"A pig in a poke, or typical mistakes when choosing a profession."
Goal: to familiarize students with the mistakes that graduates make when choosing a profession and help them avoid them in their own lives.
Choosing a profession without having reliable information about it.
Most young people thinking about further educational plans or employment generally know very little about what professions there are and what their representatives do. As a result, the guys find themselves in a situation of choosing a pig in a poke.
When analyzing whether a particular profession is suitable for you, I would recommend first of all finding information about how a typical working day of its representatives actually works out, how much time they spend on what specific activities. The essence is not in the name of the profession, but in what exactly and under what conditions one has to do.
It is important to think about such questions as well. What demands does the profession make on a person’s abilities and what contraindications does it have, what level of training is required to master it, where can it be obtained, does it offer prospects for career growth and what exactly are they associated with, is the profession in demand on the labor market.
Focus only on such features as prestige and/or profitability.
A common misconception is to consider a prestigious profession in itself as a source of income - they say that money comes simply for the fact that a person has it. Here you need to understand the following.
Firstly, it is not a profession that is paid, but a position, that is, the performance of specific functions in a particular organization. Of course, the potential level of profitability in different fields of activity differs, but the point here is primarily not in the profession as such, but in the place of work of a person, his status, level of skill, the balance of supply and demand in the labor market.
Secondly, those professions that are perceived as prestigious are in fact not necessarily the most profitable. After all, there are usually many more people willing to engage in them than are actually required. So, for example, the average income level of skilled workers in recent years has been higher than that of economists or lawyers, but compare the competitions for training in these specialties...
In addition, the very concept of “prestige” is very relative: it depends on the circle of friends (in the eyes of different people, completely different types of work are seen as prestigious) and changes quite quickly over time.
Equate profession and academic subject.
A common misconception among schoolchildren, and sometimes even students, is to actually equate an academic subject with some area of professional activity, reasoning according to the principle: “if I like literature, that means I will be a writer.” But what kind of profession is this, may I ask? Author of fiction, or what? Of course, in principle, this option is also possible, but much more often we are talking about many other types of professional activities. You can be an editor, proofreader, teacher of Russian language and literature, translator, researcher in the field of philology, etc. All these are different professions, and the activities of their representatives are not very similar to what schoolchildren do in literature lessons.
This reasoning also applies to other educational subjects. They do not represent professions, but certain areas of knowledge, the basics of which must be mastered, including for professional development.
Transfer the attitude towards a person, a representative of a certain profession, to the profession as such.
If we like or dislike a particular person, this is in no way a characteristic of his specialty and does not indicate that we should study it too. “Being a good person” is not a profession. Of course, you want to be like him, but this concerns personal qualities and general attitude towards work, and does not replace abilities for a specific type of activity.
What if, on the contrary, we met someone unpleasant, repulsive? Sometimes this can turn him away from his profession: “I don’t want to be like him.” But, you must admit, in the same circumstances the exact opposite conclusion is possible: “I will become a good representative of this profession, and not like him”!
So the conclusion about how to react to whom, as well as the responsibility for professional choice, still remains with us.
Choose a profession “for the company.”
Essentially, behind this position is the avoidance of personal responsibility for decision making. But sometimes, by the way, such a choice can be successful - after all, a company most often brings together people whose abilities and interests largely coincide. However, this is precisely an element of luck or bad luck, and not a consequence of a conscious and meaningful decision.
Replace the choice of profession with the choice of level of education or place of receipt.
A more justified position is when a person first decides what he would like to do, and then considers possible options for obtaining a specific profession, rather than proceeding from the desire to study in a certain place or simply obtain a higher education as such, no matter what specialty.
If an applicant, wanting to master a certain profession, was not able to go to study exactly where he originally wanted, it is more logical to remain faithful to the profession and look for other options for obtaining it. For example, go to get not a higher education, but a specialized secondary education, keeping in mind that in the future there will be an opportunity to continue studying at a university. This is better than enrolling in a specialty that is obviously uninteresting to you, even at a prestigious university.
Ignore your own abilities and interests.
It makes sense to make your profession what you like and what you are good at. Of course, this sounds trivial, but it is surprisingly often overlooked.
Sometimes people consider this not important at all (they say, I will do anything as long as they pay well). But a person will not be able to achieve high results in work that does not meet his individual characteristics or which is simply unpleasant for him to do. In addition, such a person is unlikely to feel happy, realizing that he is “throwing away” a huge amount of time and effort in exchange for money.
Another reason for such a mistake is ignorance of one’s own abilities and interests. It is impossible to say whether you will like the work and whether it will turn out well without trying yourself in something similar. Of course, not all jobs can be attempted through personal experience without first receiving the appropriate education. But in such cases, one can judge the propensity for them by indirect signs: interest in a specific field, the desire to actively receive information about the activities of such specialists, the ease of understanding and remembering this information.
Listen to the opinions of people who are not competent in matters of choosing a profession.
It just so happens that many of our compatriots love giving advice, including on the question of “who to be.” Nevertheless, it is possible to reasonably recommend something in such a serious area as professional self-determination only if several conditions coincide.
This is: knowledge of the specifics of the professions in question, as well as the situation on the labor market; knowledge of the individual psychological characteristics of the person making the choice; understanding the essence of psychological problems that arise at different stages of professional self-determination.
It is clear that either a specially trained professional (psychologist, employment service worker) or someone who knows you very well and is familiar from personal experience with a certain group of professions can reasonably discuss this.
Mistakes when choosing a profession
Mistakes when choosing a profession
1. Choosing a profession based on the advice of authoritative people.
Your father, mother, your relatives, of course, want all the best, in their opinion. They are ready to tell you how to choose a specialty that will always feed you and your family. However, when giving advice, close people base their advice on their personal experience. And you are a completely different person, brought up and living in a different time.
