Daily Archives: September 18, 2018

Poll Results: Is Your Career Turning into Your Parents?

Did your parents influence your career?

We’ve all heard the saying: “one day you’ll turn around and realize you’ve turned into your parents.” Maybe you finally started to go bald like dad, or you sent your teenager to their room for a fender bender and realized how your mom felt when you wrecked your first car. Or maybe it’s the way you teach your kids values or the types of books you read to them before they fall asleep.

But what about our jobs? Does the way our parents raise us end up affecting the careers we choose as adults? We wanted to find out, so we polled our readers last month about how much influence their parents might have had on their career.

The Results

The top two options, by far, were “My parent/guardian had no influence on my career path” and “My parent/guardian encouraged me to go achieve a four-year college degree or higher.” The first came out on top with 36% of the vote, while the second followed closely with 33%.

Everything else trailed behind, with results as follows:

  • “I work in the same industry/profession as at least one of my parents/guardians”: 10%
  • Other: 6%
  • “My parent/guardian used their connections to help me find a job”: 5%
  • “My parent/guardian’s career paths made me stay away from their industry/profession”: 5%
  • “My parent/guardian encouraged me to go to a career tech school/learn a skilled trade”: 5%
  • “I took over a family business from my parent(s)/guardian(s)”: 1%

What does this mean?

In the end, your parents do have a huge effect on your career trajectory. 33% of parents advocate a college degree, which is great! But high school graduates should know that college isn’t the only option. There are plenty of great jobs that don’t require college degrees but still pay pretty nice salaries.

Did your parents affect your career path? Let us know in the comments section below!