A parent's guide to supporting young people entering an unpredictable world
If you're feeling a cocktail of pride, worry, excitement, and exhaustion as your child heads to university this month, you're experiencing exactly what thousands of parents across the UK are going through right now.
But here's what's different about this year's drop-off: your child is entering a world that will look fundamentally different from the one you prepared them for.
Let's be honest about what we're facing. According to the International Monetary Fund, around 40% of global employment will be affected by AI in some way, while the OECD suggests 35% of UK jobs will undergo radical transformation in the next two decades. Meanwhile, graduate job competition has intensified dramatically – employers now receive 140 applications per position, up from 88 just last year.
But here's the paradox: while traditional careers transform, entirely new roles are emerging faster than universities can create courses for them.
Three years ago, "AI Prompt Engineer" wasn't a job title. Today, it's averaging £65,000 annually with senior positions reaching much higher. Five years from now, roles we can't even imagine yet will be the norm.
This isn't a crisis. It's an opportunity. But it requires a fundamental shift in how we think about career preparation.
As Jillian Reilly, author of "The Ten Permissions" (launching this Monday), told me in our recent podcast conversation:
"An open, enquiring mind is going to be of increasing importance. The students who will thrive are those who learn to navigate uncertainty rather than avoid it."
The Outdated Playbook We Need to Retire
For decades, the university playbook was predictable:
- Choose a "practical" subject
- Get good grades
- Land a graduate job
- Climb the career ladder
- Achieve security
This linear path is dying. And that's actually good news for young people who are willing to embrace a different approach.
The new reality? Your child's career will be a portfolio of experiences, skills, and connections that they'll continuously adapt throughout their lives.
The Mindset Revolution: From Fixed Plans to Flexible Toolkits
Instead of pressuring young people to have their lives mapped out at 18, we need to help them develop "Future-Proof Flexibility" – the ability to adapt, learn, and create value in any context.
In our podcast, Jillian made the following observations:
Tip #1: Embrace the "Beautiful Mess"
Traditional thinking: "You should know what you want to be by now." New reality: "Your interests might be very real and very strong, but they might be fuzzy – and that's completely acceptable." Jillian Reilly
Example: James started university studying Engineering because it felt "sensible." Halfway through his first year, he discovered a passion for environmental storytelling through a elective module. Today, he's a sustainability consultant for tech companies – a role that didn't exist when he started his degree.
What this means practically: Instead of pushing for career clarity, help your child focus on their next best step. Encourage them to work in shorter time frames and trust their instincts about what feels right, even if they can't articulate exactly why.
Tip #2: Collect Tools, Not Identities
Traditional thinking: "I'm studying History, so I'll be a historian." New reality: "I'm building capabilities that will serve me across multiple contexts." Jillian Reilly
The most successful young people think of themselves as tool collectors. They're gathering:
🧠 Cognitive Tools:
- Critical thinking and analysis
- Creative problem-solving approaches
- Systems thinking and pattern recognition
- Digital literacy and AI collaboration skills
🤝 Social Tools:
- Communication across different contexts
- Collaboration and team dynamics
- Network building and relationship management
- Cultural intelligence and empathy
🔧 Practical Tools:
- Project management and organization
- Financial literacy and entrepreneurial thinking
- Adaptability and resilience under pressure
- Self-directed learning capabilities
Story: Emma studied Philosophy and worried her parents constantly about "employability." But she used her degree to develop exceptional reasoning and communication skills. She then taught herself data visualisation, combined it with her philosophical thinking, and now leads strategy for a health tech startup. Her philosophy background? It's her secret weapon for asking the right questions.
Tip #3: Trust Your Internal Compass
In a world where external markers of success keep shifting, internal navigation becomes crucial.
This means helping young people develop:
- Self-awareness: Understanding their natural strengths, energy patterns, and values
- Intuitive decision-making: Learning to recognize when something feels right or wrong
- Emotional intelligence: Managing anxiety, uncertainty, and setbacks
- Agency: Taking ownership of their choices rather than following predetermined paths
Practical application: When your child calls home confused about their choices, resist the urge to provide immediate answers. Instead, ask questions that help them tap into their own wisdom: "What feels most energising to you right now?" "What would you try if you knew you couldn't fail?"
The Parent's Dilemma: How to Help Without Hindering
Here's the challenge every parent faces: your natural desire to protect your child from uncertainty directly conflicts with their need to develop uncertainty tolerance.
