More Than a Job!: Helping Your Teenagers Find Success and Satisfaction in Their Future Careers

The teen years are an excellent time to start thinking about a potential career and to investigate all of the different opportunities available. Motivating adolescents to become actively engaged in their own career development is not always easy, but this book makes it fun. Written for parents, school counselors, and counselors in private practice who work with adolescents, More Than a Job provides an easy-to-follow, step-by-step plan to help teenagers prepare for their future educational and career goals.

Lapan's TEAM (Targets, Examples, Assessments, Mutual Actions) approach uses a series of exercises and activities for teens and adults to do together that identify strengths and areas of concern, foster clear communication and interpersonal skills, enhance self-esteem, and increase resiliency and independence in adolescents so that they are able to work toward successful and rewarding careers. These exercises not only promote serious career exploration through behavioral targets and goal formation, they also build a trusting, supportive, and caring working alliance between teenagers and adults. Real-life examples and assessment instruments are included to further enhance career planning.