AIBU to ask how parents prepare older teens for work?

Well you can't do it for them unless you move in echelons who can find them placements and potentially jobs.

But I supported my sons' hobbies, paid for him to do a lifeguard course to get a job to earn money and experience, helped him do his UCAS personal statement,. I also keep an eye on jobs, so I eg saw options for him to find lifeguard work while he was at university. I also pushed him to volunteer so he'd have something on his CV, and someone else to ask for a reference.

I can't help with the AI world and the way CVs have to work nowadays - their university or sixth form career services have got to help with that.

Of course, the lifeguard/swim teacher thing only works if they are fit enough and someone can afford the fees for the course! Some employers will pay for it, but others expect you to have the qualification already.

Because the job of a parent is to turn out adults who are well rounded and able to contribute to society. It’s literally a parents only job to prepare their children for a adulthood, which for most of us includes being ready to enter the world of work.

Parkrun volunteering from primary school age.
Army and police cadets as a teen. (Fire cadets also available)
Duke of Edinburgh scheme.
Summer reading challenge library volunteer from age 16.
Lifeguard course in first year of college (I think this cost me £150).
Saved up money for about a decade for driving lessons.

My teens CV and work skills were pretty decent by the time he was at college.

I have a 16 year old. I paid for her swim teaching level 2 course over the summer.

Its a job that works well around school/uni hours (most kids swim lessons are evenings and weekends), it will look great on her future cv, and we have several pools locally that often post job vacancies for qualified swim teachers. Also, the pay is generous and more than double minimum wage.

I did help write her cv and cover letter as its her first time applying for jobs. And its difficult to write a cv when you're only 16 and applying for a first role. AI wasn't that helpful as its more based towards American job hunters so it came out with overly exuberant waffle.

Shes sent off a couple of applications this week (now her certificate has finally come through). She found all job listings herself, and I'm assuming she's been switched on enough to tailor the cover letter for each pool. One of the pools has got back to her immediately asked for references, which shes sent them the details for so now its just waiting on that.

But shes been quite driven and motivated throughout the whole process. It was her that wanted to do the course, it was her that convinced me it would be a good investment, it was her that kept track of which days she had online learning and poolside days. And shes found & completed the job applications and used her own email for everything.

Her friends work for their parents, some have managed to find bar work, one works as football referee at the weekends, but quite a lot are still sending out endless applications and handing their cvs out in town with very little success.

1. Explained to DS(16) that no-one owed him a job, there were a lot of people looking and how was he going to make himself more valuable to an employer?
2. He then asked to train as a pool lifeguard, which he passed.
3. When he emailed every pool within 10 miles and got no replies, i made him visit every one with me and take a cv into reception, and ask to speak to the centre manager.
4. When that didn't work and he got despondent, I kept asking every time I passed a leisure centre or private school, and finally heard of an opening, went home and made him get in the car with his cv immediately.
5. Sent him to the interview in clean tidy clothes.
6. Hammered home the importance of being early. And of being polite to everyone. And of being helpful.
7. He worked for that leisure centre for a year, came away with an enhanced DBS, £4k in savings and a reference.
8. Now he's at uni, he's asked to be kept on their HR system so he can work Christmas and summer holidays.
9. He's already booked his NPLQ licence renewal course.

He's also researching engineering companies locally (he's an engineering undergrad) so he has a shortlist for his year out in industry.

My job will be to keep urging him on when he feels like giving up, reassurung him and boosting his confidence.

All four of mine have had jobs from age 16...my youngest (almost 17) managed to get a retail job recently but had to have two interviews and a trial shift...it's really tough out there. In terms of help - my eldest has just graduated and has a very good consultancy job, achieved through applying to hundreds of grad jobs. My second child also graduated and she also has a job which I guess I helped her to find as it is with a company I use, and I mentioned she was finding it tough to find a job...as it happened they were thinking of employing someone, so they interviewed her and then offered her the role.

Aside from that, we would help with advice on CVs or cover letters but they aren't really much help with all of the AI being used and VAST numbers of people looking for work without enough jobs going 😔

Starting early and getting experience. AI can’t do everything and certainly in my industry, we’re finding it does a pretty poor job at that. There is a real swing back against AI.

But my dd volunteered from 12 and then got her first job at 13. It’s related to her chosen career area, so like think she wants to be a zoologist. She started volunteering at a zoo at 12 and got hired as an assistant zookeeper at 13 several days a week after school.

We haven’t gotten to the applying for proper jobs stage of life yet, but she’ll have many years experience already while her peers have none, plus a network of people in her field who already like her and know her work ethic. AI can’t look after animals so her career choice (which isn’t zoology btw) is pretty safe.

Good god above.
Apply for job (yes, you may have to do hundreds), get job, do job, get money.
I hadn’t really understood the term ‘snowflake generation’ but this thread is surely the epitome of that.

Of course it's brutal but what exactly can parents do about it?

They just have to keep applying and applying.

I think if you look at their cv and it looks empty you could get them to volunteer, start a club or something but other than that honestly they’ll be fine! At the very end of it some if it is just luck, applying at the right time when they need someone, or meeting the manager because they’re in etc. I was terrified for my son but then he landed at his first place of work the day another lad quit and they said it was lucky he’d come in that day! I was then impressed when he was closing up in work within weeks (he was way too relaxed in school so I was afraid but money and responsibilities do a lot for teens!!) . He stayed only a year because he wasn’t getting enough hours but quickly moved on because he had a bit of experience.

