Help DS find a job

[Dontbuyaglasscoffeetable]

My son finished his A levels last year and decided to take a year off to save money for university.

He found a part time job (they wouldn’t offer full time) and worked until Christmas, when unfortunately he was let go.

Since before Christmas he has been looking for another job. He has dropped CVs into places by hand and applied to perhaps 70 or more jobs on indeed, ranging from retail, to bar work to care work to teaching assistants.

He was invited to interview for Tesco, and did well, but wasn’t chosen for the role. Now he seems to have been excluded from applying to other posts that have come up there for 6 months.

He is very articulate, smart and has all A* and A at GCSE as well as Bs at A level.

His CV and cover letter are very good. Not too wordy, but eloquent with all his key skills highlighted.

So from ten, perhaps hundreds of applications, he’s had one interview and a lot of rejections. It’s really sad and I feel for him. Two months ago he was confident about getting another job, but his self esteem has taken a huge knock. He also has things he needs to and wants to pay for, for example gym membership, phone, social events etc

Anyone have advice? What might he be doing wrong? Thank you in advance.

Edited to add that he’s offered to work all day everyday. He’s being very flexible.

Anyone? Experience with indeed? Reason for 18 year old not getting a job?
Grateful for any advice.

This was my DS’s experience too. I kept reading that a lot of places screen the CV before a human even gets to look at it so he put in a number of keywords from their description of who they were looking for or from their Corporate ‘mission statement’. And really ‘exaggerated’ his experience. Best of luck to your DS.

They probably think he's over qualified and won't stay long, so what's the point of hiring him?

Where has he applied?

Maybe look at applying for the local council rather than retail/hospitality type stuff.

I would say that it's a waste of time sending the same CV to dozens of companies. Each one must be tailored to the specific business, highlight something specific in employment or interest that relates. I would also contact agencies as they get commission if they fill a vacancy. Garden centres have cafés and other roles and are busy at the moment. Nothing to lose by calling in and asking (with CV to hand if asked). Keep going, there's the right job out there for him.

Has he signed with a temping agency? Have a look to see if Brook Street have any vacancies in your area.

Could he consider what he might like to do, what he would be well suited to, and then apply for fewer jobs in a more tailored way? What are his interests, academic or otherwise?

Where are you based OP?

Has he walked in to all the local job agencies in your town? Has he got any skills? Can you make any money on a side hustle?

Agencies
Job centre website

He needs to sign up to temping agencies, stewarding/security, warehouses, night staff for events, that sort of thing. It sounds really tough out there for young people just starting out.

Indeed from my own experience was pretty rubbish. That could have been the businesses not taking Indeed applications seriously and just not responding at all but yeah not very positive!
I’ve heard this often from other people too.

I agree with others to contact a recruitment agency see what they suggest. Also agree genetic CV dropping doesn’t always work.
Could he volunteer somewhere to get experience and a reference? Any friends that could let him do some work experience anywhere?

We're recruiting for fixed term election staff ahead of GE, so might be a good idea

Try local civil service jobs.
Is he mentioning he's taking a year out before Uni as that may be working against him.

Pubs often have pot wash/kitchen porter jobs which are not advertised. Might be worth calling in at local pubs and asking. Hours might not be great but these jobs can often lead to other positions. Wishing him luck in his search.

Also contact local colleges who will need exam invigilators in the months ahead. Irregular hours but once you're in the team there may be more opportunities...

Forget Indeed - the jobs often don't exist. He needs to look at actual company websites. Particularly for seasonal work. So garden centres will be recruiting summer staff, election staff, exam invigilators, national trust places, theme parks, tourist attractions, hospitality companies like Compass and temp agencies.

Volunteering? Local charities often need fundraisers, event managers, social media managers etc all of which develop transferrable skills and give networking opportunities. Has anyone looked over his cv and applications? He really needs to analyse the job and person specifications and give evidence that he meets them. Can he upskill, learn to drive for example, or increase his search area.

It's really tough for young people at the moment, despite the fact that there are supposedly loads of jobs out there! My DD's boyfriend took months to find a job after leaving school with 3 decent A levels. He's joining the army later this year, but needed something to earn some money in the meantime. He applied to loads, eventually he found a job as a kitchen porter, which is actually quite decent money for his age, due to tips, but really long days (often 12 hours).

Perhaps try hotels that do weddings, most are looking for staff as the turnover is high. They often don't care if you don't plan to stay long, and can be quite useful for picking up shifts over Christmas and summer holidays whilst at uni, due to this being their busy periods.

What experience has he got to offer anyone ?
Previous work?
Volunteering?
Leadership?
Running sports teams / orchestras / events ?

I second the signing up with Temp agencies.

South Wales, near Chepstow.
But he can drive so we’ve looked in many of the surrounding towns.

No, he hasn’t mentioned that, until directly asked in the one interview. He felt it better to be honest.

Yes, his dad is very good at that sort of thing and has looked over his CV.

It seems from a lot of posts that an agency is the way to go, rather than indeed, so we’ll try that tonight. Thank you.

Thank you everyone. I’ve shown DS your messages and we’ve decided to ditch Indeed and try an agency, but he is also going to pop into the local pubs with a CV. I’ve also suggested volunteer work for some experience, but he wasn’t keen at the mo. He’s desperate to earn. He has previously worked at a bargain shop stocking shelves and on the tills, and he did a summer job at M&S which he actually loved.

Fingers crossed…perhaps it’s indeed that’s the problem!

Hi, I’m involved in recruiting as part of my current job and have previously been involved in recruiting in previous roles, so may have some insight.

2 things jump out straight away:

1. Is he just sending the same cover letter and CV to every job? If the answer is yes, that’s why. If I’m sifting through 100 cover letters & CV’s and someone hasn’t even bothered to spend a bit of time tailoring it to my job, show me they’ve actually had a look into the company, show me they’ve understood what the role is and tell me what they can bring to it, that’s a nice easy one for me to put straight in the bin. It means you can’t sit and apply for 50 jobs an hour on Indeed, but it will pay off.

2. What actual experience/examples does he have to give? Common competencies on job adverts so things like: working at pace, working collaboratively with others, working to deadlines, making difficult decisions etc… what are his examples? It’s great having good exam results but that means absolutely nothing to me in terms of employability, it shows me you’ve attended school/college and passed exams, it doesn’t tell me how you work as a team, how you deal with difficult customers, how you will apply learning in a workplace. If the only examples he has are from school & a few months of work then again, that’s why. As of tomorrow have him out every day volunteering in local charity shops/charity work, unpaid placements etc. The experiences he will get from just actually being in a workplace will help massively. School smart is great, but it doesn’t mean he’s a good worker.

For what it’s worth I’m in my 20’s so I do know it can be tricky for young people but it is a lot about just playing the game really. He’s not just going to be handed a job and if he’s not been earning since Dec then he can be volunteering until he starts. He may find he’s earning quicker if he takes a bit of initiative!