Career Conversations: Your Secret Weapon for Career Exploration

This blog post is a summary of Lucy Sattler’s article “What does a good Career Conversation look like?” Edition 78 of Pondering Careers. Read the full article here

Career Conversations: Your Secret Weapon for Career Exploration

Choosing a career path can feel overwhelming for young people—and their parents. While online research provides some insights, there's one exploration tool that often gets overlooked: the career conversation.

What is a Career Conversation?

A career conversation is simply talking with someone who works in a field you're considering. It's not about getting a job offer or networking (though those might happen naturally). Instead, it's about having an honest, open discussion where you can ask questions that matter to your specific goals and priorities.

These conversations can be formal informational interviews scheduled in advance, or more casual chats with someone you meet. The key is hearing firsthand experiences from someone actually doing the work you're curious about.

Three Types of Career Conversations

The Exploratory Interview: You're interested in a field but don't know much about it yet. This is perfect for early exploration when you're not even sure what questions to ask.

The Gap-Closing Interview: You've done some research but have specific gaps in your understanding. Maybe you want to dispel myths or stereotypes about a particular career.

The Focused Interview: You're confident in your choice and need insider information—like where to study, which companies to target, or what the next steps should be.

Why Career Conversations Beat Google

While you can find general information about careers online, career conversations offer something unique:

Personal and Relevant: Instead of generic job descriptions, you'll learn what Miriam the Accountant actually does from 9 to 5, why she chose her path, and what she wishes she'd known starting out.

Local Context: You'll get insights about opportunities, requirements, and workplace culture in your specific area.

Reality Check: Most careers are more varied and interesting than course catalogs suggest. These conversations help separate myths from reality and often reveal paths you didn't know existed.

Quick and Accessible: A 20-30 minute conversation is easier to arrange than work experience and more in-depth than a career fair booth.

Setting Up Success

For a valuable career conversation, you need:

• A willing professional who genuinely wants to help and can share both the positives and challenges honestly

• A prepared interviewer who knows what information they're seeking

• Thoughtful questions that match your exploration stage

• A quiet, distraction-free environment for the conversation

For Parents: How You Can Help

Support your young person by helping them identify potential contacts in your networks, practicing interview questions together, and encouraging them to have multiple conversations rather than relying on just one perspective.

The beauty of career conversations is their simplicity. Start by identifying one field your young person is curious about, then think about who you might know (or who they might know) working in that area. Even friends of friends can be surprisingly generous with their time when approached respectfully.

Remember: each conversation adds another piece to the career exploration puzzle. The goal isn't to find the perfect answer in one chat, but to build a clearer, more nuanced understanding of what different career paths actually involve.

Career conversations might just be the most underused tool in career exploration. For young people willing to ask thoughtful questions and professionals generous enough to share their experiences, these simple conversations can provide insights that no website or career test can match.