is important to understand what you are like, what you can do and what you like.

There is no “dream profession,” psychologists say, but there are types of activities that we are better or worse at: some like to deal with people, others with technology, others with numbers or text. Some people like to work in a big company with constant communication, others like to lock themselves in a quiet corner.

If a person understands his strengths and weaknesses, it is easier for him to choose the right job. So, first of all, it is important to help the child see himself, understand basic things about himself and rely on this in his choice.

Along the education route

— Natalya, how is career guidance going for children? What is the output?

— We provide comprehensive career guidance: during a 2-hour game, the child will have an express interview with an analysis of academic performance and preferences, and psychological testing. Then a career guidance game takes place in a small group of children. In the game, children try themselves in professions, analyze their abilities and those that are necessary in obtaining different professions, identify their strengths, interact with each other and create projects.

For example, a child says that he wants to become an astronaut. He begins to compare his abilities, what he has and what the astronaut needs. As a result, he understands and realizes (which is very important!) whether he can realize himself in this profession. And this is a fundamental point!

After all, it is important to help children not only self-determinate, but also, on the basis of this self-determination, to understand and reveal their strengths and weaknesses, to help them see what their advantages are, what abilities they have. And most importantly, in what profession they will be in demand and successfully applied. Which means we are happy!

Based on the results of the lesson, recommendations are drawn up taking into account the relevance of professions and an analysis of demand according to the Skolkovo Business School and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives of the Russian Federation. Parents will not only know whether their child is a technician or a humanist, but will receive the name of a specific profession that is suitable for the child, as well as a list of educational institutions where such professionals are trained.

Career Guidance Game

— What is the route to obtaining a profession?

— You can go further and develop a route for your child to obtain a profession. What does it include? Selection of subjects for preparation and passing the Unified State Exam, selection of educational institutions, analysis of university ratings, teaching staff and entrance scores, learning conditions. For example, you can study to become a doctor in Ivanovo, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg. But we look at the conditions, analyze them, take into account the parents’ capabilities and choose the appropriate option.

— How do children react to the results of career guidance? And their parents?

— The reaction of all children is mostly positive: 94% are satisfied with their career guidance results. And parents have two reactions. Positive: when the results coincide with their opinion, they are happy, but the child, for example, resisted and said that it was not mine. We managed to convince him and discuss it together. And a negative reaction of rejection. The child is glad and happy, but the parents say that this is not the right direction, we did not want to go there. Fortunately, this rarely happens. Mostly, parents themselves do not know which direction to move. But they really want to understand. And if earlier adults tried to send the child to where it was easier, simpler, now they analyze the specialty from the point of view of the prospects, demand and abilities of their son or daughter.

A rare case: a child knows what he wants

There are only a few people with a clearly defined calling. If you get such a child, he will tell you quite early on what books to buy him, what museums or theaters to take him to, and what classes to sign up for. Such a child has a very directed interest and will. With such a child, parents “simply” solve the problem of how to create decent conditions for his development.

But even such children's interest is not always narrowly focused. For example, a boy is interested in geology and chemistry, like Artem Oganov, who became a world-famous crystallographer. Or a girl who loves cooking and science, like Chrissy Jilek, who became a food technologist and invents candy with new flavors.

12–15 years old: see what you like best

If until the age of 12 a child tried different activities, then in adolescence he begins to be attracted to some area: mathematics, technology, nature, drawing. Then you need to help the child get to know this particular area better: what directions there are in it, what you can do, how all this is built into people’s lives.

It is important that the child is introduced to the area of ​​interest not by a parent, but by another authoritative adult: a good school teacher, a teacher in a studio or circle, a family friend. With the support of such an adult, the child will be more receptive, engage better and discover professional opportunities.

When it's time to choose a specialty, how to help your child

The following tips apply to choosing a specific specialty.

Step one - weed out the unnecessary

Some psychologists suggest moving from denial, namely, starting with what the child clearly does not like. For example, a teenager is an introvert, therefore, he will be uncomfortable working in a profession that involves a lot of contact with people (teacher, doctor, real estate, tourism, etc.). Gradually, the range of suitable professions will narrow, and it will be much easier to choose.

Step two is to find out which professions are really in demand today and which ones in the next few years

The concept of “demand” should not be confused with “prestige”. So, you should not search the Internet for ratings and selections, but open job search sites and carefully study the vacancies offered. They will give an idea of ​​the requirements for applicants and salaries. In addition, the child and his parents may learn that for a certain position it is necessary, for example, to simultaneously master a foreign language or take some courses.

You should look on the Internet not for ratings of prestigious professions, but for real employer vacancies in a particular specialty

It is important to remember that if a certain specialty is in demand today, then in a few years, when the child graduates from university, its popularity may decrease. Therefore, it is worth considering in what areas this specialist can still work.

Step three - show the profession from the inside

Each parent probably has a large circle of acquaintances with different specialties. It is necessary to attract these people so that they tell the teenager what each specific job is. After all, we only have a rough idea of ​​many professions.