How you shape your child’s career thinking

As a parent, you have more influence over your child's career thinking than you might realise. Learn about some easy, practical steps to have great conversations.

In this article...

When it comes to your teenager’s future, you might feel like you’re competing with TikTok, their friends, and the general chaos of adolescence for airtime. But research consistently shows that parents are one of the single biggest influences on how young people think about careers and further study. That’s a remarkable amount of sway that you may not know you even had, so it’s worth having it mind when you make statements or have conversations with your teens. The good news is, you don’t need to have all the answers, it’s enough just to stay curious alongside them.

Your influence runs deeper than you think

All the jobs you’ve held, the people you know, the stories you’ve shared around the camp fire or across the dinner table, the comments you make after a busy day at work — they become trusted reference points for your teen about what’s possible (or out of reach). If they only hear about a handful of jobs or pathways, that’s the majority of what they’ll have for planning our their next steps. It’s not that other options don’t exist; your child just doesn’t have them in mind yet.

This is why the conversations you have at home matter so much. Offhand comments like “that’s not a real job” or “you’d never get into that” can quietly close doors before your teenager even knows they were open. On the flip side, asking open questions — “what did you enjoy about doing that project?” or “what’s your favourite subject you had today?” — can do a lot to keep those doors ajar. Commenting on people’s work when you’re watching a movie together or out and about round town or on holidays could spark something in your teen too. They don’t have to be hard questions and big conversations to have an impact.

Expand their options, don’t limit them

One of the most common traps you could be inadvertently falling into, is projecting your own career experiences — or fears — onto your children. The job market your teenager will enter looks very different from the one you navigated. Many of the roles that will be in demand in ten years don’t even have names yet. And equally, some of the pathways that feel traditional or “safe” are changing rapidly.

Your experiences and opinions should definitely still be shared and talked about, but it benefits your young people to stay curious and learn what other options are out there. There are now more pathways than ever to meaningful, well-paying work. From university degrees, vocational training, apprenticeships and traineeships, short courses, and even gap years, and a wide variety of combinations of all of them. When you explore these options alongside your teenager rather than presenting a fixed verdict, you model the kind of open thinking that could serve them well throughout their working life.

Getting involved in career education

Schools put a lot of effort into career education, and its impact multiplies when parents are engaged too. If your child comes home with information about a careers event, an industry excursion, or a subject selection decision, that’s your cue to lean in rather than leave it to the school.

Ask to see what they’re working on. Attend information evenings if you can. Talk to their careers counsellor to understand what tools and resources are available. Some schools now have platforms where students explore career clusters, work readiness skills, and subject pathways. Being familiar with what your teenager is engaging with means you can have more informed conversations at home.

It’s also worth thinking about the informal career education you can offer. Do you know someone who works in a field your teenager is curious about? Could you help them arrange a conversation or a brief work shadow? Sometimes a single real-world conversation with a professional is worth more than a dozen career quizzes. Or when the time comes for work experience, is there anyone in your network you could ask about opportunities?

Their career, your support

Research suggests that teenagers, particularly girls and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, can often limit their career thinking based on what they believe is “for people like them.” Your assumptions or biases about certain pathways or jobs might have come from beliefs your parents had, or been influenced by labour market information from when you were at school. They may not be accurate or relevant anymore, but you might still be bringing these beliefs to conversations with your children. You can unintentionally keep reinforcing these limits, or you can actively challenge them, and help to open up new avenues for your teens to explore.

If your teenager is drawn to a career that feels unfamiliar or uncertain to you, resist the urge to immediately question it. Start with curiosity, find out what appeals to them about it. Learn about the daily reality of the role, the skills would it need, and what paths could get them there. You could also look at the latest labour market information and see where opportunities exist locally or further afield. You’ll be much better place to support them once you’re in the know, and they’ll be much better to prepared to start heading down the right path.

Explore more together

The most important thing you can do is to keep learning and chatting. Careers aren’t a single decision made at seven or seventeen; they’re a direction that evolves over time as children experience life and different subjects. If you help your teenager feel like that direction is worth exploring, and feel that they have someone in their corner while they do, you’re already doing a brilliant job.

Our Resources for Families page has more practical information to help you support your teenager’s study and career thinking, whatever stage they’re at. Or the Study Work Grow website has lots of other information to help you unpack careers and have great conversations with your teens.

Job Spotlight - Materials Engineer