How Can I Convince My Parents to Support My Career Choice?

I was sitting with a child who had come in for counselling, and looking at his career discovery report, particularly his aptitude and personality. A career discovery report is a report that a student gets after the Mindler Assessment, it suggests the students’ best fit career matches based on an evaluation of 58 parameters belonging from 5 major dimensions of orientation style, interest, personality, aptitude, and emotional quotient. He had the right set of skills to become a lawyer, if we could just show him the right direction. It would only take a few months’ preparation and I was sure he would score well enough to go to a National Law School.
So, it began. I started explaining to him the strategies he needed to crack the CLAT, what it consisted of, and what his future would look like if he just remained persistent for a few months. He was quite keen, I could see that in his eyes, but he didn’t say a word for the entire session. I took that as a sign of his interest in what I was saying. When I finished, he finally said, “Mam, how can I convince my parents? They will not agree to this.” I was taken aback, just like every time. And just like all the other times, I had the same answer, “Don’t worry, I will talk to them.”
Many students have a similar question. The burden of their parents’ expectation weighs them down each time they think of a career their parents don’t have clarity on. I know that children need to be shown the right path, but sometimes it is the parents who have to be explained that the right path is the one the child wants to walk on him/herself, and is best suited for.
 
Here, I have collated a few points from my experience, which can be used to convince parents to let you pursue your desired career:
 
1. Be Clear About Your Goal: If you want to convince your parents, you have to be very clear about what you want to accomplish. You might want to be a wildlife conservationist or fashion photographer, and that is great. But if you are not sure about your goals and the strategy to accomplish them, you are not ready to ask your parents to listen to you. So, it’s time you set your mind on something – that’s the first step!
 
2. Do Some Research: If you want to tread on a career path your parents may not be convinced of, you need to switch-on the research mode. Find everything you can about that career, whether it is college, course, curriculum, entrance exam, job opportunities, or even the course fee. This will give you the confidence to talk to your parents, and convince them you are, in fact, serious about pursuing a particular career – the most important decision of your life. They are likely to be more open once they see your seriousness about pursuing that career. This will also help you educate them about a career they were relatively uninformed about.
 
3. Talk to People in “Your” Career: When you are interested in a particular field, it is always a good idea to connect to someone from that domain. Now-a-days, it is relatively easier to connect with people through LinkedIn and professional groups on Facebook. These people have probably been in your shoes at some point in their life, which is why their insights about a career can prove helpful to you. You get an idea about the kind of life this career would give you, the career progression, working hours, the money you can make, etc., and make an informed decision. You can even ask your parents to get connected to such professionals if it gives them the assurance they need.
 
4. Apply for a Scholarship: Scholarships are financial aids to empower students to pursue higher education without depending on anyone for sponsorship. If you feel passionately about a career, try and secure a scholarship for it. It will not only give you the confidence and resources to pursue the career of your choice, but also make your parents realise your seriousness about it. Once your parents see that you can sponsor your own education, they are more likely to support you in your endeavours!
There are some genuine and great scholarships available to pursue higher education in India. Read here: Top 7 Prestigious (and Popular) Scholarships for Indian Students
 
5. Make a Logical Career Plan: If you are clear and confident on the career path you are considering for yourself, convincing your parents would be easy as long as the career path is logical and in sync with your abilities. There are many factors that you would consider before choosing a career path, such as your interest, whether your personality is right for that career, and so on. For example, you may have got the best marks in computers in class, but you may not be interested in making a career out of it. These things need to be explained to your parents.
 
Confused about the right career? Learn about the Mindler assessment. 
 
6. Tell Them About Aptitudes: Our aptitude is our natural ability to excel in a particular field. There are different aptitudes that are required for different careers. For example, spatial aptitudes are related to your skill of visualising three dimensional figures, and people high on this aptitude do well in fields such as Urban Planning or Architecture. For careers such as management, aptitudes such as Logical Reasoning and Numerical should be high. Aptitudes are thus, in resonance with the kind of skills required for a job. You should talk to your parents about aptitudes and tell them that it is necessary to have the right kind of aptitude for a particular career, and that you might have an aptitude for something other than what they had in mind. When they find out, it will definitely change the way they think.
 
Mindler Trivia: The Mindler Assessment evaluates you on not one or two, but ten aptitudes, including Abstract, Verbal, Logical Reasoning, Creative, Spatial, Language Usage, Numerical, InfoTech, Mechanical and Perceptual!
 
7. Seek a Teacher’s or Career Counsellor’s Help: If you feel like you are not equipped to deal with your parents’ questions about why you are choosing a career they do not approve of, it is better to involve a teacher or counsellor. They know how to deal with such situations better than you, and have real life knowledge of dealing with such differences in opinions. Chances are, you and your parents will feel much more sorted in terms of career choice if you seek help from experts.
 
Schedule a 15-min call with Mindler Experts.
 
Effective communication is the key element of conveying your thoughts to your parents. Learn how to effectively communicate with them
 
We hope these points give you the confidence to convince your parents that you need to be happy with whatever career you choose, and if you have chosen a path, you will do your best on it.
 
Have any other thoughts or something that worked for you in convincing your parents? Share with us in the comments below.