6 Pieces of Advice for Sharing With Students Seeking an Ideal Career Path

At some point, students will want to think or talk seriously about seeking an ideal career path. They might very well have this talk with you, their teacher. Others may choose their parents or even a career counsellor. Whatever the case may be, you can be prepared to offer them some sage advice no matter what capacity you end up serving in their quest. Here are some things you can talk about with students in regard to seeking an ideal career path outside of school.

Below, we’ll cover the following topics:

• Values
• Mentors
• Self-focus
• Organization
• Resources
• The Future

Let us follow the worldly wisdom of Crosby, Stills and Nash as we seek to teach our children well.

1. Values

Do your learners know who they are? Chances are they don’t, not fully. But even though they don’t know who they are yet, they can start with outlining their values. What is valuable to them will guide them on the right path. When they are lost and confused, they will need values to reset them back in the direction of their goals.

Encourage them to list as many as they can think of and then narrow them down to 5 that truly resonate with them. They can do this by comparing 2 similar values at a time and discarding the weaker ones. Once they’ve narrowed the list, then they can take a look at this skeleton, or template of who they are and who they want to be, and have a better idea of which career path they want to take.

Here’s a list of possible values from Art of Manliness by Brett McKay:

You’ll be surprised at how many lost souls you’ll see in college. Starting off with a good idea of what values they could have will give them insight into what truly matters to them in life, work, and everywhere else. A values list will give them a lens through which to view important life decisions. Its purpose is to guide them into becoming their best version of themselves.

2. Mentors

Ask your learners next to consider whom they admire. Who do they aspire to be like? Who has given them valuable food for thought over the years? They can list these people and rank them as to who they would most like to be their mentors. Next, they can set aside time every week to talk to these people, even if only to have lunch with them.

Most people generally want to be helpful to students who are interested in growing and improving. Many will be honoured to be considered role models, even. Students have nothing to lose in asking such people for help, but everything to gain.

If these are not people to whom they can ask questions directly, then have the students research those individuals’ lives. How did they get to where they are now? What were the challenges they faced and how did they overcome them? What did they learn from the journey, and how do they practice it in their own values today?

3. Self-Focus

Career is not the “end all be all” of who we are. It must, however, serve a purpose, and that is to fulfill our values. For instance, if a student values creativity and music and the arts but plans to have a family later on, they had better practice incredibly hard. They must seek to accelerate their growth and play to their highest capacity right now. They won’t have time to excel later when they have other souls to care for. This translates to other disciplines as well.

Encourage students to fall in love with learning, study hard, and grow now—not when they have less time for themselves.

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