2. Taking into account the inevitable changes in the labor market in the long term.
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 completed 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 your choice now, in 11th grade, will determine your entire destiny. Changing direction and mastering a new area of activity will make you a valuable specialist in demand at the intersection of professions. Your first profession, even if you later change your mind and find something more attractive, will come in handy in unexpected situations. For example, a first education in economics will help a lawyer (with his second education) understand the complex issues of the financial activities of an enterprise.
3. Prestige of the profession.
Prejudices can become an obstacle to normal life activities. In relation to work, they are manifested in the fact that some professions and occupations important to society are considered unworthy and indecent (for example: gravedigger).
Another example. An economist or an engineer is no more useful to people than a sociologist or a mechanic.
In addition, the prestige of a profession is good when all your interests and abilities are taken into account. Otherwise, you will have (if you have) a “fashionable” but not enjoyable specialty. Or, what the hell, you will find yourself unfit to perform basic job functions. It may happen that a “fashionable” name will play a cruel joke on you, and specialists without experience will not be in demand on the labor market: for example, an anti-crisis manager.
4. Choosing a profession influenced by the choice of friends
We choose a profession according to our “taste” and “size” just like clothes and shoes.
A sense of group and peer orientation are very positive characteristics of children of senior school age. They are needed to master the norms of behavior in society, form the image of “I” and self-esteem. Therefore, when looking at others, compare yourself with your friends, and do not blindly copy this or that image. Try to see how you differ from your comrades - and how you are similar. This will help you understand a certain situation. For example, if your friend goes to a military school (and he is a risky person), then you should not do this - you may not like the profession (you are very careful and reasonable).
5. Transferring the attitude towards a person, a representative of a particular profession, to the profession itself.
When choosing a specialty, you must first take into account the characteristics of the profession, and not choose it just because you like or don’t like the person who does this work.
Fascination with a teacher is especially dangerous. If you admire the sincerity of a writer, this does not mean that you like literature in itself, outside the “set”. In addition, guys often make the mistake of trying to get the profession of an idol - TV presenter, politician, journalist, artist.
6. 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 “shovel through” a lot of information, sites, archives, talk with many people - before preparing a 10-minute message, which, moreover, is voiced by another (TV announcer).
7. Identification of a school subject with a profession or inability to distinguish between these concepts.
Let's consider one of the options. 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 specialties are behind this subject.
To do this, it is best not just to study professional charts or dictionaries, but to analyze in the job market. The request usually indicates what education is required for a specific position or specialty. 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.
In addition, it is worth considering that there are more specialties than school subjects. You can become a lawyer, a marketer, an apparatchik, and you will need basic knowledge of history and literature, mathematics and social sciences, or mathematics and physics. The chosen profession may correspond to several school subjects that are interesting to you and for which, as a rule, you take entrance exams at for this specialty. For example, a future engineer at school may like both drawing and mathematics at the same time.
8. Ignorance/underestimation of one’s physical characteristics and shortcomings that are significant when choosing a profession.
There are professions that may be contraindicated for you, because... they may worsen your condition .
There are few such professions and they include mainly those that require prolonged stress on the physiological systems of the body. Computer scientists put a lot of strain on their eyes, but pilots put a lot of strain on their hearts.
9. Outdated ideas about the nature of work.
Do not forget about dynamic technological progress, which is especially important these days. Today, complex and interesting technology is being introduced into the profession, and, above all, into workers, and the work culture is improving everywhere. The computer is used in absolutely all areas of activity - even animal husbandry. Therefore, every person must be prepared to use modern technology in their field of activity. And this is another serious task for a serious solution to the problem
First of all, let's discuss what “mistakes in choosing a profession” mean? Is it possible to avoid them?
Each of us has friends or relatives who entered an educational institution, and then dropped out for the reason that studying was not interesting and difficult for them, or the training in a profession did not meet their expectations. Another category of people receives an education diploma, puts it on a shelf and never thinks about it again and looks for a job in a completely different direction.
At first glance, nothing terrible happens: if you don’t like it, don’t work in your profession. However, first of all, time is wasted, which can no longer be replenished; then, the opportunity to receive free education was used.
As a rule, such graduates occupy positions below the level of education received and, after several years, are forced to undergo retraining in order to qualify for a higher position.
Career guidance specialists identify a number of mistakes that occur most often in practice.
~ Choosing a profession “for the company.”
In each class there are at least a couple of friends who are going to enter the same educational institution together and choose the same profession.
On the one hand, this is understandable: people become friends, first of all, on the basis of common interests and hobbies, which are important to take into account in professional activities. On the other hand, success in the profession is also influenced by abilities and opportunities, which can be different. Another option is when you simply don’t want to find out anything yourself, you have no plans of your own, but then one of your friends has already gone and found out everything.
~ Choosing a prestigious profession.
At the moment, the professions of economist, accountant, lawyer, manager, Kazakhstan specialist, etc. are considered prestigious. Most school graduates have an interest in them, but not everyone has the ability for these professions (high erudition, energy, communication skills, efficiency). The concept of a “prestigious profession” is changing rapidly. A few years ago, for example, the engineering profession was of no interest to anyone; only those people who were true fans of their work remained in the profession. Today, on the contrary, engineering and technical professions are spoken of as very promising, and various government programs are being adopted to support these specialists.
~ Identification of an educational subject with a profession.
A distinctive feature of vocational education (especially higher education) is that it is based on several disciplines. For example, a designer needs to be able not only to draw, but also to know chemistry; a design engineer will need not only geometry and algebra, but also drawing and physics. To master any profession, knowledge in various academic subjects is required.
