During recent weeks, I got into discussions with few parents who were thinking about career tracks to guide their children. The idea for writing on this topic came from one such discussion. This topic seems to be more active on the minds of many parents as their children get closer to the tenth and twelfth standards at school.

From my observations of working professionals and students, there are at least 3 fundamental elements while thinking about your child’s career.

1. Passion/genuine interest

This is probably the most critical element to consider. It’s normally easy to spot uninterested students in classrooms and employees in the workplaces across the world through their low commitment, engagement and efforts. While speaking with students in post graduate programs, it becomes easy to observe those who are genuinely engaged and interested (even when they are introverted). When individuals go into areas of low interest or are pushed by family, they tend to migrate to becoming average at learning/outputs and disengaged quickly. During long working careers, passion or genuine interest will drive one’s will and energy to keep going through the inevitable challenges and difficult times. Internal motivation also helps develop extra edge through proactive, continuous learning and growth over others.

2. Natural strengths, preferences and related tracks

Every individual has natural strengths and preferences in certain areas. It’s important to actively recognise, encourage, grow those strengths, figure out areas where these strengths can be applied naturally and actively. At the same time, it would be practical to think if those areas can lead to healthy compensation and life support. Sometimes, there may be adjoining work areas to explore and understand that require similar strengths. On the unhealthy side, many parents prioritise potential compensation or perks as the top point with good intentions but that may set their children up for potential unhappiness, disillusionment and immense stress in following years. Some tend to become miserable over time, feeling stuck, resulting in unhappiness and frustration across professional and personal environments.

An individual with a high degree of passion, interest and natural strengths has a much higher chance of getting noticed, becoming successful rather than working in areas where the above elements don’t exist (even when the tracks don’t seem very promising in the eyes of the world). This should not be about just finding the first job but rather thinking beyond into longer career tracks, meaning, impact and growth.

3. Clarity on areas of low interest

Even if one many not be aware of what to choose, it helps to be clear on what is not enjoyable or probably even hated by your child. These areas should be clearly avoided even when there’s lot of peer/social status pressure and seem to hold potential for high earnings or opportunities.

Many children may not be aware of their own strengths, preferences and related career tracks to explore. Schools can play a key role in that process by ensuring supporting resources, assessments, counseling and career guidance initiatives. Experimentation, getting exposure and exploration, when unclear should also be actively encouraged. Many times, lack of awareness of opportunities or career options become a big gap for students and parents. It’s important to start somewhere, even if small. If there is a sense of enjoyment and engagement, that’s a good work fit indicator. Externship and internship programs may help.

It is also always helpful to have few alternatives keeping in mind the above elements. Some experiences may lead to changing opinions on interest after a reality check.

Another helpful advice is to discuss actively with your network, experts in related areas and use all opportunities to understand more about different career tracks. Encourage your child to take accountability and responsibility to work hard in their chosen area of interest. When they feel the decision is predominantly based on their interest, their commitment and accountability tend to be much higher. That translates to a higher probability of success, engagement and enjoyment at work. There’s also a lot of supporting information available online.

From a broader perspective, when the world gets the right fit of passionate, highly engaged people in jobs (including seemingly boring or uninteresting jobs), the potential for achievement and engagement is huge. That also leads to enjoyable experiences for all stakeholders – leading to win-win outcome for society at large.

During my personal discussion, it was refreshing to see that my connection had noticed his daughter’s increasing passion and strength around culinary skills and was open to supporting her in that direction, while staying open to understanding alternatives and having a plan B based on her strengths. That approach increases the probability of success and thriving in her career.

“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

—Oprah Winfrey