My son is 16 yr old and is at the cross road of planning his career (or at least I am, he only plans how to play games with his mates on the laptop).
Biggest mistake, NEVER try to take control of your kids life.
They will make their own decisions and mistakes it's a learning curb, both for parent and child.
At 16 he could be planning his career, just not voicing it. Never know he may want to do something in the games sector, and they can make good cash too. But an accountant has a more "prestigeous" job, and it's professional, yes, but there's nothing wrong with someone choosing to do something they're interested in, and they don't need to go to Uni to make a decent living.
I wanted to go to Uni, wanted to do Forensics. At 16, i packed up and left school to do an apprenticeship, i hated it, and was constantly picked on for being "too smart"-i was a hairdresser. I figured, why waste two years, you don't even need a HSC these days, i'll go earn some money so i can buy my house and buy a good car, get my life started.
Needless to say i went back to school picked all the subjects i needed for forensics and at the start of year 12 i went, i don't really want to do this, i'd spend 8+ years of my life getting a qualification i probably won't use..So i slacked off, but still passed my HSC in all the stupid hard subjects i didn't pay attention to, when i could've gotten my life on track. Now i'm going into a job that i need nothing for really.
Now my parents never tried to make a decision for me, they know i've done a lot of stupid stuff, but they also know i have my head on straight, they know the stupid things i did and still do, but are behind me 100% because they know it's all about learning and you've got to let your kids learn from their mistake, guide them, not push them.
They will end up resenting you, or lashing out because no teen wants a parent to tell them what they should or shouldn't be doing and as a teenager you're always "right" and he will look back one day and say hey, mum was right, or dad was right, or geez i shouldn't have wasted so much time on the laptop, but that's life, make the most of it, and let your kid decide what's best for them, never know it may just be the right decision.