Parents should be open-minded when it comes to helping their children decide on a career path, a leading educator believes.

Aisling Bartley, recruitment team leader at Massey University, says there is a lot of pressure on parents and students as high school leavers grapple with decisions about their future.

"Parents and students feel 'Oh my God, this is the rest of your life'. But in reality, it's the start of what will be a long and varied career," she says. "If there's one piece of advice for parents trying to guide their children at this formative point in their lives, it's to be supportive but open-minded."

Bartley says she has seen all types of parent/teenager relationships and at this time of the year meets a lot of high school students.

While some know exactly what they want to study and come with a list of technical questions about their chosen programme, others are unsure about what to do next. More often than not, the teens are accompanied by a parent and Aisling says it's always interesting to see who drives the conversation.

There is pressure but "I tell them, 'it's like you're on a motorway and there's a choice of six different off-ramps. If you take one, it doesn't mean that you can't go to the other five places; you just take a different route'."

She says some students are bewildered by the range of options available, so the best approach is to get them thinking about the things they enjoy – whether it's working with people, being outdoors, or constructing things – and to rule out those they don't. This gives recruitment advisors parameters for suggesting programmes and drilling down to find out what is really going to suit their particular skills and interests.

She says it's also worth taking the time to visit the universities shortlisted.

"School careers advisors are really good at giving guidance around all of the universities and which programmes are taught and where," she says. "But it also helps to get a feel for what the campus is like, and whether your child will feel at home there if you can.

"This is really important because not every university will suit every student, even if the qualifications are similar. For example, at Massey we tend to have smaller classes and easy access to lecturers.

"Some students will do amazingly well at a university where there are 1000 people in their class; others just won't thrive in that environment."

While Aisling understands that university is not the solution for everyone, she says students and parents should feel safe in the knowledge that Census data has shown a typical university graduate will earn around $1.38m more over their working life than a non-graduate.

"No one ever says, 'I wish I didn't have that degree, it's really held me back'."