CHOOSING A PATH IN LIFE BETWEEN CLASSES, STUDENTS CHART CAREER STRATEGIES.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

At an age normally reserved for thoughts of homecoming games and necking at the movies, kids are increasingly pondering internships, starting salaries and retirement plans.

First it was the private tutors to enhance the fuzzy lessons learned at school. Then came the college counselor to help students brush up on their vocabulary and round out resumes to appeal to as many universities as possible.

Now, to ensure their children have yet another leg up on life, parents are turning to private career counselors to advise youngsters on how to plan their lives from their teen years on.

Once reserved for adults looking to make a midlife job switch, counseling has migrated downward into school curricula and teenage life. While still a relatively new phenomenon, the nascent industry has found keen interest from parents anxious to ensure their children have every last advantage.

``People say, Oh, we're making our kids make a career choice at 14 years old. No, we're helping them get into the process, so they can start making strategic decisions,'' said Mindy Bingham, a Santa Barbara-based author whose Career Choices curriculum is used in 3,000 schools nationwide. ``If they've got the skills and the knowledge of how to handle the process, they'll be much better off.''

This isn't just the familiar aptitude tests that recommend a job based on multiple-choice questions -- where an errant answer could incorrectly suggest a kid become a jockey, a licensed chain-saw operator or a businessman. For example, Bingham took one recently that recommended she become a heavy crane operator.

Such outcomes can better be avoided with courses like her 90-to-180 hour in-class strategy that maps out a 10-year plan for students.

The private, in-person plans gaining in popularity go even further. One- on-one counseling, college advice tailored to suit job paths, personality analysis -- everything an adult frustrated with his job would seek, but refined for adolescent personalities.

``I want to expand their ideas,'' Mary Ann Smaby, an Atascadero mother who recently signed her two teenage daughters up for career advice, told the Associated Press. ``Today's generation of kids, they are going to have to be able to jump around a lot more, so they have to have different skills. And there's so much out there.''

These sessions don't come cheaply, with costs running into the thousands for top-of-the-line service, but advocates note that compares favorably with tuition bills north of $20,000 for a private university. The tricky part, given teens' famously fickle mind-set, is that the consumers won't necessarily take to their parents' investment.

``A good career counselor will have a significant impact on a small number of teens,'' said Steven Rothberg, president and founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, a Minneapolis-based Web site that recently began offering career counseling. ``The vast majority of teens think they know better and won't listen, but for the ones who do listen and will take action, it can be very helpful. They have to want it -- they can't be told that they have to do it.''

Sumyyah Bilal had to get involved with the counseling field to recognize she would have benefited from such advice at a young age. As a kid growing up in Alabama, she was interested in engineering and design, but instead went into teaching and counseling. It wasn't until she became executive director of Eureka, the California Career Information System, that she hit her stride.

The Richmond-based nonprofit organization mainly develops programs for schools, but also recently added a $29.95 online component for students and adults to use at home. Bilal handles program development and software, something she wishes she'd gone into lone ago.

``If I'd had a career counselor, I'd have gone into something different,'' Bilal said. ``It took me a long time to realize that I wasn't a people person. I'm better dealing with data and behind the scenes kind of stuff. If you can learn who you are and what you need earlier in life, you'll be a lot happier.''

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Mary Smaby, left, and her two daughters, Monique, 17, and Camille, 15, sitting on the couch, are seen with Carol Christen, rear, author of the book ``What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens'' at Smaby's home in April.

Michael A. Mariant/Associated Press