The question of, “what is your dream job?” has always been more of a half-serious look into a fantasy world than an actual topic of discussion. There needs to be more support from the corporate world in helping kids develop career aspirations.

We danced around the impending career question until we were 18 years old when it came and slapped us in the form of a college course requirements sheet, or earlier, as an alphabetical drop down menu on the Common Application. The simplicity of selecting a major belies the gravity of the decision.

So for our whole lives we are encouraged to develop interests, hobbies and extracurricular activities. But when we started thinking about careers, all we ever heard was, “You will have time to figure that out.”

A July 31 article from the Telegraph showed that 84 percent of young people surveyed would like more advice from their school or college regarding careers. The article was referencing a report from the Association of Accounting Technicians that suggested most kids aged 14-19 relied heavily on parents and friends to make the career decision.

Public schools typically lack any form of organized career services and instead provide guidance counselors, whose sole goal is helping students reach college. The Public Agenda, a nonprofit, released a report in 2010 that showed 48% of those graduating high school felt their guidance counselors saw them as just another “face in the crowd.” And with a U.S. average of 470 students for each counselor, per the ASCA (American School Counselor Association) website, can you blame them?

Guidance counselors provide clarity and help inch a student along toward college, but rarely speak from a qualified enough position to offer personalized career advice.

Public school students are faced with either picking up a trade through a vocational school, or going to college and pursuing… well, that last part is up to the student, if the absence of sound career advice is any indication.

The question that companies need to be asking is what role they can play in helping those 14-19 year old kids decide what career to pursue, without making the gesture into an advertisement.

The existence of the internship is a half-hearted attempt at this, favoring well-motivated, wealthy and driven students over those who really need the help deciding (and couldn’t afford to work for free anyway).

If modern corporations and institutions really wanted to lend a hand to youth, then it would be through integrated, education-based career services provided to high schools, especially in underperforming or urban areas.

Google, for example, is investing $50 million in efforts to acquaint young girls with computer science, according to a June 19 article from The Verge, a technology website. While Google’s financial fervor is hard for other companies to replicate, the gesture is exactly the kind of thing that can be of immense help to students.

Future college undergrads, if provided the right guidance, will be able to make better investments when it comes time to go off to higher education, and base their decisions on more than just the aesthetic values of the campus or the late-night dining options.

Being more knowledgeable about the problems that face the world makes people more inclined to want to solve them, but most of us start digging into these issues once we’re well into our higher education – when we’re already expected to know what we want to study. The most important thing is for students to become problem solvers, and the right career guidance can teach them how to do just that.

If companies help lend a hand to teach about these opportunities earlier, students will end up making more educated decisions about their studies, and it will result in a more impassioned and less apathetic body of graduates.

 

Published on August 4, 2014 at 2:56 am