Do Parents Influence Your Career Choice?

There’s no doubt that most parents have certain things in mind for their children when it comes to a career, but just how much do they really influence what work the younger generation end up doing? Research conducted by a hospitality-focused job site found some interesting results – The preference of parents is one of the main factors when it comes to choosing a career for young people today. Perhaps even more interestingly, most polled parents knew their opinion counted too, and that it had a noticeable impact on their children’s career decisions.

 

Opinion Impacts

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When asked who had the biggest influence on their ideal career choices, a polled group of 18-24-year-olds revealed the following:

• 20% said that their parents have the biggest impact on their career choice.
• 10% said that their teachers had the biggest impact on their career choice.
• 9% said that schools had the largest impact on their career preference.
• 7% said their friends had the most influence on their career choice.
• 3% said that social media was the deciding factor in their career preference.

Around 70% of parents were aware that they had a major influence on their children’s future job choices. They also encouraged certain professions over others:

• 49% of parents polled promoted engineering roles.
• 43% of parents promoted law and finance roles.

 

 

Parent Vs Child

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Despite the fact that a fifth of young people said they were influenced by their parent’s career suggestions, the research did show that both generations were still at odds about their desired future jobs in some respects. In addition to engineering, legal, and financial roles parents encouraged finding work in the following industries:

• 34% encouraged healthcare careers.
• 25% encouraged media/marketing careers.
• 25% encouraged construction careers.
• 23% encouraged manufacturing careers.
• 15% encouraged hospitality careers.
• 14% encouraged agriculture careers.
• 12% encouraged performing arts careers.

When we compare this with the jobs young people were most interested in when polled, then we can start to see the effect of parental influence on their job preferences. There are, however, still some clear differences in opinion, especially with regard to sectors parents didn’t encourage, such as performing arts:

• 61% of young people wanted to work in media/marketing.
• 60% of young people wanted to work in healthcare.
• 56% of young people wanted to work in law.
• 50% of young people wanted to work in finance.
• 49% of young people wanted to work in engineering.
• 45% of young people wanted to work in the performance arts.
• 42% of young people wanted to work in hospitality.
• 40% of young people wanted to work in sales.
• 36% of young people wanted to work in retail.
• 31% of young people wanted to work in manufacturing.

 

Parental Pressure?

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The question is, then, what does this research imply? It does suggest that savvy parents have spotted the roles that offer some of the best opportunities and earning potential. Engineer roles are in serious demand given the current skills shortage in the UK at the moment for example, with lots of possibility for progression. Media and marketing professionals can earn upwards of 40k in management positions, making these sectors a good bet for graduates and school leavers. The healthcare industry is also crying out for staff thanks to a number of factors, which include the loss of funding for nursing education, and a depleted workforce due to fewer healthcare professionals coming to work from the EU.

Parents also, in general, seem to have encouraged their children to stay away from roles that have low earning potential (in the case of hospitality), or unreliable regular income (performing arts).

Do mum and dad know best then? To some extent, it certainly seems that way. Having said that, finding a role that you enjoy can be more important than earning potential – it ultimately all comes down to personal preference and what’s practical. If you’re currently looking for work, then make sure to check out the latest roles near you using JobLookup’s job search.