From 16 when they asked for things I said I suggest you get a job so you can pay for it then that pretty much did it I don't remember any other involvement

My eldest has worked from when she was 12, first volunteering at a kid's holiday club, then tutoring and babysitting, then retail work, now medical notes recording. I think the earlier they can get some sort of work history the better, as much as anything it shows that they've been introduced to the Wonderful World of Work, and it won't be coming as a terrible surprise to them that it is often tedious, hard on the feet and/or back, and definitely not what they want to be spending their time doing.

If you've got someone in their early twenties with the same training and results, one who knows how to work and what it entails, and another person who cannot demonstrate that, which one would you pick?

Well, I used to make sure they knew how to get themselves up and out in the morning, and talk politely to people and ask questions where necessary...

Apart from that, I don't think I did anything. S1 used to earn here and there from bits of singing, which we would drive him to and from. S2 got a job in the school canteen but the first I heard about that was when he started it.

S1 got a singing job in his unplanned gap year, and then got a teaching post after his PGCE. We had nothing to do with either, or with the replacement post he took when that one didn't work out.

S2 started his job a month after graduating. We were aware of his application process because he was sitting in his gran's lounge clicking away on the laptop, and once we were home he had an interview; but again we had no input.

Working hard yourselves provides preparation by osmosis

Summer work - builds on their work ethic and money handling

Support the idea of apprenticeships as well as university. Appreciate they may need to move for the right opportunity and therefore if you would have paid their rent for uni, offer the same for an apprenticeship.

Make securing a job their job. Be up at 9am writing CVs, following up any not heard back from by phone, make sure CVs are adapted to each job.

Any spare time, volunteer.

To secure a job in a difficult environment you have to stand out. The academics will probably be matched by many so need other skills - ability to hold a conversation, use the phone appropriately to speak to the public, confloct resolution, be passionate without actually using the word, want to work. Many of the skills are called soft but they arent. They are essential for navigating the world of work and convincing people to buy into "you". And its those skills young people often lack.

My DD did a photography degree - many will laugh. But she had to present her work to large groups and have it publically critisised. She had to both defend it and also accept learnings from that critisism.

My son did youth theatre. He never made the big parts but he would have little ones and also do support for things like prompting, stage moving and curtain pulls. He learnt not to be scared of standing in front of an audience as most mistakes can be covered up and no one notices but even if they do...the world doesnt end. He learned to handle multi tasks in the moment and to.communicate with others without speaking. In his very first work presentation he told us it was fine and that everything is easier when your Mum isnt in the audience!

Just help as and when needed, e.g driving to interview, tips etc, my kids did it themselves really

What do you mean by preparing them? They understand if they want money they work for it don’t they?

Mine are 16 and 17. Both have part time jobs although I wouldn’t say I prepared them in anyway. Myself and their father (my ex husband) have strong work ethics and it was just the expectation that they would start work as soon as possible.

I showed them ads on Facebook for the local area and they did the rest. I do help with lifts for DD though as her job isn’t accessible on the bus route and she hasn’t passed her test yet.

We’re a low income household so they know if they want things above the basics they have to work for them.

Dd is in her fial year of uni. She had her first job in local takeaway from 14. working alongside her friend in the family business, taking orders, payments and sorting collections.
She had a job with a special needs support group from 17 -19 and also volunteered in a local special school.
During uni she works as a pa to a young adult with special needs and does relief TA work in a special school.
She has a great work ethic.
I appreciate jobs are hard to find but volunteering can be a way to open doors and gain valuable experience. Its also a great way to get a reference.

Its far far harder than it used to be.

The invocation to “just get a paper round” or “just get a shelf stacking job” misses the point. And there’s as much nepotism in these supposedly “menial” jobs now as there is in the white collar jobs. People pass retail jobs/care jobs to family members the way they used to find internships for their kids in the City.

I’m really worried about it. DD is 15 and doing GCSEs now so want her focused on those but from next summer I have told her I want her to find a holiday job. She hasn’t shown much interest yet though.

The job market is brutal at the moment
My 19 year old is currently looking for a job
Hes sent off god knows how many applictions and had only two interviews he has another one tommorow.

When they got to the appropriate level of obnoxiousness/want and sometimes entitlement, I pointed out that what they wanted cost money they weren't entitled to us just mindlessly handing over. I indicated that getting, and holding, a job, could solve their dilemma. I then supported them with travel, if necessary (waiting around Waitrose at midnight was just so much fun), and not with anti-work behaviour, like being late, abandoning their job because it was boring, tedious, and what not. It seems to have worked.

Encouraged YP to get a job, any job to add to their CV which they have done. I also look though vacancies and forward if I think they would be interested in applying.

My DC are both swimmers so I paid for a lifeguards course for them as soon as they turned 16. They were working zero hours within weeks at our local leisure centre.

Their employer then paid for a swim teaching qualification so they now do swim teaching too.

DD is only 17, at college and in August earned almost £800.

They have experience of working with public of all ages, customer service, answering the telephone (many young people can't do this) keeping busy but cleaning toilets, mopping floor etc All of it is transferrable skills for any jobs.

Both have paid/are paying for driving lessons and will be able to buy a car and insurance outright when they want to.

DD also had to have animal work experiences for her college course so in addition to working at leisure centre and attending college she did one day at week placement and more in the holidays (full weeks at a vets and mini zoo).

My DC have a serious work ethic and want nice holidays. Why wouldn't you encourage them at 16 to get a part time job to make them more employable when they are applying for uni/careers?

Yes we juat say apply they did and got a job if they wanted one, casual I mean

Why would they need to be prepared by their parents?

I was just expected to find a job. Which I did.