To be terribly afraid that that was it?

[entropynow]

DS about to reach a year unemployed. So was that it, that 19 months of postgraduate temporary contracts, and now all he has to look forward to at 24 is the dole for the next 40 plus years?

All I hear is "new graduates win over old ones, no employer will look at you with a year's gap" and to make it worse he ignored my advice to do voluntary work, convinced he'd get a "proper job" if he only tried hard enough. But with a 2:2 even from a good Uni, no-one wants him.
Can't read my FB with all my friends' children's wild A level and Oxbridge successes right now. Can't go to friends, can't admit how I feel.

Feeling like the worst parent in the Universe. If I'd done better at mothering he'd have a job, and nothing will convince me otherwise.

Yes, I know, it's not about me. I have no right.

Sobbing

IME it is much easier to get a job when you already have one.

I don't think there is much you can actually do though. He is 24 and it sounds like he doesn't want to talk to you about it.

Any job is better than no job, I have stacked shelves and swept floors and sorted mail all the while looking for the next step up.

No office junior positions about? No telemarketing.

Depending on what languages your son has, I have a vacancy for a programmer in our company in south Manchester, OP.

PM me.

I struggled to find work after graduating 16 years ago (this wasn't in the UK) and was out of work for a year and a half. It was horribly demoralising at the time, but I look back now on it as an experience that was quite valuable to have. It made me grow up a lot and take responsibility for myself.
When I did finally get that job, it made me work like hell at it. I'm now about to embark on a career change but I don't think the time out put my career back much at all in the end.
Things will get better. In this climate, a year unemployed is not that bad. I think employers know that too, so it won't affect his chances as much as it would have in previous years.

There's work in Manchester for coders, but there's also a lot of competition because of the university. IME his best bet is to get onto some OSP development for experience. A big, active OSP will train him and hook him into the professional world better than anything.

I get quite a lot of opportunities through my high Ohloh ranking, and not only was I unemployed for years and years, I don't have three GCSEs to rub together. But I get hired because my code is solid and well known and because I work like a bastard and they know it. Networking matters.

Working for a large website recruiting regularly, just outside Manchester. PM me

OP: I agree with Craving Dairy.

You have said he won't do voluntary work and we all agree he should.
But whatever he does or not is NOT your fault.

My daughter married a pain in the arse man, who I knew was wrong for her - she knows that now!

But our children are grown ups who often think we know nothing and they know everything. They don't want advice from us.

But you and most of us are saying he should do voluntary work, pack shelves, anything but he doesn't want to because he knows better.

Best wishes to you both.

Havent read the full thread, sorry, but if he trained as a Maths teacher he would received a bursary of 20k plus. He could then find work, due to shortage of maths teachers, with a view to other work in the future?

Once he gets going, having maths and IT skills will be a great background, it's just a shame it's taking so long.

As he probably knows, he probably won't get on to most graduate programmes with less than a 2.1, and most will have so many applicants that degree marks will be one of the first criteria they use to cut people, so he shouldn't get his hopes up for them. Sounds like he realises his best bet is to get a foot in the door in another department. For example, I work as a trainee actuary (ie a department full of maths grads).a graduate applying to our department wouldn't get to interview with his marks, but if a position opened up and there was a maths grad in the pensions admin department we work closely with who we knew was nice, dependable etc, he'd have a really good shot. He should be aiming for positions where he will be in contact with the people he'd like to work with, if possible.

In the meantime, he should be taking any job he can, McDonald's, tesco etc. It'll look better on his cv and give him something to do, boosting his confidence.

But the bottom line is, he maybe doesn't want to talk or listen to his mum on this topic, so you may just have to leave him to it to get on with things.

If he doesnt want to teach, could he consider tutoring? Maths is one of the areas where parents are prepared to invest in extra help for 11+, GCSE and A-level. Would still leave lots of time for job applications.

Otherwise, I think his priority should be closing the gap on his CV by whatever means are immediately available, even if that's minimum wage warehouse/factory/temp work. As a recruiter, I wouldnt be anti-someone who wasn't employed in their chosen field for a year, but I would be wondering why a young, able-bodied, educated man hadnt been working at all. I think a lot of graduates are worried about keeping their CV's "clean" but you need to balance that against showing that you are employable.

