It’s never too early – or too late – for teens to start planning their career. In fact, helping teens connect their school studies to their long term future can have a big impact on their motivation day-to-day. 

When looking at career opportunities – whether it’s work experience, apprenticeships, school subject choices, universities or even degrees – teens often don’t know how to weigh up their options. Here we can really help by asking probing questions to help them evaluate and work out what to go for. This can involve writing down with them the pros and cons of different options, including a bit of online research.

For work experience, we can also help them look out for the things that will make an opportunity really valuable – will they get 1-1 support from people in the workplace? Will they be given the chance to learn about the company? By helping them research and make decisions through open discussions, we are also setting them up well to work things out themselves in the future.