Each year, about 50 students in years 9, 10 and 11 from several local high schools get the chance to fire career-related questions at a bunch of working professionals.

This year I was struck by the number of students - even some of the year 9s - who had it all worked out.

Whether it be carpentry or childcare or law or truck driving - they knew exactly what they wanted to do and how they were going to do it.

I couldn't help but feel envious. I'm 36 and still don't know what I want to be when I 'grow up'!

Participating in the program did get me thinking about a comment made many years ago by, if my memory serves me correctly, my grade 5 teacher.

She said "the job you go into after school or university quite possibly hasn't even been invented yet".

Now, for a group of nine or 10-year-olds all aspiring to be doctors or nurses or firefighters or hairdressers, such a notion seemed absurd.

But it also proved to be correct.

Scan the job ads in the paper or online and I guarantee you'll be at a loss to understand what many of the positions actually entail.

Maybe one of the students will get a job at a bank as a "social media and live web chat representative", as I saw advertised the other day.

That certainly wasn't a career path open to me when I was growing up.

Whatever careers those students go into, I wish them well because it is incredibly daunting to be asked to make such monumental decisions at such a young age.

All the best for the week ahead, Ross.