I understand why he doesnt want to move, and separately, I understand why he wants to work in his field, but I think he's got to compromise on one of those because there are plenty of people his age and of similar experience who will compromise on both.

IT recruitment? He would have the advantage of knowing about the nuts and bolts of computing and programming. If he is outgoing and can motivate himself he could do really well. There are stacks of recruiting outfits in Greater Manchester. It's true that not everyone can succeed in this but if you can get a foothold in the market you can make serious money. A lot of people seem to get a bit burnt out after a few years but they then have some really great transferrable skills to get other business roles.

I have a 2:1 from a good uni and can't get a job in the field that I have studied in or a field even remotely related.
It's not my personality or skills stopping me from getting a job, its the current state of the employment market.
I'm currently doing voluntary work to keep my skills up to date and be able to add something extra to my cv.
There must be lots of charities who want somebody with computer knowledge to help out for a few hours a week on a voluntary basis.

I think the best thing you can do is encourage your DS to take any job, even stacking shelves, and volunteer in his degree field for a few ours a week whilst he keeps looking for the right job.
You haven't failed your DS as you have no control of the employment market, but you do need to be direct and blunt with him and tell him that he needs to take any job whilst waiting for the right job. This isn't an employment market where people can afford to be picky.

OP: are you currently funding your son?
Presumably you are.
Maybe it's time to practice Tough Love and give him a reality check.
He'll have to broaden his horizons if he has NO money.

Good luck.

Has he done lots of stuff when younger? I am happy to take 2:2 people if they have worked in jobs from a young age, done Duke of Edinburgh or similar, or have lots of charisma. Don't worry. Something will come up I am sure.

OK, just realised that your son is on the dole and in receipt of benefits.
He just needs to get any job asap.
Did he have a part time job whilst at school or Uni?

He is intelligent and able bodied, presumably presentable, so should be able to get a job of some sort.

I graduated in 2001 with a 2:1 and couldn't get a job in a related field. I lived in a coalfields regeneration area and kept applying for community regeneration jobs. I volunteered and was involved in a community plan that won an award. Still couldn't get a job in regeneration.

So at the same time as volunteering I put my name down with a temping agency for admin work and got placed with a House builders and got offered Sales Secretary, then left to take a graduate role with a small company specialising in GIS, got made redundant and then got placed in a remediation company as a Receptionist. Got made up to an operations co-ordinator. And off the back of this applied for work as an Environmental Surveyor.

I do think graduates sometimes expect to get good jobs when the reality is they have little or no work experience. With hindsight I wish I'd stayed as Sales secretary as I loved the job and the people. But instead I was thrilled to get a graduate job. It only lasted 6 months!

I think he should register with agencies and temp. Who knows where it might lead.

I just had a chat with dh (programmer with Maths degree) he thinks it sounds like your son is doing OK, from the brief details in your post it looks like being graduated a year and having some contract work is fine, certainly not condemned to a life on the dole. Obviously a lot depends on which languages he has and how saleable they are on the recruitment market. I assume your son has registered with lots of agencies? That seems to be the main way programmers are recruited. One thing dh has done is build a website designed to show off his programming and he puts the link on his CVs.

Reading that back just realised how lucky I was to be placed in such a relevant company.

One friend of mine was even luckier and got admin work at the council, where she got a job as an 'officer' of some such. She then went on to work for an NHS trust & has just got a job in a different city and is on about £40k . (Good for up north)
She had great A levels and a 2:1 plus a placement year volunteering. But couldn't get on a graduate scheme.

My dbro lived with us whilst unemployed post uni a few years back.
He had a 2,2 in maths from Oxbridge but struggled for quite a while to get programming work.
He was disappointed not to get a 2,1 and it did close down quite a few options. Larger companies wouldn't look at him at all. Also he was beating himself up about it and so wasn't in the best frame of mind. He is not lazy but for anyone a long period of unemployment saps your esteem and motivation and makes it less likely you'll be employed. He was sending off a lot of applications but I'm not sure he was really going the extra mile.
The things that turned it around for him were:

1. Getting casual work in a shop. It put him in a work environment and boosted his self esteem a lot
2. Widening the scope. He started off ruling out certain areas of IT but finally realised that he just needed to get a foot in the door somehow. The company he ended up working for was not big or prestigious or interesting but it was a job, it was experience and they paid for him to do courses that have furthered his career (eg Microsoft certification).
3. Online networking. He does love genuinely programming and he taught himself the languages that were being asked for in the adverts from books etc. he enjoys writing his own programmes for fun anyway and he was doing this and sharing them online as someone mentioned above. This led to him getting some freelance programming work which really helped his CV.

