Young adult son can't find job

[BoyJob]

Does anyone else have a young adult DC who is unable to find a job?

DS graduated a year ago with a 2:1 in a very specific artistic/technical subject. He has wanted to work in this role since being quite young. Unfortunately, neither he nor any of his peers, even those with contacts in the industry, have found a job in that area, although most have found some other type of job. Almost all of the adverts are looking for someone with experience.

He is sending off applications for all sorts of jobs, but usually gets no response whatsoever and, occasionally, a brief "no thank you" email. We are very concerned that the longer this goes on, the more unemployable he will become.

We are in the South East. Is anyone else in the same position?

I would say the above comment by @palomatoast is true. The vast majority of my daughters colleagues seem to have autism, ADHD or ASD. The creative gaming industry seems to be a perfect fit.

You are right. We are trying our best not to put too much pressure on him as we don't want him to feel over-anxious about it.

I am accepting that my anxiety is my own problem to resolve.

We certainly aren't expecting him to walk into a high flying career. My own career took a few years to get going and some of my work is with youngsters at the start of their professional careers. But I agree with you that, at the moment, he needs to get ANY job. That is harder than you would have thought.

I have been thinking that doing an MA or a short course in IT might help, but other posters are saying IT isn't easy to get into anyway.

@user1471538275 I agree. I was always fairly relaxed about immigration until my own DS was affected 😳. So many jobs are outsourced to India too.
I go on Reddit quite a bit and there are a lot of posts like this. So much talent being wasted. I’ve also noticed that because Apprenticeships are actually harder to get on, ironically it’s less academic kids that are ending up at uni. My son is dyslexic, he really did not want to go to uni, but had to because there was nothing else.

I know this won’t be the most practical solution, but it’s possible to get a lot of experience working in developing nations. If he went to live somewhere in south east Asia for example for 6 months and offered to do free stuff for NGO websites or even approached some local firms for a paid position, he could do very well. There are many international businesses in these countries that need expertise combined with native English, or at least there were.
While I’m typing this I can see how unrealistic it sounds, but I thought it was worth a mention if you have any far flung relatives you need to visit.

I hate that uni and having a degree has been positioned as the best route into employment. It shouldn't be. The academic path doesn't suit every child. Our DD is ND and looking at a vocational qualification, but we are very aware getting onto one of those courses might not be easy either.

It doesn't sound like it is anything he is doing wrong or that it is linked to his autism. He sounds committed and talented. It is just a very tough market. You say the jobs are looking for people with experience but based on your posts, I don't think that should put him off applying (if it is) as he does have experience even if not the type they are explicitly after. Has he tried applying for internships at the games companies (both formal ones or speculative)? That can be a great route. Continuing to build his skills and reel is worthwhile even if unpaid. He could also look into volunteering opportunities in this space so he has more to put on his CV. Speaking to the uni's careers office or his course director is also worth doing - they may have some ideas or contacts or be happy to review his CV or application to make sure it is selling him as best it can. So many people float a bit in their twenties and it all works out in the end. The first foothold is probably the hardest to get in the door.

In this sort of field, it is very rare to go straight into such a specialised field. He should be looking at sideways into it and also what other skills he could develop from any kind of professional/white collar work that he could bring to the specialist area he wants to enter.

It’s not ideal not to work - he needs to think laterally.

My DS has been applying for loads of jobs and hasn't even been invited for interview for the vast majority.

He had one interview over a year ago and was down to the last two. The other interview he got the job, but it was a crap job with no salary, and they sacked him after 6 months when he asked to only do 4 days.

He was also hoping to go into the creative industry (publishing) but they were asking for 2-3 years experience for even the most basic, entry level job. He has abandoned that idea and would be happy to do anything.

Thank you palomatoast. I agree that autism is very common in this industry. At DS's graduation ceremony, I was struck by how many of his peers and some of his tutors were clearly autistic. I don't think that this would hinder him once he has a job, but I think it might be an issue in his approach to getting a job.* *

He is on Linkedin and has had some conversations with people in the industry. Would you mind if I PM'd you (if I can remember how to do it)?