~ Identifying a profession with a specific person you like.
For example, a younger brother admires his older brother, a doctor by profession. Out of love for his brother, he also decides that this is his calling. But this is not always true.
If we like or dislike a particular person, this is in no way a characteristic of his specialty and does not indicate that we should study it too. “Being a good person” is not a profession. Of course, you want to be like him, but this relates to personal qualities and general attitude towards work, and does not replace abilities for a specific type of activity.
~ Inconsistency between health and working conditions in the chosen profession.
You need to know and take into account the characteristics of your body and the conditions in which you will have to work, otherwise you may be disappointed or deteriorate your health. A number of professions place very strict demands on physical health, and for some professional occupations there are a number of strict medical contraindications. For example, good eyesight is important for a cook, pastry chef, or driver.
~ Outdated ideas about the nature of work and the possibilities of the profession.
Ignorance of the dynamics of the development of professions in connection with technological progress leads to mistakes. Often, a completely new pace and nature of work is hidden under the name of a profession. You should always strive to learn about the modern appearance of the profession.
~ Choosing a profession under parental pressure.
Very often, parents make mistakes that affect the correct professional choice of a teenager; they often actively suggest, and sometimes even insist on choosing an option that, due to various circumstances, they themselves were unable to implement, thus, through the child, trying to realize their own dream.
~ Choosing a profession because of the desire to earn good money.
Salary is a characteristic not of a profession, but of a position. It depends on the industry, on the region, on the size and form of ownership of the enterprise, on its economic situation.
~ Passion only for the external or some private side of the profession.
This is one of the most common mistakes when choosing a profession. When giving preference to one profession or another, we pay attention to its advantages over others. However, any profession has unattractive sides that may be unacceptable to a person. For example, such attractive creative professions as designer, director, actor, have a very significant drawback - they are too dependent on circumstances (demand, creative framework and desire of the customer or producer, etc.).
~ Inability to correctly analyze the situation when choosing a profession, ignorance of the necessary algorithms.
Results
When choosing a professional and educational route, many students make mistakes associated with a low level of awareness about themselves, their personal qualities, the content of the professional activities of various specialists, the labor market and education. You can avoid mistakes when choosing a profession by correlating your interests with your capabilities and abilities, collecting and analyzing information about professions, the labor market and educational services. You can collect and analyze information yourself or seek the help of specialists.
Each new generation of school graduates, not wanting to learn from the mistakes of those who went through this difficult path before them, steadily continues to step on the same rake when choosing an ideal profession for themselves. In this article we will present the most common mistakes that schoolchildren, applicants, and adults too make when trying to find the answer to the eternal questions “Who should I be?”, “What profession should I choose?” and “Where to study?”
As a rule, all of the following mistakes in choosing a profession do not depend on the age group, but there are also unique options that, for example, can only be made by school graduates, for example, going to study with friends or in defiance of parents. At the end of the article there are useful tips that are designed to help prevent most mistakes, representing a small road map with a description of step-by-step actions to achieve the goal.
If you want to start getting acquainted with the huge world of career guidance in general, we recommend that you first read our article “”, which briefly outlines all the basic concepts, basic mistakes in choosing a profession and the current situation with professional self-determination in Russia.
Ignorance of the world of professions
One of the most basic and common mistakes in choosing a profession, from which many others follow. Many schoolchildren, approaching graduation and the need to pass the unified state exams (USE and GIA), have little idea of what professions there are and what is happening in the labor market at the present time. The situation is aggravated by the need to urgently decide on the set of exams required for admission to universities and continuing education in a certain specialty.
For a more successful choice and initial acquaintance with professions that are interesting and suitable for you, we can recommend taking free psychological tests for career guidance and familiarizing yourself in detail with the rich world of offered specialties in our Catalog of Professions. For an even more accurate choice, be sure to use the services of qualified psychologists - professional consultants. Every city and almost every educational institution has appropriate services and specialists. State employment services can also help resolve this issue.
Focus on the prestige of the profession
A clear representative of mistakes when choosing a profession. Very often, young people, when choosing a future career path, focus exclusively on the prestige of a particular profession. As a result, the labor market finds itself with a huge number of freshly graduated specialists who go to work as if they were doing hard labor, dreaming of Friday and a career change. Typically, lawyers, financiers, marketers, bankers, show business and others fall into the category of prestigious professions. Undoubtedly, these are good professions, but they are not suitable for everyone and you should not choose based solely on prestige. At a minimum, there are also equally important concepts such as demand in the labor market, interest in the profession, physical and mental predispositions to a particular professional field.
Choice under peer pressure
Usually, the role of those around them are parents, who sincerely and with all their hearts want to place their beloved child in the best, in their opinion, field of activity. Unfortunately, very often the interests, talents, capabilities and aspirations of the child themselves are not considered, which leads to quarrels in families or the need to retrain and change professions later.
It’s even worse when parents try to realize their unrealized dreams of youth in their child. In such cases, the child needs to be able to defend his point of view while protecting his interests. It is difficult to study against your will, and even more difficult to work.
Follow in the footsteps of your idol
A common mistake in choosing a profession for schoolchildren, when falling in love or another passion for another person (like a teacher, actor, singer, etc.) can predetermine the desired profession or field of activity. However, in reality, interest in a person and interest in a profession correspond even less than nothing, and disappointment may occur during training.
If possible, then you should talk to your idol, ask him about the job and its requirements, ask for advice on whether it is worth choosing the same profession and where it is better to go to study. As a minimum, the program must learn as much as possible about the profession; perhaps it will not be as interesting as it seemed from afar. Of course, in this case, it is necessary to sensibly assess your capabilities, interests and aspirations, and it is also advisable to take several career guidance tests and talk with a competent professional psychologist.