Later once he had that 1st job he realised he would have to work abroad for a while to get on the next rung up and he worked in Eastern Europe for a while. He went with his partner and it was a great experience for them. Wages were low compared to this country but in local terms it was well paid.

The story has a very happy ending. They moved back to the UK about a year ago and he now has a very well paid job in the city and certainly earns more than DH and I do. So you see there is a lot of hope and I seriously doubt your DS will be on the dole for 40 years with his maths and IT skills. He just needs a break and to keep his motivation up.

I've just returned to work after moving to another country, where my old job doesn't really exist and having a baby. Not the best career move it turns out .

I eventually found work through networking. I basically identified organisations or areas I was interested in working in/for and emailed people there to ask for career advice. I never asked people directly for work. I would say things like "I'd like some advice on what skills I could add to my C.V. , what areas do you think will grow over the next few months." That kind of thing- I googled networking for hints on how to do it as I found it very hard. I would talk a bit about my experience and what I enjoyed, was interested in. It took a long time to pay off but I'm now doing maternity cover for one of my "coffee contacts". I also went to industry/sector networking events which taught me about the area in my new country. I was told to use all my existing contacts in the industry- talk to them and learn as much as you can.

Best of luck to your DS. We all need a break now and then and I hope his will come soon.

Why do you think he's not finding a job? From your posts it sounds like you believe he should be doing voluntary work but your son isn't interested. Apologies if I got that wrong. There are lots of good suggestions on here about LinkedIn, building up his personal portfolio, etc. My suggestion would be to get registered with freelance agencies, but it's not clear whether he's done that.
I do sympathise - of course you're worried about him. But maybe you now need to back off or deliver some tough love. A long period of unemployment will definitely work against him when he's applying for programming jobs. He needs to have something to show for his time and I suspect you know that. But yes, it's shit, and it is getting harder for young people to find decent jobs.

It is really really hard.

£20k is a fair wage but many companies will not offer that. My firm would offer £16k to new starters, and we are near London (many new starters actually live there). Wage is low but it's a popular industry and you can progress quickly.

If he does anything remotely computery I would advise him to set up his own website with projects on or a blog about said projects.

When I have interviewed people I have looked up their Twitter, LinkedIn accounts and googled them to see if they have a website.

Last time we hired someone, he had a relevant website with a fantastic blog section that showed he could write and knew his subject.

Most of the CVs I saw where from people who hadn't been able to get into 'their industry' since graduating so I was impressed with anything they managed to do related to their ideal line of work, especially if they did it while holding down another job.

Best of luck to him.

Is he looking at www.jobs.nhs.uk? The nhs is a huge employer and does has some relevant roles for your ds.

I am local to Manchester and will pm you later with someone your son could contact.

I know it's hard but you have to pull back & let him make his own mistakes.
Easy for us to say there are lots of jobs & volunteer opps out there (and there are!), as long as he lowers his standards, but neither OP or us can make him go chase them up. It's pride, isn't it? Folk will not take jobs beneath them. Arrggghhh.

DH says there are shortages of graduate programmers in some areas. His company are really struggling to recruit, because lots of the recent graduates lined jobs up when still at uni

If he lived in Bath ....

Look at smaller companies, not big companies who filter out anything under 2.1.

Use the covering letter to build up his experience, and if they've asked for a 2.1 he can explain there about the 2.2

Or try contracting. That can be a good way in.

Contracting .. 'a good way in' - or indeed, a good job.

DH is still contracting 3.5 years in - because it gives him variety and interest. He doesn't get a pension, company car or holiday pay, but the pay makes up for that. His last 6 month temporary job - initially 250 miles away (stayed away all week) is now mainly home working, and has been extended to over 2 years now.