To expect graduate to get a job whilst applying for ‘the perfect’ job?

[Rosehip345]

Please settle a disagreement between myself and my brother.

DN back from uni having graduated and done well in chosen (and fairly select and over subscribed) field.
Her plan with DB’s approval is to live at home for a year whilst applying for jobs, so far she has had three interviews and not got any.
They both disagree with me that she should get any job or an internship etc in the interim whilst continuing to apply for ‘the perfect job’.

My kids are very young so I don’t have any experience of this yet but I’d imagine I’d be telling them to get some life experience and more relevant experience around the subject whilst still applying, surely that’d make them seem more appealing than just staying at home doing nothing for year?

I don't think sitting around on her arse doing nothing but applying for jobs is going to exactly make her CV 'pop'?

Wouldn't it be better to be getting some work/life experience, rather than none?

If her parents are happy to financially support her for a year the very least she should be doing is some volunteer work in the field she wants to work in.
What are her parents expectations if she hasn’t found this mythical perfect job in a year?

Totally agree with you.

With all that's going on, how likely is it that she'll land any form of "dream job" anytime soon, anyway?

It won't look good. My brother flipped burgers for 2 years before getting on the civil service graduate scheme. Would they have had him if he'd sat on his arse for 2 years? I doubt it.

If she is confident of getting a good job within the year I feel it's no harm for her to wait for it. Many graduates take the first job available and end up stuck in it. Work for a year in Tesco and she may find prospective employers ignore her application because they think if she stayed in that type of job for so long that is all she's good for.

The trouble is if she goes beyond a year and has done nothing at all it will look bad on her CV. She will probably find she is no longer even considered for the role she expects. A big gap is a red flag for employers so she really needs to do something in the interim, even if it's just volunteering in a charity shop for an afternoon a week.

As someone who is part of a recruitment panel for trainees (law firm), I would take a very dim view of that. Work experience, great, even if unpaid. Filling in with paid bar/shop work also good. Shows work ethic and an attitude of "I'll do what needs doing" rather than "I'm too good to waste my time working with the proles".

I have a just-graduated ds. Never mind the perfect job, any job is an impossibility at the moment, at least round here. And as for internships! Have you not been following the news?! Ds’s was cancelled, and every single one of his friends’ graduate training schemes have been postponed, and in several cases axed completely.

YANBU - but it depends how many of these perfect jobs there are. If there are loads then it might be worth giving it a go. If not, she might be in competition with graduates with better stories and more experience. Getting a job now will show she has initiative and transferable skills.

Well this was my point. I think they’re expecting her to have got this job within a year, there is no planB.
She’s found a part time internship in the right field in London for £12k. I thought that sounded great as she could do another job alongside to help with living costs and it’d be a step towards ‘perfect job’
I’ve been told I’m ridiculous and naive??

It can be catch 22, plenty of graduates apply for “basic jobs” and wonder why they don’t get any replies. Everyone knows they want a proper job in their field and don’t want waste your time employing and training them knowing in weeks or months they will be gone.

But I agree if they volunteer it shows some work ethic and on the job skills. Having nothing on C V for a year or longer, while being supported by parents for a fit young person seems a waste.

It is not your business. It's between your dB and dB.

If they choose to do that it's o skin off your nose, a d maybe there's things you do not know about things, maybe she needs a break for some reason.

Between dB and dn.

YABU in this job market. There aren't many unskilled or low skilled jobs around, permanent jobs can take months to recruit and there's little agency work for new graduates. No manager will want to take someone on who is over qualified as they're sinking recruitment costs into someone who is likely to move on.

If there's internships or voluntary work available that would help them get into their specific field then fair enough, but the days of graduates being able to do some temp office admin work, or a few supermarket shifts, are long gone.

