Parenting Guide

10 ways to increase future employability and opportunity while your kid is still in school

Published by SchoolAdvisor | Feb 01, 2017

The job market is more competitive than it’s ever been, so now’s the time for parents to start thinking about how they can help in making their children more employable once they leave their full-time education.   The good news is that there’s lots you and your children can be doing while they’re still in school to boost your chances of securing a great job after graduating – it’s just a case of being ahead of the crowd. You may find some of the options fun, and they may even help your children figure out exactly what they want to be doing in their future careers. There’s no shortage of things you can do as a parent that other applicants' parents won’t be doing, so don’t be disheartened by the statistics, however unpromising they may be. We’ve compiled this guide with lots of ideas for transforming your children  into the ideal job applicant and giving yourself the edge in your future job hunt. 

1. Get your child thinking of what they want to do at an early age

  

Start by having a serious talk about what kind of career your child might want to work towards, even as a 12 year-old. It may seem very early to get your children thinking about how they should spend the rest of their life, but since different careers benefit from different foundations, it will definitely help them in the long-run if they’re able to start gaining experience that’s relevant to the particular career they're interested.

2. Work hard and get good grades

  

It may sound obvious, but putting in lots of hard work while your kids are still in school will pay off when they can proudly boast about their impressive achievements on future CVs. What’s more, students have the added benefit of impressing their teachers, who’ll go on to give you great references (which is essential in successful CVs) So, get your kids to study hard. Put in some extra hours in the library. Take on extra co-curricular activities such as swimming and football. If your children are good at writing, encourage them to start entering their short stories or poetry into competitions. All this hard work will certainly help university application as well as improving future employability.

3. Teach your children how to write a CV early on

  

We have seen it over and over again, applicants who do not know what a proper CV should entail. It's worth spending a bit of time now, teaching your older kids to writer a proper, complete CV. Having a CV ready early on also means students also will have it ready to hand in to potential part-time employers. To give you a helping hand, there are plenty of templates available on the internet that you can start with but be weary of choosing a correct one. Anything your kid does that could demonstrate useful skills (such as teamwork or organisation skills) can be included on the CV; any team sports they take part in, for instance, or helping out at the local care home. Positions of responsibility, such as being a Prefect or the leader of the drama club and being the sports team captain are particularly good for demonstrating one's capabilities. Organize the CV so that best achievements are immediately visible, and in total a good CV shouldn’t be longer than a couple of pages. Don’t forget to include contact details and to proofread it before your kid sends it out to anyone! Employers are pushed for time when it comes to sifting through all the CVs they receive, so make it as easy as possible for them.

 

4. Learn to read and write an extra language

  As Malaysians, we are fortunate enough have the added advantage of knowing at least 2 languages. But how many of our children can actually read and write in those extra languages? Adding these two skills to a language will make your kid even more impressive. Languages are useful in lots of jobs and sectors, particularly within the travel and tourism sector and within multinational companies that have offices in more than one country. Multi-lingual job applicants have an advantage over those who can only speak one language, as they’re easily able to communicate with customers or business prospects, and they can even help with written translation. Your kid will have more options open to them when it comes to choice of jobs, too. 

5. Secure work experience

  Securing some work experience during school holidays will help your kid figure out what they want to do for a career as well as providing experience that can go towards their CV. It’s a good way of using school holidays productively, as it means that rather than drifting aimlessly during those long weeks your kid has away from school, they can be working towards getting on a rewarding career path. Whether they spend a couple of weeks shadowing you at work  or getting an internship at the local newspaper, the work experience your kid starts from now will be a valuable addition to their CV at this early stage in their journey to the world of work. 

6. Take part in debating society

  

Being able to communicate articulately and persuade others to your point of view is very useful in business, and it’s a skill children can develop by joining a debating society while still in school. There are even debating competitions between schools that your kid can take part in that will help them gain confidence in public speaking. This skill will also be useful for things like presentations in school, university or the workplace. It’s especially handy if your kid wants to become a lawyer, as they’ll get better at arguing a particular case in front of lots of people.

7. Get involved in student societies

  Actively participating in student clubs and societies isn’t just for fun; it’s a way of building and demonstrating valuable skills such as communication and teamwork. These skills aren’t evident from only academic qualifications, no matter how brilliant your kid is. Most job applications will require you to give evidence of occasions on which a candidate demonstrated such qualities. 

8. Start a blog

  Having a credible online presence will come in very handy in today’s digital age, so blogging about issues that are meaningful, or just things your kid is interested in, will help build up a knowledgeable online persona that they can reference on their CV and use to wow employers with their enthusiasm for a particular subject. What’s more, they’ll learn how blogs work; useful knowledge to have in a surprising number of businesses at a time in which we expect businesses to have blogs. 

9. Make sure your digital footprint is clean

  With many employers now conducting Google searches of job applicants, parents need to advice their kids to make sure that a Google search of their name doesn’t turn up anything that could harm their chances of landing that dream job. Ensure your kid's privacy settings on Facebook are set to ‘Friends Only’ and use the ‘View profile as a member of the public’ function on Facebook profiles to ensure that outsiders can only see the bare minimum of what’s on a profile. Also, get your kid to search their name on Google Images and make sure it doesn’t throw up any nasty surprises; if it does, get the photos taken down. If you’re kid is on Twitter, ask them go through their Twitter profile and ensure there aren’t any tweets they wouldn’t want an employer to see. 

10. Learn to code

  IT skills are in short supply at the moment, so learning how to write website code – even the basics – could put your kid at an advantage over other candidates for a range of jobs – not just development roles. They’ll also have more possible jobs available to them, and well-paid ones at that. There are plenty of sites that will teach you these skills step by step, KidoCode in Mount Kiara being one of them.