Go to study “for company”
In cases where an interesting profession has not been found, and it is necessary to decide on exams and admission to a university urgently, school graduates choose options for the Unified State Exam to pass and universities to enroll in the company of school friends. Sometimes this option turns out to be not bad, since it is easier and more fun to study in an already established pleasant company, and then, perhaps, you will like the profession.
Alas, much more often it turns out completely differently: with interest and success, school friends absorbing new knowledge get ahead and make new acquaintances with whom they can discuss what they heard at the lecture, organize a joint project or conduct an experiment while a childhood friend, without with the appropriate talents, trails behind without the opportunity to participate in joint activities.
In essence, this situation is an avoidance of personal responsibility and shifting it onto others. But those around us absolutely cannot bear full responsibility for such a difficult choice for each person as choosing a profession. It turns out to be a lottery, in which you can get lucky, but much more often the ticket turns out to be without a win.
Such mistakes in choosing a profession are also made as a result of insufficient work of both school psychologists and teachers, who did not provide the required level of career guidance, and parents, who left the process of determining the student’s profession to its own devices and did not actively participate in it.
Desire to study only in a certain place
The desire to study at a particular college or university in itself is commendable, since it indicates interest and information collection. Another thing is that the educational institution you like may simply not have a suitable and interesting training program. The problem is somewhat mitigated by federal universities, which cover a wide range of professions in the humanities and technical fields, and also have an excellent material and technical base for training. But they cannot teach many narrow specialties that, as a rule, are taught by separate educational institutions: doctors, teachers, lawyers and many other specialties will be inaccessible with this approach.
Think about whether an old, beautiful building or the presence of a swimming pool is worth it for students to go to study for an uninteresting or far from desired specialty.
Outdated or incorrect occupational information
The world of professions does not stand still and is constantly changing. Some specialties are becoming a thing of the past, others are just emerging. With the development of science and the emergence of new methods, almost all professions available on the modern labor market are subject to constant change.
Therefore, in the process of definition, it is necessary to know well what a particular profession currently represents. Our Catalog of Professions can help with this, or you can independently find on the Internet the requirements for specialists, a description of the work process, or go to job fairs and open days at enterprises of interest. Thus, possible errors in choosing a profession due to ignorance of the current state of affairs will be minimized.
Considering only the visible side
Many people like to dream about a career as a famous actor, singer or presenter. Indeed, at first glance, representatives of such professions easily fill the halls and receive large fees, but few imagine the real state of affairs and the huge amount of behind-the-scenes work, be it endless rehearsals, traveling around the country or training to keep in shape. Let's not forget about forced publicity, which not everyone will like.
Before you finally choose your preferred field of activity, you need to study it in as much detail as possible from all sides.
Lack of desire to understand oneself
A fundamental mistake in choosing a profession is when, for one reason or another, a person refuses to understand himself and highlight his strengths and weaknesses. One of these reasons may be avoiding responsibility for the choice made and shifting it to others. Another reason may be general lack of self-confidence and severely low self-esteem. In any case, the result of the choice will most likely be unsatisfactory, made without regard to objective reality, and the work will not bring joy and satisfaction.
Help in choosing a profession in this case can come from people you know well, such as parents, other close relatives, friends, colleagues. But a much better choice would be to undergo psychological career guidance tests followed by extensive consultation with an experienced psychologist - career consultant, with whom you will be able to identify the most pronounced and important personality traits and select a profession based on them.
Incorrect assessment of your abilities
Incorrect assessment of one's strengths and weaknesses can lead to an erroneous choice of profession and, as a result, dissatisfaction with the work process and a decrease in the quality of life. If you are unsure of communicating with other people and prefer books to socializing, then it is unlikely that you should choose the profession of a journalist or teacher.
Errors in choosing a profession also occur when self-esteem is low or high, which prevents one from adequately identifying talents and abilities for a particular type of activity. As in other cases, career guidance tests online or in writing, as well as a mandatory conversation with a career consultant, will help solve the problem.
Attachment to your favorite school subject
There are many more professions than school subjects; in addition, many specialties cover many areas in their activities and it is very difficult to correlate them with a specific subject.
For example, even if the most favorite language at school was a foreign language, the choice of profession is not limited to just translator. There are many more options: from a guide and translator to a diplomat and intermediary between a domestic company and foreign enterprises.
Services like our Catalog of Professions, which contains the most popular professions in Russia with detailed descriptions and examples of activities, will help you decide on the desired type of activity and choose a specific specialty. Also, before making your final choice, you should study in detail the labor market and the vacancies offered, where certain requirements and education for each vacancy are indicated.
Ignorance of the prospects and requirements of the labor market
The right choice of profession, among other things, depends on the labor market of the region of residence and the prospects for its development. When choosing a professional path, it is definitely necessary to analyze newspapers and websites with vacancies, descriptions of professions and analytical materials about expected changes in the labor market in the next 5-10 years.
After the analysis, it may turn out that the chosen profession will lose its popularity or prestige after several years, and it will be difficult to find a job in the specialty. It is also worth considering the fact that very often non-prestigious workers and technical specialties are paid much better and are more in demand than another young economist without experience in an oversaturated labor market.
Thus, by analyzing the labor market of the region of residence, you can avoid the mistake of choosing a profession and make a better choice, taking into account your aspirations, desires and capabilities.
Ignoring one's own abilities and interests
Very often, when choosing a profession, people deliberately ignore the significance of their interests and abilities, highlighting exclusively the level of wages or the ephemeral prestige of the profession. However, few are able to reach the top with such a choice - it is simply unpleasant and difficult to invest in work that is unpleasant and causes rejection. And in the absence of a noticeable outlet in his free time, such a person will be constantly unhappy, which will lead to a decrease in the quality of life.
