Without a doubt, all of us in our teens have been asked to answer the classic and thousand-word question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. A question, which is formulated so easily by adults, forgetting that most of them did not have a specific answer or that they gave an answer, which varied from week to week with minimal exceptions, where they gave a specific, consistent and conscious response. But, how does a teenager decide what he or she wants to do, when he or she grows up?
The two main pillars that influence a teenager’s decision are family and school. The family environment, as the first body of socialization, is the one, where it gives the first stimuli to the adolescent about the world of work, starting from the professions of the parents and continuing with those of the other relatives and friends. The family can influence the adolescent in a variety of ways. On the one hand, children, having their parents as role models and imitators, follow their parents’ profession. There are several examples, where the children of actors became actors, the children of doctors became doctors and so on. On the other hand, there are parents, where based on their personal experiences, perceptions, knowledge and expectations, they advise their children to follow a professional direction ignoring the personality, desires and possibilities of their children. For instance, I have often heard parents say to their children “Why do you want to study Archeology, since you can enter in Law?” or “Study Business Administration, so that you can take over the store later”. Consequently, the family influences the adolescent on a cognitive and emotional level.
The school environment as a second body of socialization plays a lesser role in the decision-making of the adolescent. Although, typically there is a vocational guidance as a compulsory course, in reality, its offer is minimal. My personal experience in school vocational guidance is three courses, where the professor explained to us, what is the theoretical, positive and technological direction and which schools are included in them (by name and in general) and a visit to the premises of the Agricultural University of Athens, so to see, what a University is like up close. In some cases, some teachers, individually, and if requested, advise the students to the schools again based on their personal experiences and knowledge. In other cases, students influence each other by their preferences. For example, in my time most theoretical students wanted to study Psychology, as it was fashionable. Exceptions to all this, of course, are some private schools, which have a special vocational guidance department.
Consequently, the family and the school, no matter how well-intentioned are, offer little and limited stimuli and knowledge to the children, so that they can make decisions about their professional future. In order for students to do this, they first need to have self-knowledge. That is, to have knowledge of their personality (e.g. introverted or extroverted?), their professional interests (e.g. social or positive sciences?) And their work values (e.g. safety or high financial earnings?).
Next, they need to have complete and valid information about the university faculties, where they exist, their curriculum, their professional rights, the professional prospects they offer, etc. Although the internet works well for accessing this information, it needs to be properly evaluated.
Later, they need to understand the society in which they live. How is the labor market shaped? Does the primary or tertiary sector prevail? Which specialties are in demand? For instance, if one wants to deal with finances, which specialty will choose? Tourism, Shipping or Accounting?
Finally, technological developments are constantly changing social and work data. What are the alternatives? How could the subject of work, where they have chosen, evolve in the future? For example, Alice Miller studied psychology and worked as a psychoanalyst and educator for 20 years. Then, she decided to give up teaching and psychoanalysis and start writing psychology books.
It is worth noting that, when career guidance is provided by Career Coaches / Career Counselors rather than improvised by teens, it has the following advantages: on the one hand, there is neutrality, as the counselor is not involved with the person being consulted, as a result of which he / she does not wish to intentionally direct him / her towards a professional direction. Instead, he / she supports the latter, so that he / she can go where he / she wants. On the other hand, there is a specific methodology, which includes: questionnaires in order to highlight the personality traits of the coachee, exercises, so as to obtain the necessary information and conducts targeted and non-intuitive questions in order to organize thoughts the coachee, to evaluate the information he / she has, in order to make his / her decisions and then to create an action plan for their implementation.
In summary, in adolescence, children are asked to make an important but not irreversible decision about their professional career. It is reversible, as at any age the individual has the possibility and the right to define or review his/her work interests, professional goals and job capabilities. However, it is best to make this decision in adolescence, so as to save time, money and energy, as well as to better prepare to start his/her business trip as he/she wishes and dreams. For this reason, career guidance should not be seen as an unnecessary luxury, but as an investment in ourselves and our professional future, always, remembering, that work is not just a means of financial survival, but, also, an important part of our life through which, we seek creation, moral satisfaction, but, also, personal development through our work development.
This article contains copyright. Reproduction of all or part of this article may be done with the consent of the author or with reference to the website www.marialykousi.gr. The first publication was made at www.psychology.gr on 06/02/2021.