Anyone else feel like they have/will have no idea how to help their kids enter job market now?

[Echobelly]

My kids are early and late teens now, oldest will start uni next year. He has a pretty clear idea what he wants to do, which is great. It's low paying and hard to get into but he's realistic about that. Youngest still no clue really, and that's ok now.

But I feel like things have changed so profoundly since I finished education, and may change even more in the next few years I'm a bit of a loss to how to help. Other than advising them to become HVAC engineers - I mean, looks like the UK is going to start needing air con in homes soon!

I don't want to be like boomers telling millennials that they should walk in to an office and hand the manager a CV. 😂

It was ever thus.

The world we understand isn’t the one they’ll be living in.

I think they need to know how to be open to change, resilient and prepared to constantly learn, with the expectation that the world will change and so will the workplace so they need to be ready to adapt.
They need to be critical thinkers. I would worry less about specialism and worry more about personal characteristics.

We have the same problem. Ds2 is autistic and doing a theology degree because that's his passion and he's happy and doing well. Don't know where it will lead, but even if he'd gone down the stem route we wouldn't be able to predict things either due to AI advances. I wanted him to go into plumbing or heating engineering work, but that's not really him. He might as well be happy for the time being then we can fund him on a training course later perhaps.

I think young people are being badly let down in this country. Nobody seems to factor them into anything.

Well university should be setting them up with placements and connections for work. This is a quality that you should prioritise when selecting a university IMO.

In terms of helping them get their first job - I have a 13 year old and these are some things ill be doing to help:

Helping them create a CV, which lists at the very top of the page in bold, they are "searching for part time work around school and college" - then uploading this to a CV website.

I'll be asking around friends, family, work connections about little jobs for them around schooling. Id also encourage them to do the same amongst their circles.

I'll be encouraging them to look around when they're out and about in shop windows.

Registering themselves with an agency that does temping. Depending on your location - loads of temp agencies will take on a 16-18 yrs old for one off events like town festivals and corporate events for things like catering.

I think having a strong history of work before you actually enter a workplace is one of the biggest factors in being successful finding work and always has been.

I would be advising them to do a first aid course then do babysitting, part time teaching assistant work or life guarding around their 6th form and uni work. This will really help them with grad job applications. I would also get them careers coach to help with cv and interview prep

I think some of this is misguided too - I’d be telling them to look on websites of local chain stores, particularly around Christmas and applying on there.

DH works in retail and wouldn’t be advertising jobs in the shop window, and if a contact asked him for a job he’d say to apply through the website first as he can’t help anyone past that initial screening for fairness reasons.

I advised mine to have a specific job in mind that they're aiming for and a back up plan if it's hard to get into.

We aren't a family who can afford for them to study something they like with no obvious career path at the end of it.

So far it has worked.

And they did some relevant work experience before starting uni.

I’d suggest going into the military and eventually becoming an arms dealer as I reckon sadly there will just be more wars…

My parents didn’t direct me into my career and I didn’t direct my children into theirs. I expressed an opinion about choosing subjects at GCSE and A level but they didn’t take a lot of notice and my parents wouldn’t have had a clue.

I wouldn’t worry. They’ll pick up relevant information from school and peers and media.

I think it’s weird to pick random jobs (HVAC engineer, plumber) and direct your children towards them.

Think of all the people who ended up working in the many different strands of IT who started in other jobs and developed an interest and aptitude whilst doing something else. They don’t have to choose an as-yet unknown specialism from the get go.

Same as ever. Kids need to get the best qualifications they can, and then apply for jobs.

It wasn’t easy when my kids had to do in the 90’s and I don’t suppose it’s any easier now. They need to persevere.

Eh? I’ve got 2 kids who did it in the 90’s, and 5 grandkids that are doing it now.🤷‍♀️

None of this is new. 🙄

Worth saying universities do not set the students up with placements. The students need to apply themselves and placements are competitive, the interviews are rigorous and as considered as graduate roles.

Yes, but you and they have the internet to help get current information and learn. Previous generations just had their parents outdated advice.

No it isn’t what the hell are you chatting about 🤣
Its just a descriptive word for the generation born in the mid century after WW2.

OP I worry about this too, both mine are at uni now and have worked since age 16 or so but graduate jobs are so competitive and even non graduate jobs have so many applicants.

My Dd is in her second year at uni. She applied for more than 60 jobs in her first year (pt retail) and didnt get anything, they all wanted experience.
She got some casual work at a festival which was really long days for barely minimum wage, and then got a short term job at a chain over the summer.....and now we're back to square 1 in her uni city....

Haven't thought about how to help get into her chosen field....

Yes thats a given too. I didnt think about the Christmas jobs. 😀

Tell her to apply for summer internships, visit her careers dept, they can point her in the right direction.

DS got a degree apprenticeship that should end in a job - they're very competitive but if there's something they're really interested in then I'd definitely recommend it.

If he hadn't got one then my advice to him would have been to not assume going to university and getting a degree was anywhere near enough to get you a job. Applying for degree apprenticeships showed him just how full on the interview process is and how you really need lots of experiences to draw on.

I said to him I'd recommend a part time job, summer work placements, some sort of volunteering, a high level of involvement/running a relevant society, some sort of portfolio (github account in his case) of his own work and some other relevant short courses on the side. He would definitely want to have good examples of team work and leadership skills.

I think a lot of kids have no idea that they won't walk out of uni with a decent degree and fall straight into a good job. I think it's really helpful for parents to point out that they have to be doing things that will make them to stand out from the crowd.

They need work experience and to fill in the application as requested on the job ad. Having hobbies etc helps. That’s it really. If you mean helping them to choose jobs that won’t be replaced by AI, that’s a bit harder.

Are there no jobs at the uni? We could do bar work at the union, student mentoring, student ambassador work (open days etc), work at the gym, the on campus shops etc.

I graduated in the early 90s, no jobs around then either.

For today’s dc, I advise to get them job savvy. If they don’t know how to use excel , then do an online course to get up to speed.

Get a job or do volunteering that gives them transferable skills, eg help coach a football team. - leadership etc.

Support your kids when applying for jobs. Read through cvs, job applications etc before they submit them.

I think oldest has the right idea at the moment - studying in London where he is most likely to find p/t jobs or at least volunteering in his chosen field, and where he's already doing some voluntary work. He also is expecting he might have to have a 2nd job, at least initially, if he's to afford living independently.

Youngest is harder to predict - bright but has ADHD that means he might not do brilliantly in GCSEs. At the moment he wants to work in something to do with looking after animals, but he'll probably need decent academics for any such role that would pay enough to live independently, but I may be wrong about that. Certainly considering degree apprenticeship route for him if there's something suitable, but I know that's competitive too.