A simple solution to such a mistake in choosing a profession would be to choose a specialty that you like and will be interested in doing for most of your life.
Listen to people who are incompetent in choosing a profession
According to old memory and good tradition, many people are ready to give advice on almost any matter. But in such a matter as professional self-determination, listening to the advice of incompetent people, even close and well acquaintances, means only one thing - deliberately harming yourself. Not a single person without dealing with this issue professionally, of course, will be able to give competent advice, and the mistakes made in choosing a profession in his youth will affect him for a long time.
You can and should listen to opinions about the profession in which the person advising you is an expert. In no case should you listen to idle speculation that is not confirmed by experience, knowledge, and research. Contact trustworthy professionals who have been doing this for years!
Continue family traditions against your will
It is a very good and right thing when a child follows in the footsteps of his parents. He has a wealth of experience, best practices and first-hand secrets of the profession at his disposal, and the support and advice of close and understanding people in his first steps is absolutely invaluable, useful and timely. It is from such families that talented doctors, engineers, actors, and scientists come out.
But there may also be a significant fly in the ointment, which will negate all the advantages of this approach. This spoon will be the child’s desire to follow in the footsteps of his parents and continue the family dynasty. Someone will break under pressure and accept the imposed rules of the game, someone will fight for the right to go their own way. The main thing is that the family does not perceive such behavior as betrayal and does not begin to put a spoke in the wheels on the path to the dream profession. Such actions will only lead to conflicts and possible breakdown of relationships.
Treat the profession as the only possible one
Any field of activity is subject to constant change and as experience, qualifications and career advancement increase, occupations with areas of responsibility will also change. Naturally, the most successful person will be the one who has passed the initial stages perfectly.
In addition to the profession itself, familiarize yourself with career prospects and the state of the labor market in advance. Be prepared for constant professional development, mastering related and similar professions, or even a radical change in the direction of your activity. All this will turn you into a valuable specialist who will always be in demand and successful.
Thus, you should not think that the initial choice of profession is the only chance that will determine your entire future fate. At any time you can retrain for another profession or a related specialty, and previously made mistakes in choosing a profession will help you make the right decision.
Underestimation of one's physical characteristics and capabilities
In some professions, it is necessary to assess your physical capabilities and characteristics as sensibly as possible. Military service, special forces, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and law enforcement service require excellent physical preparation. Aviation requires perfect vision and quick thinking. Creative professions require taste and appropriate skills.
Some professions can be mastered with the right attitude and constant efforts towards the intended goal, while others may be closed forever. In this case, you can master similar or relatively related professions. For example, if you didn’t succeed in becoming a civil aviation pilot, then you can try to become an aircraft maintenance mechanic, a dispatcher, or even a steward.
An incorrect assessment of your physical capabilities may lead to the need to subsequently obtain another specialty, which will result in loss of time and finances.
Late choice or force majeure
“Thanks to” the deplorable situation with school career guidance in our country, very often graduates find themselves in a situation where they urgently need to decide on the desired profession, and, as a result, the set of exams to take. This situation is fraught with many mistakes in choosing a profession, which were written about just above, and schoolchildren begin to choose a profession at random, for company with friends, or based on the easiest school subjects to master.
There is no clear solution for those who have already found themselves in such a situation. You can urgently undergo career guidance tests and conversations with career consultants, on the basis of which you can choose a profession and estimate the possibility of passing the Unified State Exam required for admission. Another option is a gap year, which will be spent studying the labor market, making decisions and quality preparation for the chosen specialty. The loss of time is obvious, but it can compensate for other time losses from retraining in the future.
Focus only on salary
A bad practice when choosing a profession is to focus only on the size of your future salary. Firstly, the salary indicated in the vacancies corresponds to specialists with experience and still needs to grow to it. Secondly, studying for a specialty you don’t like or is not easy to master will be difficult mentally and physically. Thirdly, working solely for money, without receiving absolutely no satisfaction from work, leads to rapid emotional burnout with unpredictable consequences.
Choosing a profession out of spite or in spite of someone
Very often, young people choose a profession in defiance of statements from their parents or other significant people, such as “It’s hard for you to figure out what kind of programmer you are?”, “You can’t put two words together, but you want to go into journalism!”, “You’ll never become a journalist in life!” a good specialist, you don’t know how to do anything!” Sometimes such statements are true, sometimes they are said in a fit of emotion in order to hurt a person.
A choice made with the goal of proving to others that they were wrong is a bad choice, since working in a job that is unloved or too difficult will not be the people who made unpleasant comments.
Study only for the sake of higher education certificates
Among all the existing mistakes in choosing a profession, this one applies mainly to Russia. We have a situation in which having a higher education is a necessary requirement for many vacancies, even if objectively it is not necessary. Sometimes it comes to absurd situations when a higher education diploma is required for cleaning service employees or other professions that require exclusively applied experience and education.
Another aggravating factor is the threat of military service for guys, the only chance to delay it is to enter a higher educational institution and, by hook or by crook, study there until the age of 27. As a result, the output is well-trained specialists with an emphasis on scientific activities and existing dissertations, but who do not see themselves and do not plan to work in this field.
Summarizing all of the above typical mistakes in choosing a profession, we can say that choosing a profession is a very difficult and responsible step, which should be approached as responsibly and seriously as possible.
You can derive a few simple rules and tips that will help you avoid most mistakes:
- Understand yourself: your abilities, talents, interests, physical capabilities.
- Determine your strengths and weaknesses in relation to future work.
- Take career guidance tests online or in paper form and receive detailed advice from an experienced professional psychologist.
- Get acquainted with the diverse world of professions, paying special attention to those that fit the results of the first three tips.
