Having spent over 10 years in education, I know the inner struggles students face when it comes to planning for the future. Whether they admit it or not, most have anxiety, uncertainties, and sometimes even fear around choosing a career path. These feelings manifest themselves in different ways. Some students vocalize their feelings, some proceed forward believing it will all work out, and some let the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty of what to do keep them from taking any action at all. Regardless of the student, the key to clarity and feeling confident in their plan for the future lies in evaluated experience.
The key to clarity for students is evaluated experience.
You probably aren’t shocked. We’ve all heard the phrase “Experience is the best teacher,” many times in our lives. Given this widely-known fact, our focus should be on helping our students engage in as many opportunities to gain experience and perspective possible. The knowledge and self-awareness from these experiences allow students to make informed, confident decisions.
What kinds of experiences are best for students?
Any experience is better than no experience! If your child is at home this summer, there is still plenty of time to build in quality experiences. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Informational Interview – This low-commitment activity can bring a lot of perspective, and thus, clarity to a student. Need a free resource to walk you through the process? I have a Free Guide to Informational Interviews here!
- Volunteering – a few hours a week at an organization of your child’s choice will bring a lot of new perspectives. As a bonus, students will also be developing highly sought-after soft skills such as communication skills, time management, and possibly even customer service skills.
- Day Camps – There are so many different day camps available to students of all ages. Middle school, high school, or undergraduate—no problem. A great place to start your research is at local colleges and universities. They often have a schedule of a great campus that expose students to careers and academic programs simultaneously—it’s a win, win!
When I work one-on-one with students, we develop a student-driven plan for gaining perspective through experiences. Through one focused action a week, a student will exponentially grow and gain the confidence he/she needs to make an informed decision for the future.
What should you do after each of these experiences?
My original comment was that the key to clarity is evaluated experience. Gaining any kind of experience is great; however, there is a missed opportunity if a follow-up/evaluation conversation doesn’t take place. Students need help evaluating that experience and reflecting on what happened, how they felt as they were experiencing the environment, etc., and how they can use this knowledge moving forward. If the “evaluation” component is skipped, the student will likely struggle to apply this experience to their future. The key to this step is to ask questions and listen. Avoid inserting your own thoughts unless they are asked for. Inserting opinions/advice/thoughts will stifle the reflection process of the student. Here are a few of my favorite, less obvious questions to help students evaluate an experience:
- Name an aspect of the experience that you like most. What made that so enjoyable?
- What was something unexpected about the experience?
- How did you feel when [insert response from the first question] happened?
- Did this experience make you more or less excited to learn more about [insert industry]? Why?
Each conversation I have with a student begins with a debrief. The floor is the student’s and he/she will share out on thoughts, feelings, and experiences associated with last week’s action. From their sharing, I then use thoughtful questions to help a student drill down and evaluate their experiences. Together, we identify big themes and takeaways and keep that information to use in the career planning process.
Does your student need help planning some career-related experiences?
Life is busy and, even if it wasn’t, sometimes students don’t always listen to parents’ suggestions. If your child could benefit from a conversation with an unbiased, third party to help jump-start this process, I’m happy to help! I offer free, 30-minute consultation sessions to any student who is interested in discussing their future.
Book a free session with me here!
I also offer two other great resources for parents completely free of charge! If you’ve wondered how to go about helping your child plan for future, get my Free Guide to College and Career Planning. Not sure your child is ready to plan for the future? Are you concerned he/she may be falling behind due to lack of motivation? Learn how to Motivate Your Child to Plan for the Future with my free five-step article.
How can I help?
As an experienced educator and career coach, I sit down with students and young professionals one-on-one and assist them as they articulate their goals and develop a plan to achieve them! The path to success is not straightforward. My mission is to help you experience true career fulfillment through proactive coaching and career planning.
Book a free consultation today!