Over 28 years of corporate life 25 of them in IT, the last several as Director of IT, I interviewed, hired, mentored, and watched hundreds of professionals navigate their careers. I saw brilliance go to waste because people were in the wrong roles. I saw talented individuals plateau for years simply because nobody had helped them understand where their strengths were best deployed. And almost without exception, when I asked these professionals when they first started thinking seriously about career direction the answer was always: too late.
That is what brought me into career coaching. And it is why, when I now sit across from parents who are on the fence about whether to invest in career coaching for their child, I feel a particular urgency to have this conversation honestly.
The Objections I Hear Most Often
Parents are thoughtful people. Their hesitation is rarely indifference it comes from genuine beliefs about how careers work, about their children, and about what coaching actually is. Here are the objections I hear most frequently:
They're too young. Let them figure it out themselves.
This is the most common one. And I understand the instinct we all want our children to discover themselves organically. But there is a difference between forcing a decision and equipping a child with self-knowledge. Career coaching doesn't tell a child what to do. It gives them the tools to understand who they are their aptitudes, interests, personality, and values so that when they do make decisions, those decisions are grounded in something real.
We already know what's best for our child.
I say this with great respect: you know your child better than anyone. But knowing someone deeply and understanding their professional aptitude profile are different things. I have seen parents convinced their child should be an engineer because the parent was an engineer, because it seemed safe while the assessment revealed a profile that aligned overwhelmingly with design, communication, or entrepreneurship. The goal is not to override your instinct. It is to complement it with data.
It's expensive. We'd rather spend it on tuition.
Tuition improves marks in a subject. Career coaching improves the probability that your child spends the next 40 years of their life doing something that suits them and fulfils them. I have watched professionals spend lakhs on postgraduate degrees in fields they later realised were wrong for them because nobody helped them identify the right direction early enough. Compared to that cost financial and emotional, career coaching is one of the most efficient investments a parent can make.
It'll sort itself out eventually.
It does sort itself out. But "eventually" often means mid-career in their 30s, when they have a family, a mortgage, and far less flexibility to pivot. I lived this in the corporate world. I watched it happen to some of the most intelligent people I've ever worked with. Early clarity is not just better it compounds. A student who knows their direction at 15 has years of advantage over one who figures it out at 30.
What Parents Actually Gain, Not Just Their Children
"The most underappreciated thing about career coaching is that it's a process for the whole family. Parents gain clarity too, about their child, about their own expectations, and about how to support rather than direct."
Here is something I tell every parent in our first session: this process is partly for you. Here is what you will walk away with:
The Corporate Reality That Most Parents Don't See
I want to share something from the hiring side of the desk something most parents never get access to.
When I was hiring for senior technical and leadership roles, the candidates who stood out were never simply those with the best academic records. They were the ones who could articulate why they were in this field. Who could speak about their work with genuine energy and understanding. Who had chosen their path not stumbled into it by elimination.
These people were rare. And when I spoke to them, there was almost always something in their story a teacher, a mentor, a parent, or in rare cases a career counsellor who had helped them see their strengths clearly at a formative age and pointed them in the right direction.
That is what career coaching provides. Not just a career but a person who knows why they chose it and has the conviction to excel at it.
What Happens When You Do Engage
Our process begins with a conversation with you and your child, separately. No pressure, no sales pitch. We listen first.
From there, your child completes Mindler's scientifically validated 5-dimensional assessment, which gives us objective data on aptitude, interest, personality, values, and learning style. We then bring all of this together in a coaching session that walks through the results, explores what they mean in real career terms, and builds a personalised roadmap.
Parents are involved at every stage. Your perspective matters. Our job is to bring the data and the structured thinking and to combine it with what you know about your child to arrive at a direction that everyone can feel confident about.
The outcome is not a piece of paper. It is a child who understands themselves, and a family that is aligned about the path forward.
Start with a Conversation
No commitment, no pressure. A 20 minute call to understand where your child is and whether coaching is the right next step. I'll speak to you personally.
Book a Free Consultation