- To confirm the correctness of your choice, meet with specialists from the chosen fields and learn the subtleties and features of the profession that are invisible at first glance.
- Based on the above, choose the most interesting educational institution for higher education and find out the required set of Unified State Examinations for admission.
- Prepare well in your chosen subjects and pass the unified state exams for the best possible result.
- Enter the university of your choice and, after graduating, become an excellent specialist who enjoys work and moves up the career ladder.
We hope that all the information presented above was useful to you and that you will not make mistakes in choosing a profession.
1. Treating the 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 the 11th grade, 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 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 will have (if you have) a “fashionable” but not enjoyable specialty. Or, what the hell, you will find yourself unfit to perform basic job functions...
3. Choosing a profession under the influence of friends (for company, so as not to fall behind)
We choose a profession according to our “taste” and “size” just like 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 towards a person, a representative of a particular profession, to the profession itself
When choosing a profession, you must first take into account 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, guys often make the mistake of trying to get the profession of an idol - an athlete, politician, journalist, artist. Athletes - they are not all like that.
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 sift through a lot of information, archives, talk with dozens of people - before preparing a 10-minute report that... besides, it will be voiced by someone else (TV announcer).
6. Identification of a school subject with a profession or poor differentiation 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, a translator, an editor, and a research assistant. Moreover, keep in mind that there are more professions than school subjects. You can become a lawyer, marketer, or 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 ideas about the nature of labor in the sphere 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/unwillingness to understand one’s 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 sticking a label on what kind of person you are.
9. Ignorance/underestimation of one’s physical characteristics, shortcomings that are significant when 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 strain their eyes, but pilots strain their hearts...
10. Ignorance of basic actions, operations and their order when solving, thinking about a problem when 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.
Our site was created precisely to guide you and show you the main stages of solving the problem. However, do not take the instructions literally; it is even better if you approach the matter creatively and develop your own plan for yourself - a list of actions necessary for choosing 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.
Career: Career guidance - Methodical piggy bank10 mistakes when choosing a profession
- Don’t treat your choice of profession as a choice of a lifelong destination.
In any field of activity, there is a natural change in occupations, specialties, positions, and places of work as a person’s qualifications increase. - Do not confuse position, profession and specialty.
For example, a chief physician is a position, a doctor is a profession, a dentist is a specialty. - Don't choose a profession based on its appearance. Always try to learn more deeply about the content of the profession, the essential aspects of the daily work of a professional.
- Do not give in to prejudices about a particular profession.
The fashion for professions is constantly changing; today some professions are prestigious, tomorrow - others. But fashion in professions does not always keep pace with changes in the labor market. - Do not transfer your attitude towards a person - a representative of a particular profession - onto the profession itself.
The likeable or unlikeable personal qualities of a particular person are not always professionally important for a particular profession. - Do not equate academic subjects and professions.
The world of professions is much wider than one might imagine based on the list of school subjects. - Do not choose a profession “for the company”, under the influence of your comrades.
We buy clothes and shoes according to our size, and not what fits our friends. Do the same with your choice of profession. - Don’t choose a profession without understanding your personal qualities.
It is very important to know your interests, inclinations, abilities, level of knowledge and preparedness. - Do not choose a profession without assessing your physical characteristics and shortcomings that are significant when choosing a profession.
- Many professions have special requirements for health, and some professions are contraindicated (not recommended) for certain characteristics of the body or deviations in health.
Do not choose a profession without knowing the basic rules, actions and their order when solving the problem of choosing a profession. If you don’t know how to solve the problem of choosing a profession, turn to a specialist career consultant for help.
Mistakes when choosing a profession
- Treating your 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 the 11th grade, 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... - Current opinions about the prestige of the profession
In relation to the profession, prejudice is manifested in the fact that some professions and occupations 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 will have (if you have) a “fashionable” but not enjoyable specialty. Or, what the hell, you find yourself unfit to perform basic job functions... - Choosing a profession under the influence of friends (for company, so as not to fall behind).
We choose a profession according to our “taste” and “size” just like 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). - Transfer of attitude towards a person, a representative of a particular 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, guys often make the mistake of trying to get the profession of an idol - an athlete, politician, journalist, artist. Athletes - they are not all like that. - 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 sift through a lot of information, archives, talk with dozens of people - before preparing a 10-minute message, which, moreover, is voiced by another (TV announcer). - Identification of a school subject with a profession or poor differentiation 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, marketer, or 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. - Outdated ideas about the nature of labor in the sphere 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). - Inability/unwillingness to understand one’s 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 sticking a label on what kind of person you are. - Ignorance/underestimation of one’s physical characteristics, shortcomings that are significant when 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 strain their eyes, but pilots strain their hearts... - Ignorance of basic actions, operations and their order when solving, thinking about a problem when 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.
We hope that our recommendations will help you choose the right direction when choosing a profession and determine the main stages of solving the problem. However, do not take the instructions literally; it is even better if you approach the matter creatively and develop your own plan for yourself - a list of actions necessary for choosing 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, and knowledge. Good luck!
Not all schoolchildren are ready for such self-determination, and some do not even strive to take responsibility for such an important life choice. This is precisely the most important psychological and pedagogical problem of career guidance - fear of one’s own choice.
In such a situation, a school graduate looks for and often finds rather intricate ways of avoiding real responsibility for professional and personal self-determination, which can be expressed something like the following:
- Seeking advice on choosing a profession and educational institution from your more authoritative (significant) peers and strictly following this advice. However, such advice is often based on existing preconceptions about what is “best” and what is “obviously unacceptable.” The result of focusing on these prejudices is the almost “universal” choice by teenagers of such professions as lawyer, economist, manager, makeup artist, etc.