@Rosehip345

Well this was my point. I think they’re expecting her to have got this job within a year, there is no planB. She’s found a part time internship in the right field in London for £12k. I thought that sounded great as she could do another job alongside to help with living costs and it’d be a step towards ‘perfect job’ I’ve been told I’m ridiculous and naive??

That’s sounds good in the current climate

She's mad not to have taken up the internship. In the same field, so she'd have actual, recent experience in the right area?? THAT'S cv gold.

I graduated in a recession and we all got whatever jobs we could. This time around's way worse.

Yanbu. DH and I both did temp work through an agency after graduating until the right job came along. DH ended up temping for over a year in the end. I'm sure any kind of employment would look better on a CV than 'sat on my arse being supported by mummy and daddy'.

Absolutely with you on this one from a parent perspective but also as a team leader in a large organisation.
If I were struggling to choose between two candidates equally qualified, capable and both interviewed well, I would more than likely choose the one who had perhaps picked up temp or volunteer work as opposed to one who sat back and did absolutely nothing for months on end. To me, the first candidate would have demonstrated some self motivation and hopefully gathered some life skills in the process - working within a team, communication etc and not taken a (sorry if this is blunt) a bit of an entitled attitude that such work is beneath them.
I have instilled this into my DD and DS. DD is about to start an apprenticeship with an international company and I like to think that the time she has spent since leaving college working in various part time jobs (hospitality and retail) and voluntary work in the public sector, helped her stand out from other candidates who were equally qualified academically.

How exactly it is your business? I wouldn't encourage my academic child with a degree in a respected field to stack supermarket shelves whilst applying for jobs/going to interviews.

Son of a friend of mine graduated with a first from Cambridge in a very specialised field. Knew exactly what he wanted to do and that opportunities rarely come up. So, he spent a year working in a restaurant kitchen. (This was pre-Covid, obviously.)

I don't know, applying for jobs nowadays is pretty full on. DH left the forces earlier this year and is looking for a new job and doing the childcare for baby DD whilst I work full time. All we hear is that applications, CVs and covering letters all have to be tailored to the role, and competition is so fierce at the moment you really do need to dedicate plenty of time for that to stand out. Your DNeice will probably also be doing things like timed online competency tests- like any exam you need to make sure you're not too tired or preoccupied with other stuff when you're sitting those.

DH is so hard pressed to do all that and make contact with agents etc in working hours that we're looking at putting DD in with a childminder for at least a day a week.

Things are tough out there and tbh even "shelf stacking" and or volunteer roles aren't that easy to find. Retail is shot, a lot of places have paused recruitment and it's only going to get worse when the furlough scheme stops.

I don't think you're wrong but it's a hard time to be looking for any job at the moment.

I don't see how it's any of your business really

I agree with you that she should get a job of any kind while waiting on her perfect job.

I have voted yabu just because I think you should keep your opinions to yourself

I used to write CVs for graduate students. And I was always struck when I spoke with them how everything about the ones who'd done SOMETHING was better. It wasn't just on the CV, it was in their attitude, conversation etc. I know that if I'd been hiring, the ones who had more were the ones who also would have done better at interview. Just in terms of being more worldly, more interesting, more dynamic.

I had one who I found particularly insipid. I found out later that it was his mum who had organised the whole thing, written his first (bad) cv, paid for my service and also had to drag him to the one hour consultation with me. I can't say I was surprised.

YANBU. But at the end of the day, you can't influence them. It's between your bother and his child. So just back away quietly.

I’m not sure she could do another job whilst doing an internship - they are usually pretty full on despite the low salary. In that respect I do think you are being a bit naive.

As to whether she should work whilst looking I think it would be better to do something than nothing but volunteering in a related field would be better than something paid but time consuming and unrelated.

To be honest I'm amazed she's got three interviews already. She's clearly doing something right even though she hasn't been successful in getting a job yet.

But also turning that around, getting some work experience under her belt would definitely be helpful even if it's not in a role that's relevant to what she ultimately wants to do. Transferable skills are always useful.