Paying to find young person a first job

Ah ok. It sounded as if you were saying I was attacking things like equity and unconscious bias, which I wasn’t. it’s the corporate system that I find issue with.

As so often, and with so many things that start out as brilliant, desperately needed ideas, they quickly get turned on their head (and often misunderstood) by companies. And the immediate reaction so often seems to be to view it as a risk rather than an opportunity.

Something like unconscious bias, I think, is really important to teach people about, especially those who are going to be doing things like job interviews. But then accountability and so the potential for litigation and reputational damage takes hold in an institution and so rather than improving a process and opening things up, they shut things down with so much red tape and fear that it becomes an exercise in futility. And that ultimately damages everyone involved.

So something like unconscious bias turns from, ‘employ the best person for the job irrespective of the fact that they may not match your own background and outlook’ (e.g. stop only employing white public school Oxbridge educated men in city jobs), to a tick box exercise designed to squeeze people into even smaller - if now slightly different - boxes (e.g. has this person done virtually the same job before and did they say the right number of key words at the right time?) that now resembles something more like a winter olympic sport during which participants must complete certain jumps.

This is great advice. As a former niche sector leader, I helped people into good careers by introducing them to the right people when they showed an interest and networked enthusiastically. Many industries have conferences, trade fairs, launches, award ceremonies etc etc. Key players there are often off the leash a bit and more approachable to talk to people who show an interest (and have done some homework). As the saying goes: get up, dress up and show up.

You're right. Job center staff aren't qualified. Which ia why I would NEVER advise anyone goes to them for careers advice.

Is this person you are considering spending hundreds of pounds on qualified though? Because as an expert in this field, it sounds like someone taking advantage of a challenging job market tbh.

Many young people without parents with the social, cultural and economic capital to help them are doing it on their own.
This was me.

@mothersdaywoe , do you have any contacts who could help your DC get some relevant experience?

Not sure what is illegal about it, she would surely be volunteering, going into a work place voluntarily to gain experience and understanding she would not be getting paid for it but would be learning. I wish your daughter luck and hope her attitude towards her working life is a lot more open than yours.

The illegality is on the employer not your child.

Key Indicators of Illegal Internships:

• You have a set, mandatory contract (verbal or written).
• You are performing productive work, rather than just learning.
• The company is making money from your labor.

The paid for service sounds like it could be useful. Do your due diligence - how many people have they placed and have they any sector experience in the area your daughter wants to go into?

If you aren't prepared to share any details re your daughter's sector of interest there is a little specific advice that can be given. Tesco's and other large retailers for example will have a grad programme for all kinds of fields and will often look for people with experience on the shop floor. Shows an understanding of customer service, customer experience, basic marketing and all the other skills that come out of retail. But if she wants to go into aeronautics, no retailer is going to be useful.

UK market isn't great - has she any access points elsewhere eg: an Irish or other EU passport?

I do what your person wants charge £500. I normally do it for existing clients and sometimes their dc.

If you were prepared to share what she wants to do i think you'd get a lot of help on here.

Ok thank you. Unless it's a training course that he feels will genuinely boost his employability and is recognised in the sector as having value?

What are they going to do that's so special for him?
Is he with traditional agencies also?

If it's a private company what's their Trustpilot score like?

Is she a member (student or graduate) of her professional body or bodies? If so, she could be attending relevant event and training. She’ll also be receiving regular emails and links to news and/or jobs. She could be reaching out to the people who write articles she finds interesting asking about work experience or training programs. In many fields it’s really about who you know, not what you know, so actively networking is really important. Many professional bodies have local branches - taking a volunteer role with them is a great way of getting your name out and shows real commitment to the profession. It’s hard at the moment for young people - in many cases a degree is the minimum requirement to get your foot in the door. It’s the extra curricular activities and connections that make the difference.

That’s a real shame, because there’s no way in which it could be outing, and there are thousands and thousands of very experienced women working in the widest range of fields on this forum, who would be able to give very specific advice for their field. I am one of them, and my field is niche, but nobody can help if you don’t give some basic and not very personal information. If all you wanted to do was rant about your daughter’s position, then you should have made that clear, but otherwise nobody is wrong to assume you are actually looking for practical advice.

We used a corporate training contact to provide presentations training for our DCs over teams. It was only meant to be a quick 15mins but she spent nearly an hour with ds helping him deliver with impact. The trainer gave him amazingly honest feedback and training that I could never have given him. Distance was needed. I saw it as a good investment in skills. It was very expensive but it was absolutely worth it to help them understand and work on the way they came across in an interview situation.

Well how on earth can anyone help then?

If it's so niche that you can't share on here, then that could be her issue. Can she broaden her search to "adjacent" jobs or ones that will help her build similar skills and experience?

There are quite a lot of charities that do that stuff for free. Where are you based?

Street League
Wave Project
Generation UK and Irelanc
Princes Trust

all spring to mind. Tell me what are you are based in and Ill see what I can find x

Rude, really rude when someone has gone out of their way to offer some really good solid advice,

Companies are always going to receive unsolicited applications and some companies encourage these.

However some companies, including many of those I've worked for, prefer to use a recruitment agency when recruiting for specific roles and remain anonymous because as soon as they reveal that they're recruiting they are swamped by direct applications sent by people looking to circumvent the agency system. Often in these situations the company doesn't have the capacity to handle the direct applications and they prefer to let the agency do the initial tasks, so yes, in these instances the companies want to protect themselves from having to do work that has been outsourced to recruitment specialists. They also want to protect their reputations - they don't want to read posts on social media and recruitment sites saying "I applied to 'BigCo' 3 weeks ago and they've never bothered to acknowledge or reply..."

No it wouldn't be a red flag if it's a training programme presumably done through an employer to their specifics and if you pass that then they have a job for you. They could guarantee you one if you get through the training.

A recruitment agency shouldn't ever guarantee a job though no. Nor should they charge the job seeker. The employer is the client to a recruitment agency so they're the ones paying.