Smart careers start with smart parents and simple research

This month, I’ve decided to talk about the importance of parents’ involvement in our children’s educational goals, which can lead to either good or bad career prospects in the future.

I’m prompted by our economy that is not growing, which means fewer jobs in the market.

Most importantly, how is this going to affect our children in the next decade or so? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that my method is or was perfect but it has, so far, worked well for my daughter and I.

This all started when I decided to leave Johannesburg and move back home so that I could run my business from here and have more time to dedicate to my daughter’s personal wellbeing and future plans.

We first had a conversation about the career field that she was interested in, I then did research to see what careers the economy (locally and globally) was looking for, currently and for some years to come.

The in-demand careers, starting at the top, are software engineer, network administrator, data scientist, health and safety manager, accountant, agricultural engineer, lawyer, business consultant, hospital administrator and pilot.

For us to get to where she is now, studying a degree in the technology space, we started the process by ensuring that she chose the right subjects in grade 10 which was pure maths, physics and English.

This is where she needed to put most of her energy to be able to qualify for university entrance.

I then identified her areas of strength and weakness and realised that she needed extra classes on two of her most difficult subjects.

This helped her to consistently do well because we had already looked at university entrance percentages and worked towards that.

In her matric year, my life revolved around ensuring that immediately after the matric dance, we focused on university applications which opened on April 1.

This was followed by us attending an open day at one of the universities in May last year.

This was to familiarise her with the university environment and for her to attend exhibitions, lectures and presentations by HODs or university lectures so that she could understand if she had made the best study choice, what it entailed and what she was getting herself into.

There were also university students who were also available to share their experience, with tips and insights to encourage prospective students to embrace campus life.

It was then winter school during the June holidays, followed by a university entrance exam that took place around August in East London, the closest exam centre to us.

This was followed by trial exams in September and finals in October.

My involvement in all these stages was driven by my concern and anxiety every time I thought about the numbers of youths sitting at home, holding certificates with minimal options for employment.

I got involved very early because I wanted to make sure that my daughter ended up in a career that had some positive employment prospects and I don’t regret this decision or the sacrifices that I made.

I’m very happy that she has chosen her own career path, away from the management course that I did because currently, prospects for employment in these spaces are few and far apart.

The problem is that the economy has few jobs in management compared to the number of job seekers in SA. Some of the other courses that seem to produce prospective employment or entrepreneurship opportunities are in the artisan space.

We need to stop undermining these courses that are provided by TVET colleges and we need to accept that not all our children need to go to university.

The culture that I respect the most when it comes to encouraging their children to become artisans are Afrikaners. If you notice, most of the plumbers, electricians, and motor mechanics that are making a lot of money in the fields are Afrikaners.

Take for an example, when your car is stuck in the middle of nowhere when you are travelling long distance, who is the contractor that is called by roadside assistance companies? Same applies when you need electrical assistance at home or even with your car as well as plumbing.

Have you noticed just how much you are charged for a call-out fee before they even charge you for identifying the problem and then for fixing the identified problem?

The fees that you are charged, on their own, tell you that these are career options that can help our children to sustain themselves.

Artisan fields of study are producing some serious entrepreneurs that are not dependent on how well the economy is doing when it comes to employment opportunities. Also, remember that most of the artisan services are the ones that we need almost on a daily basis.

This is not a full-proof plan but it can definitely take your child to a more optimistic place. So, with the economy not improving as yet, I’m urging parents and young people to work together towards specific education goals and career prospects that will help our children reap the rewards of their hard academic work.