Giving career advice to children has never been harder

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Julie Jargon, The Wall Street Journal 4 min Read 12 Oct 2025, 07:00 AM IT Vincent Kilbride/WSJ Summary Parents are not sure how to send their teens in the face of the workplace revolution. “There’s a panic,” experts say. Paulette Descoteaux sent her daughter, Kendra, to the university three years ago with broad council: Get good grades and enjoy it. But as she learned more about the growing impact of AI on the labor market, her advice changed. Say Descoteaux now hyperfocus on networks, double major and work. “You don’t know what lever you will have to draw,” says Descoteaux, who is in her own work at a logistics business in artificial intelligence. The effect of the AI ​​tree on the young adult labor market creates new anxiety for parents. Many people do not know how to advise teenagers about what to study at university – or whether they even go. Computer science is not the safe bet that it used to be, so many students are doing business, says Allison Slater Tate, director of university counseling at a private preschool in Florida. “There’s a panic over careers and work,” she says. “Everyone is looking for a guarantee.” She and other experts believe students should consider liberal art degrees because employers appreciate critical thinking skills. For some, the future of work has never been less clear. “The most important thing our children can advise to do is learn how to learn and how to think, because the only thing we can do about computers is to be human,” says Slater Tate. She sees the growing demand for philosophy and art history majors in banking and elsewhere, as companies are looking for workers who can apply critical thinking about disciplines. Kendra Dolandescoteaux, a network, network, network ‘with the advice of her mother, try to do it all in the name of maximizing career options. The 20-year-old man was planning to take a major in communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She added a second major in sociology while holding a part -time post to help students with food, housing and finances, plus other actions around campus. With the help of any remaining free time, its networking opportunities attend with professional organizations. Kendra Dolandescoteaux takes her mother Paulette Descoteaux’s advice to double a major and work part -time to increase her employability. Kendra says she was initially reluctant to follow her mother’s advice, but she now realizes that it is good to have options. If she adds a major in sociology, she says, she can prepare her to become an advocate for human rights if she decides to go to law school. “Human rights will be very important as AI rises,” she says. Paulette says that she feels bad because she pushes her daughter so hard, but that Kendra is left differently. “I said that this summer you have to fill your bucket with a large amount of experience with everything you can – pay or unpaid – and you have to network, network, network,” Paulette says. Jeffrey Selingo, a former reporter and editor of higher performances and editor who wrote several books on the university, including ‘Dream School’, says more than ever before to have work experience during college. “It can mean part -time work or undergraduate research or internships,” he says. “The more you have of it at university, the better you will be afterwards.” Darryl Coleman, “Ai Coming”, encouraged his son, Jordan, to learn coding because he liked playing video games. But Jordan, now 19 years old, wanted to work with his hands. In June, he completed a certificate for heating, ventilation and air conditioning of a professional school. He now has a job with benefits – and no university debt. Darryl Coleman (in blue) with his wife, Beth, and their twins, Kayla and Hannah. Their son, Jordan, chose the ‘Ai-Proof’ Hvac industry as a career path. Coleman considers it an AI-Proof career, especially because AI data centers cool off. Coleman, a forklift operator in Cincinnati, is trying to get his twin 11-year-old girls in AI. Although it will take a while before they have to decide what to do after high school, he wants them to get comfortable using the fast -developing technology. He used an AI app to create a model of the solar system, as one daughter is interested in astronomy. He also uses Gemini storybook to help the girls create characters and stories. “The first step for me is to show them that ai is something nice,” he says. “But I want them to use technology to learn and be more productive.” It does not help that students hear mixed messages about AI. Teachers regularly instruct students not to use AI for homework or to write essays; Meanwhile, their parents say they need to know how to use it to find a place in the workforce of the future. “When we say that AI is bad at school, our children are preparing to fail,” says Sarah Hernholm, who runs an entrepreneurship program for teenagers. She recently questioned clients about what they want from her program. Courses in AI readiness were among parents’ top requests. Matthew Miner, a financial advisor in Beaverton, Ore., Says high schools do not prepare students for what is to come. He encourages his 17-year-old daughter and 16-year-old stepson to get real estate or mortgage licenses. He and his wife own a few rental properties and he wants to think about careers in real estate. “I tell them,” Look, ai comes, and it’s good to have skills that AI can’t replace easily, “he says. 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