- Seeking advice from your teachers and school psychologists (vocational consultants), who are often also guided by existing prejudices in the public consciousness. At the same time, specialists often simply play along with their students, offering them prestigious professions and educational institutions as a choice. In such a situation, one can even talk about the fear of psychologists and teachers themselves to take responsibility for extraordinary advice (according to the principle: it’s easier to advise something banal, but generally accepted...).
- Teenagers turn to their family and friends for advice. Often this advice is focused on existing (or previously existing) prejudices about what is more “prestigious” and “promising” and what is less... The peculiarity of parents’ advice is that even in comparison with teachers and career consultants, ideas about what is “correct” choices often lag behind real life and are more correlated with past socio-economic periods of the country’s development.
- Finally, teenagers can be guided in their choices by stereotypes of public consciousness cultivated by modern media (youth press, television and radio programs, etc.). Often, such media influence is focused not on specific professions, but on a certain way of life. But at a young age, as we know, a person chooses not so much a profession as an image and lifestyle, where a profession is just a “means” to achieve the desired image and style. In this case, the profession is, as it were, “matched” to an attractive style and lifestyle. The problem here is that the cultivated (or rather, promoted) way of life is quite standard, somewhat vulgar (replicated many times), aimed at undemanding tastes, and that is precisely why it is so attractive and seductive for the fragile soul of a self-determining teenager.
Thus, in reality, a teenager in most cases relies on the opinions of people close and significant to him. But is he, due to his social immaturity, even capable of being a full-fledged subject of his professional and life choices? Isn’t it too much that we demand from a still young and inexperienced person when we talk about self-determination and call for him to take responsibility for important life choices?
The fact that a self-determining teenager is trying to find additional support in his important life choices is normal and a psychologist should treat this with understanding. The teenager is worried, the uncertainty of the future really frightens him and his natural defense mechanisms simply come into play - mechanisms for insuring his choice. Unfortunately, often all safety nets come down to focusing on the stereotypes of public consciousness and the implementation of these stereotypes. But in this case, there is no longer any need to talk about real creativity when planning the prospects for one’s development, and then one will have to agree that the teenager is not so much self-determined as with the fact that he is “defined” by various “advisers” in the world of professions and life meanings .
If this is so, then the problem becomes even worse and the point is that professional choices are no longer made “together” with the teenager, but “instead” of him. What is the general logic of full-fledged career guidance assistance to a self-determining teenager, taking into account his insufficient life experience and ever-increasing anxiety about his immediate future (the future after leaving school)? You can consider several options for organizing such assistance:
- If career guidance work is carried out fully, then the scheme is approximately as follows. Even in elementary and middle grades, students are gradually introduced to the world of professional work, their main inclinations and abilities are revealed (first of all, the general dynamics of their changes are revealed, on the basis of which longer-term forecasts can be built). Ideally, schoolchildren are allowed to try themselves in at least some available types of work (approximately as is done in “professional tests” - in the famous Japanese “Fukuyama Test” system.
Closer to the senior grades, schoolchildren should gradually develop a readiness for self-analysis of their basic inclinations and abilities, i.e. They are increasingly not so much “researched”, but rather they are formed into motivation and the ability for self-exploration (self-knowledge). This is what can become the basis for the formation of readiness for true self-determination. At the same time, various options for building one’s happiness (various lifestyles) are increasingly being considered, compared and discussed. Such consideration is impossible without turning to the value-semantic aspects of professional and personal self-determination. According to many serious experts, it is value and moral orientations that constitute the “core” of a self-determining personality.
Finally, in high school and graduation, the focus increasingly shifts to specific elections. At the same time, schoolchildren are not so much offered ready-made recommendations, but gradually develop their readiness to make these choices independently. Only in this case can we talk about real professional choice and self-determination.
The general logic of such preparation is approximately the following: first, using specially prepared examples (situations), a psychologist-vocational consultant (or school psychologist) shows how one could choose a profession and implement this choice. Further, using other example situations, the high school student himself is asked to give a recommendation to an imaginary peer (in this case, the example is already transformed into a learning task, where the readiness to independently navigate various situations of professional self-determination is gradually formed). Finally, the high school student independently uses the already formed ability to navigate career guidance situations in his own choices, and the role of a psychologist-vocational consultant comes down to monitoring and “insuring” the self-determining young man. - Another option is when full-fledged career guidance work is not carried out with the student, but a conscientious teacher (or psychologist) still believes that career guidance assistance is necessary. Typically, this situation is complicated by the fact that the administration does not encourage the initiative teacher-psychologist in any way, there is practically no time left for such work (there are many other “important” things to do at school...), often the teacher-psychologist himself does not have sufficient qualifications and experience to provide professional counseling assistance . Still, help can be provided.
Firstly, the very fact of discussing the problem of professional choice with a teenager or his parents is already worth a lot.
Secondly, there is a set of fairly accessible and uncomplicated career guidance methods that make it possible to roughly identify a teenager’s professional preferences (for example, “Differential Diagnostic Questionnaire” - abbreviated as “DDO”, “Map of Interests”, “Professional Readiness Questionnaire - Modified” - “OPG- m”, questionnaires “For and against”, “Crossroads”, etc.).
Thirdly, it is possible to organize the work in such a way that the psychologist works with a microgroup (3-4 people), where the problems of each student are discussed in turn. In this case, you can even organize a kind of “professional consultation” game, where peers will give each other advice and recommendations, which allows you to develop a willingness to navigate various (and not just your own) choice situations.
Finally, fourthly, a school psychologist can simply “instill” in the mind of the teenager being consulted a feeling of confidence and optimism about his future, which is also worth a lot. At the same time, optimism itself is not just an infantile hope that “everything will be fine,” but the confidence that even in difficult situations a teenager will not be confused and will make a worthy choice (but for this it is important to understand what a “worthy choice” actually is, in contrast, for example, to the standard choice, vulgar in its unoriginality...).
