Start early on path to top

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Want your kids to follow in your executive footsteps? What you say and do may well be the difference between their success or failure.

Careers expert Polly Parker says parents should never stifle a child with obvious talent in a particular area, but should see that they have the most career options. Children need "as broad an education as possible for as long as possible."

And many of the best executive options in the future will be in the industries requiring maths and science skills - among them biotechnology and information technology.

Watch them grow: "We're on the brink of a biotechnology revolution," says genetics expert Professor Ingrid Winship.

A study of the 9000 children from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch who took part in Tuesday's TMP Worldwide Workchoice Day found, however, that maths and science-related careers interested only 0.5 per cent of them.

But Dr Parker, of the school of business and economics at the University of Auckland, points out that perseverance and the ability to see through projects, which may include five years of secondary school maths, will be key career skills in the workplace that today's teenagers inherit.

"I would encourage parents to talk to their kids about ... finishing things, and not letting people down."

Ingrid Winship, associate dean for research at the university's faculty of medical and health sciences, says: "If students drop maths and science, that really narrows the options."

And in ways you might not have imagined: she describes a student who wanted to be a music therapist but didn't have the required statistics and maths.

Parents also need to demonstrate to their baby executives a balance between work and family life, says Dr Parker. "Kids see executive parents working hard, but at what cost?"

However, Victoria University careers expert Liz Medford says she is surprised how many students coming to her know little about what their high-flying executive parents actually do.

"Executive parents need to share what they do," she says.

They should also discuss the day's current events with their would-be business stars: knowledge of what's happening in the wider world is "crucial to executive positions."

But Dr Parker points out that parents need to temper their advice on careers with the realisation that work patterns have changed enormously.



There was a time, she says, when staying put in a job was an admirable goal, but that now suggests a lack of ambition. Loyalty used to be about longevity; the future is about adding value to a company.

Once, getting the degree was all you needed to get your feet under a suitable desk.

For our kids, lifelong learning - and maybe even a couple of direction changes during a working life - is the key.

Dr Parker says executives of the future will work in increasingly team-based environments.

They will be creatures of individual contracts, making interpersonal and negotiating skills more important than ever.