Many teenagers don’t plan to go to a four-year college after earning their high school diploma for a variety of reasons. However, you don’t need a Bachelor’s degree to find a rewarding job. Based on their interests, here are a few careers your teen may consider that involve little to no schooling.

Teacher’s Aide

Does your teen have a passion for working with children? Becoming a teacher’s aide may be a great career path to pursue. Teacher’s aides work directly with children throughout the school day. They can work in a variety of grade levels and classrooms. Perhaps your teen would like to work with children with disabilities or one of the 40 million Americans diagnosed with a communication disorder. If this is the case, working in a special education classroom would be ideal.

Teacher’s aides help facilitate learning in the classroom. They work with students one-on-one or in small groups. They may assist children who need help with daily tasks throughout the school day. Teacher’s aides also assist teachers with projects and other tasks in the classroom.

Nonprofit Legal Assistant

Does your teen want to help disadvantaged individuals seek justice? Nonprofit law firms help individuals and families with landlord issues, eviction notices, filing for unemployment, seeking government benefits, applying for Medicare and Medicaid, medical bills, debt, and more. Legal assistants in nonprofit law firms help lawyers take and organize cases.

A legal assistant must understand the law and how the government operates. If your teen became a legal assistant, they may need to know legal facts specific to the state they’re working in; for example, in Pennsylvania, a second DUI conviction can result in jail time between five days and six months.

Yoga Instructor

Does your teen want to help people feel calm and be physically fit? Yoga instructors check both of these boxes. After obtaining certification, a yoga instructor can open a private studio or work at a community center and teach yoga classes to individuals of all ages. Adults enjoy yoga because it allows you to get in some exercise, stretch, and become more flexible and strong. It also helps people feel relaxed and in tune with their bodies.

As a yoga instructor, you’d be helping people de-stress after a long day of work or feel more awake in the morning. Plus, yoga instructors can set their own hours and run their own small business if they’d like. Therefore, this job would allow your teen to work part or full-time as a yoga instructor if they’d also like to pursue something else.

Physical Therapy Assistant

Does your teen enjoy working hands-on with people of all ages? Becoming a physical therapy assistant may be a great avenue. This job allows you to work with anyone ranging from a month old to 100 years old. This form of therapy is meant to relieve pain, promote healing, increase flexibility, regain a range of motion, and enhance strength, and it can even help individuals lower their patient treatment costs by 72%.

After attending a PTA program, physical therapy assistants work side-by-side with physical therapists. They can work in doctor’s offices, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, or private practices. This type of job would allow your teen to live wherever they’d like because job accessibility is high.

While some jobs may require enrollment in a program or a certification, there is an abundance of rewarding careers that your teen can choose from that don’t require a Bachelor’s degree. Your teen can make the best career choice with your help in narrowing down their choices based on their interests and skills. This way, they can find a job that brings them both joy and fulfillment.