Of course, in the case of limited conditions for full-fledged career guidance assistance, it is not possible to “cover” all students, so we have to choose those who need such help the most and who are ready to discuss their career guidance problems.
In a school setting, addressing the problem of professional and personal self-determination is possible not only within the framework of specially designated hours and professional consultations. Every teacher and every psychologist, when conducting a variety of activities, can always touch on certain aspects of professional and life choices. As noted by the former Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, the famous psychologist A.G. Asmolov, the main task of the school is not the transfer of knowledge, but the formation in the student of a semantic picture of the world, the world where they are going to live and self-determinate (similar statements can be found in such luminaries of psychology as V. Frankl, G. Munstenberg, etc.). And for a high school student, the main semantic problem is the problem of self-determination, i.e. planning your development after school. And if we really strive to give the student a complete, i.e. systematized knowledge and education, then the core of this system should be precisely the idea of professional self-determination, which any teacher should remember... True, not all teachers and psychologists understand this (they are not “obliged” to understand this) and, as a result, , without a central, integrating idea, school knowledge is often “fragmentary”, “partial” in nature...
And yet, the opportunities for large-scale, systematized career guidance assistance in school are enormous. In this sense, the original title of the article, which reflects the idea of “joint” work in this direction, seems correct. Note that in civilized Western countries the idea of a career is dominant, central not only for educational institutions, but also for the entire society, i.e. the whole society helps to make a young man a career. In our “native” Russian conditions, one can at least dream that at the level of a particular school the efforts of teachers, psychologists and administration would be integrated in jointly helping students in professional and personal self-determination. At the same time, the ideal result of such joint assistance should be the formation of a school graduate’s readiness to independently (without the joint help of teachers and psychologists) solve their problems, i.e. readiness for true self-determination.
Choosing a future profession is the problem of a modern teenager.
What do we know about our future? We certainly don’t know anything and can only guess. We often think about it, spend long hours thinking about what will happen tomorrow, in a month, in a year, even in tens of years. And these thoughts sometimes prevent us from noticing what is happening around us, what kind of life we are living now. What is it like for teenagers who are just learning to understand their lives, to understand themselves in the present, and their parents are already demanding a conscious choice of profession, a choice of their future? “It’s not easy for them, of course, but they can’t help but think about the future,” you’ll say, and you’ll be absolutely right.
So, choosing a future profession is not easy, but necessary and even vital. How not to get lost in all the variety of possible options for specialties in the modern world, because there are so many of them now? To do this, it is important to have a clear understanding of the goals that you set for your child, and he sets for himself, that is, to understand what exactly drives you in the first place when choosing a profession. Nowadays, one of the leading motives is material well-being, that is, the desire to earn enough money to be able to not deny oneself anything. It’s normal and right to think about your well-being, since you really can’t live without money. But is this motive sufficient and the main one when choosing a future profession?
When thinking about money, do not forget that your child is choosing an occupation for the next (at least) several years. Accordingly, it is this activity that will fill his life, will be his life. And in life it often happens that activities that bring a lot of money do not bring happiness at the same time. This is a simple and banal thought: “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” But it is precisely this simplicity and mediocrity that proves its truth. Therefore, I suggest not to “disown” it.
The potential profitability of the profession is not the main thing. The most important thing, according to modern psychologists, sociologists and ordinary people, is the moral satisfaction that a correctly chosen profession brings. “But how can we help him now, when he is only 15-16 years old, to choose the kind of activity that will delight him for many years of his life?” - you ask. Unfortunately, there is no universal way, it is impossible to predict the future, so when a teenager chooses a profession, it is worth first of all thinking about the inclinations, abilities and interests that he already has now. To do this, you can do the following exercise with your child.
This exercise will help you not only assess the number of your child’s abilities and possible career options, but also better understand what these professions are, how they are taught, and who and where people work after receiving their education.
Don’t rush your child and don’t rush yourself, because you are not choosing a birthday cake, of which not a trace will remain after the end of the holiday. You choose the future. And spare no effort or time to really understand the professions that your child has chosen. Try not to put pressure on him, because he chooses his future, not yours. And so that the years of study, money and effort invested in it do not go to waste, and you do not one day hear an accusation addressed to you: “It was you who forced me to go there to study!” - allow, albeit with your help, your child to choose a future profession consciously and independently.
However, it often happens that it is difficult for a child to talk to you about his abilities, and in general it is difficult to talk to you about the future. He begins to be rude, deny it, laugh it off and resist in every possible way. Let's not forget that this is a teenager. Or you can’t choose a profession for other reasons. In this case, you may need professional consultation with a psychologist who will help the child decide to understand his existing abilities, evaluate them, select possible and interesting professions for him and understand which one is best suited for your child.
How to choose a profession
Scheme for solving the problem of choosing a profession (according to E.A. Klimov)
The process of solving a choice problem includes five operations (set of actions):
1st operation - to create for yourself a general orientation in the world of professions and a set of personal qualities that are important when choosing a profession;
2nd operation - find out the needs of the district, city, region in personnel, where your heads, knowledge, hands, young enthusiasm are most needed;
3rd operation - use a variety of sources to gain knowledge about professions: books, television, cinema, excursions to enterprises, etc.
4th operation - make a conclusion about the most suitable type of profession, then class, department, group of specialties;
5th operation - make a conclusion about the first step towards mastering your chosen profession, undergo role-playing practice. Here it is important to consult with a doctor, class teacher, teachers, older family members, and representatives of the profession being studied.
But the final decision must be made by yourself.
