A survey run by Talking Futures found that more than 75% of parents felt that giving relevant career advice to their children was almost impossible in such a fast-changing jobs market. Is this a new thing? And how do we fix it? 

We’ve all been asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. Some of us still don’t know the answer. Occupations are one of the first things you learn about in school. Police Officers, Doctors and Firefighters were the blueprints in workbooks back in the 1990s. They were our first insight into the working world in its most basic format. People help us do things and they get money in return. 

It all gets a little more complicated the older we get and we have to take training, education and varying salaries into consideration. But it still comes back to the basic principle that in order to live, there are certain tasks that must be carried out, your bins will always need to be collected for example. We will also always need money. We complete these tasks in exchange for money to live.

So how do we choose which of the jobs we want to do? Some people know from the get-go what they want to do with their lives. Others are still deciding and making career changes into their forties. You begin making decisions concerning your further education at around 15/16 years old when you chose the subjects you want to study going forward. At this age, you’re still very much reliant on your parents or guardians to guide you. 

How can guardians guide young people into making the right career choices when they don’t know what the future holds? 

Some of the jobs we do now didn’t exist as little as 5 years ago. Imagine telling your grandparents who grew up in war times that you work as a Coder and not one who sends cryptic messages. How do we make sure guardians are educated enough to guide their children and ensure they’re reaching their full potential? This is why resources like Talking Futures exist. Parents and guardians must make an active effort to learn to support tomorrow’s leaders. 

Let’s take a look at some of these potential career paths. 

The kids of today could grow up to be machine learning engineers. Basically artificial intelligence, big data, complex algorithms and programming machines. For example,  “teaching” self-driving cars and digital voice assistants to perform and carry out tasks like a human. “Alexa, add eggs to my shopping list!” 

Next up, a Twitch Streamer. And what’s that I hear you ask? Being payed to play video games and streaming to a live audience. Professional streamers make money from viewer donations and advertising. 

Probably the most obscure one next. It’s possible that the children of today will have jobs like “Asteroid miner”, yes really, in the near future. We could see people taking off into space to extract elements that we need to create electronics. 

No one can predict the future but we can make sure we’re at least prepared for some outcomes!