Should You Take Career Advice from Your Parents?

One of the biggest decisions of your life is choosing a job or career path. But, one of the biggest problems with this is how young you need to start to narrow down your career options.

So, advice from those around you is paramount.

Or, is it?

There’s a debate I’ve thought about for a while, and today I’m going to address it.

Should you take career advice from your parents?

Here are the key arguments…

Why You Should

They Know You Best

One of the key factors for the “yes” argument is that your parents know you extremely well.

In fact, there probably isn’t anyone who knows you better than your parents.

They might know you better than you know yourself.

So, there’s a high chance they know what’s best for you, and most importantly, they’re going to want what’s best for you.

Been There Done That

You can’t question your parents life experience, which for any kid, could be priceless.

Your parents role is to make you a better version of them, by helping you avoid the mistakes that they made at your age.

This could be invaluable to someone in their mid to late teens, who is still deciding on a career path.

Why You Shouldn’t

Different Generations

I still remember a conversation with my Dad years ago. He said…

“When I was your age, we had 2 choices. You either went to university, or you did a trade. That’s it.”

Young people in the 21st century have way more choices.

I did neither. I got an entry level corporate job straight out of college.

No university. No apprenticeship. Straight into a job.

There are way more options, and way more career paths that you can take nowadays.

Look at influencers for example. You’ve got thousands of people earning a living by posting content on social media.

How long has social media been around for? Less than 20 years.

Look at all the other new emerging industries and departments.

AI. Crypto. Software. You name it.

Your parents probably won’t have heard of any of this.

Unaligned Life Goals

What you want from life, especially in your 20’s and 30’s, might not be the same as what your parents wanted.

Again, we grew up in different generations. In different worlds, so to speak.

What your parents were striving for in their 20’s might not be what you want to strive for.

• People are starting families later.

• People are moving out later.

• People are enjoying their youth more.

And when you consider how miserable old people are, these things aren’t surprising!

This isn’t a bad thing, but it can become a problem if you keep a lot of things to yourself.

If your parents don’t know what you want from life in general, their advice to you might not be good.

It’s important to acknowledge this, and by understanding that your life goals may not be the same as your parents, you’ll be in a better position.

My Honest Opinion

These conversations typically start to happen in your teenage years.

Let’s say 16 years old is when you really need to start thinking about what you want to do with your life, which in all honesty, is still way too young.

I was 16 in 2017. My Dad was 16 in 1980.

The reason why I want to say no is because of the simple reason that the world in 2017 is incomparable to 1980.

In the UK at least…

• University was free.

• House prices were much lower.

• Barriers to entry for entrepreneurship were much higher.

And I could go on.

In truth, a 30+ year age gap between a parent and a child tells you that they grew up in much different times.

Especially when you consider how quickly humanity is advancing nowadays.

Despite this, it’s always important to listen to your parents point of view, regardless of the topic.

Listen to them and their advice, but it’s also important to acknowledge the differences from when they grew up, to when you’re growing up.

What was best for them, may not be best for you.

If you can, I’d find someone a few years ahead of you to figure out what might be a more optimal route for someone your age.

• An older sibling.

• A cousin.

• An older friend.

They’re a few steps ahead of you, but are still in the same generation, so what applies to them, also applies to you.

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