Why Identifying Your Children’s Passion Is Key to Their Success

These recent years have seen a dramatic change in job markets. We have many new occupations arising as new technologies emerge, shift and evolve. This is why jobs like app developers, cloud computing services experts, social media managers, and so forth were non-existent a decade ago but are more and more prevalent around us.

“This is why we have to prepare our children for jobs that don’t yet exist,” said  Caesilia I.W., S. Psi., M. Psi., Sampoerna University’s Student Counselor, who was sharing her thoughts with the participants of “Identifying Children’s Passion” (Mengenali Passion Anak) sharing session which is part of Educators Sharing Network (ESN) regular events.

According to the psychologist, the skills that are most required in 2020 are somehow different from ones in 2015. Most notably, creativity is now being one of the most sought after skills in the world’s job markets. People with emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility skills are also sought by most employers, stated Caesilia who cited the data of Future of Jobs Report gathered by World Economic Forum.

“This explains why our children need to know themselves better,” said Caesilia to the audience consisting of teachers in Jakarta and the adjacent areas. When a child or teenager knows their strength and weakness better, they can actualize themselves better in the real life and maximize their potentials. When this is achieved, their existence as a whole individual is realized, enabling them to contribute more to the betterment of the society and civilization.

Caesilia described six (6) main  types of personality, i.e. Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprise, and Conventional. People who tend to be realistic are more apt to become executors and doers. Those who are inclined to be investigative are called thinkers. They like thinking and analyzing and solving problems.

“The artistic people tend to love creative activities so they are fond of creating things such as artworks. Another type is Social People who are keen to help and are skillful with handling people. And there is Enterprising type. These are people with natural talents in leadership, business management, and politics. The last one is Conventional type, who are typically people who like regularity and rules,” explained Caesilia.

As an experienced professional psychologist, Caesilia I.W., S. Psi., M. Psi.  previously worked as a teenager counselor and is currently working as a lecturer and student counselor at Sampoerna University. She has a wealth of experience in the field such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction from Regents College, London, the United Kingdom and Whole Brain Learning training. (*/)