Have you looked at his applications and cv, and proofread them? Maybe he’s missing of vital information, such as his self- employed stuff.

(Before anyone jumps in, many young adults need guidance and advice, especially if it’s there first time at applying for jobs).

Absolutely – why wouldn't you support them by checking over their CV or applications? It's not helicopter parenting, it's helping them give it their best shot.

I'm going to step away for a while as I have things to do. But I do want to say a really big thank you to everyone who has posted here, even if I haven't responded to your post. I was feeling very low before I started this thread and it is helping a great deal.

I'll come back later.

One of the biggest issues is the reluctance to train people up in-house. They want everyone already fully formed. Years ago many of my colleagues and bosses were trained from nothing to managers etc. My own boss worked his way up from the mail room to be boss of an entire department in a tv company - you could t even imagine that happening now.

A lot of the low level animation and design work is outsourced to other countries where labor is cheap. It’s also a field notorious for hiring, working people like crazy to get to a release, and then dropping them so they have to begin the job hunt all over again.

I would suggest he keep looking, but in the meantime he expand his search to more general programming jobs. Have him look online for what languages are most in demand local to you and he can do online training to get up to speed. Once you are familiar with one or two, it’s not hard to learn additional.

And yet I went to a conference last year on the creative economy where they said they find it hard to recruit and retain people. I think employers are too demanding.

My ds has just finished his degree and is probably also going to do a Masters to kick the can down the road. He has applied for a couple of things but has the idea a job will fall into his lap, which of course it won't. I do have a couple of contacts that I am asking about possible short-term work experience which may help get an internship which in turn will help get a "proper" job. But it shouldn't depend on contacts.

All I can tell myself is that the graduates of yesterday are not all stacking shelves or working in leisure centres so eventually people must get entry level jobs in the fields they want, or at least can live with.

Most companies don't have graduate schemes and if they do they are massively competitive, I think a lot of people get their break with small firms.

Could he get a job doing something like marketing/social media for an organisation, where there might be scope to use his editing and animation skills every now and then? I’m no expert but I would have thought that would be much better on his cv than doing nothing.

Has he had a look at the website Fiverr?
It’s where people go to hire freelancers for their projects such as animation/ illustration/ video editing. Maybe worth a look.

I'd also suggest (and have suggested it to my ds) that people look at the likes of Futurelearn for courses on useful skills, such as AI or digital marketing or copy writing, or coding. Anything that they can put on their CV as an extra offering. The courses are free.

My sons partner did a animation / art degree ( not exactly sure what it was )

he couldn’t get a job doing what he wanted when he graduated so he applied for cabin crew training and passed and he absolutely loves it .

he still has plans to do something in art / animation but meanwhile he is enjoying flying the skyes and earning a pretty good salary for his age

No, although he has managed to secure a little bit of work (one specific assignment) but it’s not a regular thing. It will at least look good on his CV.

It’s just where we live is not at all conducive to media type jobs (he’d be good in the visual side of marketing, advertising etc). Even those jobs are going because of AI. The only jobs here where there is an abundance of work is care homes and I don’t expect him to work there (he’s already experienced living with an elderly, dying gp so not a path he’d want to revisit).

Civil service?

I agree about the North East games industry. Almost all the employees have to be poached from abroad as they struggle to get local applicants. But he would need to move...

To work in this kind of industry without being flexible to move I think it relies on you being freelance

@BoyJob I work in creative industry and my advice in this position is to look at roles that are totally non related- probably admin within a very large organisation- something like civil service, NHS , police etc - the large organisations are way more open to people who aren't neuro typical and actively have diversity targets - build up on it and develop other aspects on the side- keep sending in to organisations he's genuinely interested in or promoting via YouTube etc - all whilst holding down a mainstream job- most people I know in creative industry have got their break completely by accident- contact local festivals and offer to do a bit of creative animation/ design too for free etc. hes going to have to be proactive I'm afraid for paid creative roles and if he isn't- it's better to seek out a non creative job if I'm honest and keep plugging at it

@BoyJob

Would he be able to apply for a ScreenSkills bursary?

https://www.screenskills.com/your-career/screenskills-bursaries/