Younger generation and jobs

[Tedflowerybaker]

Currently helping my friends daughter look for a job. We’ve updated her C.V and cover letter, really trying to make them stand out so she’s got a fair chance at being invited to an interview.

Luckily I’ve never been out of work and have been in the same job for around 7 years now so I rarely ever look at job sites. Nothing spectacular but I earn a fairly decent wage, have weekends off and a very generous holiday allowance so all in all I’m happy. I’m early 30’s (if it’s relevant)

We’ve been scouring the job sites looking for something decent. It needs to be full time. She finished school with good A-levels but wasn’t interested in attending college. She doesn’t know what she wants to do as of yet so is willing to try her hand at anything.

AIBU to be surprised at the amount of rubbish jobs that are advertised?

There are the minimum wage roles offering 10 hours a week and the candidate needs to be fully flexible 7 days a week in order to stand a chance at getting the job. How on earth could someone afford to live off such a small wage though?

Or the care assistant roles which are two hours a day at £9.50 an hour. Surely they could stretch to £10 and just pay the poor carer £20 for the session.

The best one was a live in support worker role providing 24/7 care for an older man. The carer would be paid £120 for the day but have £30 taken off their wages for being in the clients home and using their facilities etc. I thought that was outrageous, especially since the whole point of the job was the carer had to work in the clients home, so why punish the carer for it?

Even if they attend uni and study really hard in a specific subject, their still not guaranteed a decent job afterwards.
I remember when I left school and was looking, there was so much more available and this was back when employers were actually happy to take trainees on and give them a fair chance. Now most employers want someone who already has the experience or qualifications.

I’m honestly so glad I found my job when I did and touch wood I will never have to look for work or be in such a difficult position but AIBU in feeling sorry for the younger generation when they leave school and have to look for a job?

[Cantrememberpassword]

Nah, I don’t feel sorry for the younger generation, they would never have been able to stick the rubbish jobs I had to do just to survive.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Thing Is A levels are mainly useful for getting into uni. So if she’s not doing that she’d probably have been better getting some vocational qualifications and learning a trade.

What does she actually want to do?

[JorisBonson]

When I was starting out working many years ago I took loads of shit jobs just to earn some extra cash. Washing dishes, filing dusty old crappy files, anything, and usually for a pittance. It's part and parcel of starting out working life surely?

[ColaFreezePop]

Lots of roles aren't advertised.

That's why young people apply for work experience. Some employers use work experience to take you on as a permanent employee.

If you study at a university they have a careers department and some employers target specific universities.

[timshelthechoice]

YANBU. Workers rights have also gone down the swanny.

[Rumboogie]

My DC (recent graduates) are looking for jobs, and I second your opinion. I never cease to be amazed at the crap minimum wage jobs that require HUGE amounts of experience and skills, but would not enable the candidate to live independently.

IMO this must be because we (ie. this country) has chosen a low wage, full employment model, unlike the Continent, where high wage but high(ish) unemployment tends to exist.

The other issue is the Catch 22 of 'you can't get a job until you have had a job'.

[coldlighthappier]

‘they would never have been able to stick the rubbish jobs I had to do just to survive‘


Someone needs to get a grip

[Tedflowerybaker]

She's not sure what she wants to do yet. She's not really interested in attending college or uni which I understand as I was the same when I left school. I don't think it's for everyone. I enjoyed gaining the experience in a more work based environment and I think that's exactly what she wants to do.

She's happy to do anything just to see what she enjoys first. I'm the one who's surprised after scouring through these job sites. There are hardly any full time roles (perhaps that's to do with the area that we're in though). I know for a fact I wouldn't be able to survive on the wages of some of the jobs advertised.

Maybe I'm out of touch with the real world as I said before I never hardly look at these websites. I'm just shocked at some of these jobs, the expectations when the pay is terrible, working conditions etc.

[HT85]

Is she specifically looking for care roles?

As office junior roles are a good place to start.

[Tedflowerybaker]

I've noticed as well, it's always the minimum wage roles which expect their employees to go above and beyond and give up their whole life for the job. It's crazy!

[june2007]

Yep there is a lot of rubbish out there. If she is interested in care work the homes may be a better option and she can phone them direct.

[SachaStark]

“This is why young people apply for work experience”, as @ColaFreezePop says, but aside from the rich kids, who on earth can afford to work for free in the hope that they get a permanent job role? I keep thinking of the students I have previously taught (in a very deprived secondary school). They don’t have a chance to even start a career, if this is what they need to do.

[Anotherlongdrive]

I am 37. My first couple of jobs were hotel work, zero hours and not great paid even with tips. Theres always been rubbish jobs about

I earn well and have a good career now but didnt start on that track straight away.

Jobs that require no qualification are always low paid. That's no different to 20 ueard ago.

[Chivers53]

It's not a great time of year to be looking to be honest, many graduates and school leavers will have also been looking, and some positions take applications months before A levels are even completed (the schemes which actually do start off relatively well paid and offer good progression opportunities). Location is also key, being prepared to travel can open up a whole host of other opportunities. For some people the very part time roles suit, admittedly not for many, but if you only need someone for 2 hours a day then you wouldn't take them on more for the sake of it. Usually places are crying out for care workers, not always paid well (they deserve a lot more!), but I'd be surprised if it was particularly challenging to find full time roles. I guess it's about being a bit flexible, but also an element of chance and luck. There are a lot of opportunities to progress on the job, so some lower paid work isn't to be sniffed at. Good luck to her.