What Doesn't Help (Even Though It Feels Like It Should):
❌ Pushing for "practical" choices: When we push children toward subjects that seem "safer," we often push them away from areas where they have natural strengths and genuine interest.
❌ Managing their anxiety: When we try to solve their problems or provide constant reassurance, we rob them of opportunities to develop their own coping mechanisms.
❌ Focusing on grades over growth: Academic achievement is just one data point in a much larger story they're writing about their lives.
What Actually Helps:
✅ Asking better questions: Instead of "What do you want to be?" try "What problems do you care about solving?" or "What would you do if you knew you had permission to experiment?"
✅ Sharing your own uncertainty: Be honest about how much the world has changed since you were their age. Model curiosity rather than certainty.
✅ Celebrating experimentation: When they try something new and it doesn't work out, frame it as valuable data rather than failure.
✅ Building their confidence in their own judgment: Help them notice when their instincts were right, even in small situations.
University as a Laboratory, Not a Production Line
For students heading to university, the goal isn't to emerge with a predetermined outcome. It's to use these years as a laboratory for self-discovery and skill-building.
At University, Encourage Them To:
- Choose subjects that genuinely fascinate them. Passion drives deep learning, and deep learning creates opportunities that don't exist on traditional career ladders.
- Seek diverse experiences. The philosophy student who joins the entrepreneurship society, the engineer who writes for the university magazine, the historian who learns coding – these combinations create unique value.
- Build relationships across disciplines. Their network will matter as much if not more than their grades in creating future opportunities.
- Develop meta-skills. How to learn quickly, how to think clearly under pressure, how to communicate complex ideas simply – these capabilities transfer across any context.
- Question everything. Including their own assumptions about what they "should" be doing.
For Those Choosing Alternative Paths
University isn't the only route to a fulfilling career, and that's especially true in our rapidly changing economy.
Gap years, apprenticeships, starting businesses, traveling, working – all of these can be valuable if approached intentionally.
The key questions aren't "Is this the right path?" but rather:
- "What will this teach me about myself?"
- "What capabilities will I develop?"
- "How will this contribute to my toolkit?"
- "What experiments does this make possible?"
What Employers Actually Want Right Now
Recent research from the UK's top graduate employers and global skills reports reveals a clear pattern: technical knowledge alone isn't enough anymore.
According to the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2024-2025 survey, many employers now prioritise soft skills, including teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, critical thinking, and resilience.
The World Economic Forum's latest Future of Jobs Report identifies the most crucial capabilities as analytical thinking, problem-solving, active learning, creativity, resilience, leadership, and technological proficiency.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn's 2024 skills data shows that communication, customer service, and leadership continue to be business-critical skills in the age of AI, with emerging emphasis on problem-solving and research abilities.
What this means practically: While your child's degree subject provides foundational knowledge, these transferable capabilities will determine their long-term career success. The good news? These skills can be developed through any academic path or life experience.
Your Role as a Supportive Parent
Your job isn't to have all the answers. Your job is to help your child develop the capacity to find their own answers.
This means:
- Creating space for exploration rather than rushing toward decisions
- Modelling curiosity about your own life and career rather than projecting certainty
- Celebrating their agency when they make choices, even if they're different from what you'd choose
- Sharing your own stories of adaptation and how you've navigated unexpected changes
- Trusting their timing rather than imposing your timeline on their development
- The Bottom Line: Permission to Begin
Whether your child is starting university this year, considering alternatives, or already partway through their journey, the most important gift you can give them is 'Permission to begin where they are, with what they have, right now'. Jill Reilly
They don't need to have it all figured out. They don't need a perfect plan. They don't need to avoid all mistakes or follow anyone else's predetermined path.
They just need permission to start, to experiment, to learn from what doesn't work, and to trust that their path will emerge as they walk it.
The future will feel unfamiliar – for everyone. But instead of seeing this as scary, we can help them see it as full of possibility. They're entering a world that values creativity, authenticity, and human connection more than ever before.
Their journey is just beginning, and it's going to be uniquely theirs.
For Everyone: Jillian Reilly's book "The Ten Permissions: Redefining the Rules of Adulting in the 21st Century" launches Monday, September 16th. It's the perfect resource for anyone navigating this new landscape. [Pre-order here]
Listen to our complete conversation with Jillian on the Student Transitions podcast, Episode 95, where she shares even more insights about preparing for an unpredictable future HERE.
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