Son needs help to decide what job/career he wants to do

DCFC79

meer53 wrote: »

I don't understand your post. You're asking for help for him to decide what he wants to do but then you say he wants to teach ? Sounds like he's made his mind up, why does he need help deciding ? Let him go with what he wants to do, he can always change his mind later.

Maybe the son hasn't fully decided what to do and teaching is a possibility.

Sounds like the son ( via the OP ) is wanting help/assistance to find out what to do when he leaves school.

theoretica

Jackieboy wrote: »

I know people mix and match more these days but a straight science/maths combination would open far more doors and give a better foundation for further study.

I agree with you that sciences and maths are very valuable combinations - but as english was mentioned first, and chemistry is a 'perhaps' I suspect his heart might not be in a pure science route.

ali-t

There is a careers website called my world of work which is great. It has quiz type things on it and then points you in the direction of careers and to train for each profession.

meer53

DCFC79 wrote: »

Maybe the son hasn't fully decided what to do and teaching is a possibility.

Sounds like the son ( via the OP ) is wanting help/assistance to find out what to do when he leaves school.

The OP said this - Another problem is that he is very focused on becoming a teacher and does not really have or want a second choice job/career possibilities in case he does not become successful in his teaching career.

My daughter did her GCSE's this year and is now at college studying a Cache Level 3 course with the intention of becoming a teacher. If she decides later that she wants to do something else then thats fine by me. In my opinion she needs to come to her own conclusion about what she does for the rest of her life, all i did was support her and encourage her to do something she likes rather than try to influence her into taking A levels which she would have hated. If the OP's son wants to become a teacher, why try to find him something else to do ? Lots of people start out doing one thing then change their minds don't they ? My son went to Uni to study Politics, he dropped out after 2 years, he's now a manger in a bank, he's happy, thats all that matters.

indiepanda

I didn't end up choosing my career till about 3 weeks before I applied for my first post graduate job and it didn't end up doing me any harm.

I also wouldn't panic too much about doing English with Chemistry closing doors.

I did Maths, Further Maths, Economics and English Literature at A level and then went on to do Economics at university and got into a decent career which built on my Economics and Maths (I am an actuary). My only regret about doing English was that it destroyed my pleasure in reading for a while (it came back a year after the A levels) as I hated having to analyse things to death. But career wise it didn't seem to hurt me. In fact though my early actuarial exams were mathematical and I found them harder than my maths graduate peers, the supposedly harder later exams which involved more writing I found comparatively easy.

I did have a patch of not being sure if it was the job for me (prompted by frustration with the exams) and I did an online computer test which told me which careers I was supposedly suited me. It reckoned I was ideal for some I know I wasn't cut out for (social worker for example) and my actual career came low down on their suitability list. Yet when I read up on what they thought my job involved they had it quite wrong. Things might have improved since, but I would be a bit cautious of letting a computer tell me what to do with my life.

Primrose

Borrow from your library or buy a copy of "What Colour is your Parachute?" It,s a handbook directed at adults thinking of a change of career, or those seeking a new direction but there will be plenty of material in there for your son to digest abiut possible future careers. Lots of questionnaires, examples, suggestions and lines of enquiry to check out. It will also ask him a lot of questions about his personality and potential abilities that he will not yet have had time to explore.

coffeehound

What color is your parachute? is the most popular book for doing the various aptitude tests and questionnaires to give career suggestions, though perhaps the online guides do a similar thing now. If you have a few hundred pounds to throw at it, careers consultants apply similar tests but then give more detailed and tailored advice and plans.

coffeehound

^ ha, typical

DollyDabbler

Try Plotr or Tomorrow's Engineers

skint_chick

Work experience might help too - while he can't practice being a teacher if it's what he's interested in he should consider trying to get some voluntary work on a kid's holiday club, after school tuition for younger children, helping out at a community group/Sunday school etc. Although they wouldn't necessarily be secondary aged kids it would give him an idea of whether working with young people would be for him.

I think it's OK for him not to know what he wants to do, if all he's ever done is go to school then how would he know what is interesting to him in the world of work. I've only just found my niche career in the last couple of years and I'm 40 next year but the most important thing is that I've had jobs and supported myself since leaving uni, and learnt lots of skills so it wasn't time wasted.