[Whatwouldbigfatfannydo]

Nah, I don’t feel sorry for the younger generation, they would never have been able to stick the rubbish jobs I had to do just to survive.

Ridiculous ageism. Although I'm impressed you know every single young person well enough to judge their character!

I'm 25, have 3 jobs and minimal outgoings because I live frugally (and am disabled to boot). We live in a gig economy where roles are commonly temporary due to funding renewed annually etc. Worked all through uni (degree and postgrad). Started work at 15 (informal work before that; family business, volunteering etc.) and never just had the 1 job. I've had jobs which included personal care for severely disabled children, supporting people in criminal justice system and residential support work for homeless young people.
I'd laugh in the face of anyone who questioned my work ethic. Smacks of self importance. An ugly trait.

I don't think any generation has had it easy but there are significant perks to being older; the chance at home ownership for example that this generation just don't have.

OP, I'd strongly advice seeking the help of a careers advisor. They do a lot more than the odd school session!

[Tedflowerybaker]

She's not particularly looking for care work. We typed in our location on the website just to see what would come up. As I can see they are crying out for carers which is a shame, perhaps if they paid a decent wage they wouldn't be so short staffed.

[BertieBotts]

Care work should never be advertised under the conditions you're quoting IMO. I think it's a huge part of why standards in care are so low. Some carers are wonderful and dedicated and do it out of love but a frightening number are just desperate for cash. It needs to be paid much, much better.

Fine to have low pay for menial work such as pot washing and filing, not when you're dealing with someone's life.

So YANBU but for a slightly different reason - I don't think those jobs should be there.

Is your friend's DD living at home? In that case she can be a bit flexible WRT not necessarily needing loads of money to survive. I think that can be quite a good way to be because it means she can try out a few different things to see what interests her and she may decide to go on to further education in something specific.

I would also suggest she thinks about her favourite companies (could be products she uses perhaps or just something she thinks is really inspiring, could be literally anything) and looks on their website for hiring, to see what kinds of positions there are in those companies even if they are geographically too far away for now. Also looking at something like Glassdoor (get her to sign up when she has a free week because you only get a week's free trial before you have to post something) to see what people are saying about different jobs and companies.

I admire her for getting out there because it was always my problem - I just had no idea what jobs even existed to have an idea of "what I wanted to do". I had some vague ideas but nothing concrete enough to follow up.

[Tedflowerybaker]

Thanks @Whatwouldbigfatfannydo we'll have a look into a careers advisor!

[CherryPavlova]

Like everyone else, the young have to put the effort in, do things they don’t like early in their careers, be prepared to move around and study for additional qualifications alongside working if they want a comfortable and interesting career. The good luck some people have doesn’t fall in their laps by applying for a few post school jobs.

Has she looked at apprenticeships? Vocational degrees? Jobs that offer career progression? Armed forces?

[DisneyMadeMeDoIt]

I don’t know, I’m mid 20’s and haven’t struggled. I was coming into the job market for the first time following the 2008 crash - when 40 yo trained professionals were competing with 16yo’s for Saturday supermarket jobs.

I don’t think it’s harder now. I don’t think it’s easy though.

‘Flexibility’ is something every retail job demands now but in my brief retail experience it’s because there are ‘long standing’ part time workers who are genuinely inflexible and will ONLY work certain hours on certain days. The nature of a shop means sick days/annual leave NEED to be covered so shops end up actively recruiting a ‘stand in’ who is contracted to low hours but always available. It’s not ideal but equally if everyone was a ‘little bit’ flexible then there would be no need for some to be ‘totally flexible’

[BertieBotts]

Connexions is the service. They are better out of school than in school I think.

What does she like to do in her spare time?

[overnightangel]

Unfortunately that’s always been the case with care work

[mindutopia]

My mum did a little business/accounting qualification at college (like a 1-2 year course) at 18. She had no more education than that. She worked in a finance department of a large multinational biochemical company. She managed to buy not one but two houses in her 20s (2nd house was for my grandparents to retire in). At 60, she retired earning about £50,000-60,000 with no university education. My stepdad did go to uni, but no more than that. He was a scientist before he retired. Both had private pensions from their employers. Together they get about £6000 a month in pension. I have a good salary (in late 30s), but a lot of postgraduate education. It will never be as high as my mum's and we will never have a pension pot like that. Things are definitely different now. I certainly see it in my field. We offer a lot of less than FT fixed term posts. It's very hard to find a permanent job (my mum worked for the same company for 35 years!) and people end up doing a lot of hustling, a few hours here on this project, a bit of extra salary from there, even while working for the same employer.

[ColaFreezePop]

@SachaStark some work experience roles are now paid. Though the OP's young friend has the disadvantage of not having a degree and also no work/volunteering experience.

One of my friends' currently teaches and another use to teach apprentices in technology. Depending on who is running the scheme and the vocational area is whether they find a job for you or you have to find the apprenticeship yourself.

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

I agree A levels probably weren't the best qualifications for her if she doesn't want to go to uni but she is where she is and I'm sure she'll find something.

It does sound a bit scattergun for now. What really appeals to her?

An apprenticeship could be a great option especially if she's living at home so can manage on a relatively low wage for a short time.