Career change becomes fact of life

Your child is beginning to make career choices. He has expressed a desire to be everything from a TV talk show host to an astronaut. How can you help him get on the right path and stay there?

Helping him get on the right path is the thing to do, but encouraging him to stay there won’t work in today’s world. The best advice to give anyone preparing for a career today is to help that person accept change. Nothing in this world is permanent, but change is a fact of life for the next and future generation.

Estimates that each person will change careers several times in a lifetime – as many as four or five times – already are becoming a reality. The world economy, new technology, developing nations and changing cultures and changing life styles are affecting careers and career choices.

Consider this example:

Eddie was a geologist. From the time he was in middle school he knew that his interest in rocks and the formations of the earth would lead him to scientific studies. And he was vitally interested in his work as an exploration geologist. He is now taking graduate courses in another scientific field, studying, as he said, for a second career and to broaden his knowledge.

The love of knowledge certainly had a part in his decision to study another field, but the primary reason was that the need for exploration geologists was changing. The oil industry had changed and Eddie was aware that somewhere down the line he might have to change careers. And so he was getting prepared.

Eddie, who was viewed by some as having made the wrong career choices in the beginning, argues that there is no right or wrong career choice. You follow your inclination and your interests and let them lead you. Any knowledge gained can be used and somehow the areas of interest and the expertise find the right apex. He does think that a person can make the wrong choices because he or she may not consider all his options or he has the wrong slant on a given career.

He had friends who had chosen occupations in very crowded fields much against the advice of college and high school advisers. Some of them faced a very competitive market and were forced to accept a position outside their area of training. The counselors had provided information contained in the occupational handbooks about trends in labor and the local and state employment agencies had provided other statistics.

Eddie’s parents had fortunately exposed him to a wide variety of opportunities and allowed him to associate with a lot of people in different walks of life. He had followed his strongest interest for his primary study, but also had read a lot about medicine, psychology and banking. He kept up with trends and knew that today’s careers are being shaped by forces such as the aging population, globalization, information-based careers, entrepreneurs and an increasing number of women in the marketplace. He said he would continue to study and accept the fact that he may have to redirect his career several more times. He welcomed change as a way of new growth and increased interest in a variety of fields.

Studies indicate that those individuals who view changes as a challenge rather than a threat handle stress more easily and are generally happier.

Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 1989