Paying to find young person a first job

[mothersdaywoe]

Has anyone tried this, its not expensive £500 for coaching, CV analysis, career advice BUT no guarantee of employment at the end.
Its been a year now, DC is depressed and failing further and further behind

Sorry, was reading and replying at speed!

@mothersdaywoe @HHHMMM
Hi I have been in the "Life Science" Industry since 1988.
Lots of things have changed.
Lab based roles are no longer the only starting point for a career, although I did go back for a further research based degree at one point.
You can have a very good career in the commercial side of biotechnology (I did), whether it is in biopharma, commercial equipment supply or genomics
You can also work in Universities outside the academic path in Knowledge Transfer or Innovation.
There are also lots of opportunities within food.
You can work for charities or government bodies related to grant funding
I recommend she has a look at things that she finds interesting (based possibly on modules she enjoyed in her degree) then sets herself up on Linkedin, and starts connecting with people in the Industries she finds interesting. There is also a job search function on Linkedin

Also it is very important to tell her that very few people stay with their first job. You have to kiss a few frogs

Try a job in retail first to get some life experience more than anything.

Interesting. Was there a name for the place as really interested in this?

It is really hard to even get an interview.

She’s worked for Tesco for 6 years. Unless she was sacked then that sort of retail experience she should be ok to go back or get taken on at another supermarket.

I have a friend who’s a life coach.
She doesn’t charge anywhere near that much.
Her success rate for finding people jobs is extremely high even in the current jobs market.
I’d say it’s money well spent if you have it.
She’s great at boosting confidence too!

Running her own tutoring business is a good shout. Maths/science tutoring is in demand. Shows employers she can run a business, deal with clients, invoices, tax.
A short term solution is summer work. Get a job for summer and then focus on career jobs. Some areas run mad science type camps if she’s happy working with children. Would take pressure off annd anvoid the blank space on cv continuing and hopefully help her confidence.

Yes I’d definitely do it. However I suspect that if she’s set her heart on a particular niche or sector that’s part of the problem. Demand and being too narrow.

Working with someone that can help
identify a range of options for her could be a game changer. So many people end up miles away from where they thought their academics might lead them.

Also if she’s followed a science path it’s very evidenced based and logical. Careers can be organic and you do just have to dive in. I’ve seen people with a science background excel in teaching (inc being a tutor), accountancy (great business qualification), sales, management and innovation (own business). But the career path is linear and the route might be scenic and ambiguous. So having someone to guide and coach her would help. And you can step back.

And remember not every job that launches a career is neatly labelled ‘graduate trainee’. The career is driven by the individual - not the employers. Got to look here, there and everywhere in this market.

Does she know exactly what she wants to do OP? Or does she need support in deciding what she wants to do?

I think before forming out for any career coaching, it’s worth knowing exactly what you want to get out of it as there are so many charlatans out there.

if she knows exactly what roles she is targeting then £500 could be very well spent fine-tuning her CV, guidance on recruitment processes etc.

If it’s more around figuring out what she wants to go into then I wouldn’t spend any money without highly regarded personal recommendations for people with the skills able to help. Otherwise I fear it would be money down the drain. Especially if your DD is so low that she won’t really engage.

I don’t think op’s dd is in the right place for setting up a business. She needs some support by the sound of it.

@mothersdaywoe does your dd still work at Tesco? Signing on at the Job Centre does mean NI is paid for you if nothing else.

If she has worked at Tesco for 6 years can she get on their grad scheme? It is often easier internally.
Im on the other side of this issue. I have a small firm of accountants. We can’t find competent trainees for love nor money. We are on our 3rd bookkeeper in 12 months and the last grad trainee we let go as he got 16% in a multiple choice exam where the pass mark is 55%, he lied about going to the college and assumed we wouldn’t find out! We aren’t taking on graduate trainees anymore, too much of a liability. We are actively recruiting for 2 accounts apprentices though and that’s tough going - think we’ve found one yesterday though so that’s a plus!
As a small firm we get inundated with applications from indeed as you can auto apply. We had 90 in 3 hours for a part time experienced bookkeeper, got the numbers down to 6 and offered interviews, only one turned up and they wanted to be an accountant (so the whole process starts again).
I absolutely hate recruiting, absolute worst part of having a business.
If she knows what she wants to do, get her to email speculative CV and email ask for work experience/ whether there are any jobs. We’ve taken 3 staff on this way in the past 2 years without advertising. Shows your proactive, interested and if the company y know a job will be coming up they will consider you. It won’t work for big companies, but firms like ours 20-40
staff will quite often hire like this.

If you can afford the £500 I would go for it.

It will make you feel better which can only help the general atmosphere in your home.

And it might give her some confidence. There are enough people who are happy to spend money on coaching and CV building to suggest that it is not a total waste of money.

However, I would be extremely doubtful if it will help with introducing her to contacts or materially help in making her more employable. Like others have said, there are a lot of young people out there with better results than her and no mental health issues. It is insanely competitive out there which is horrible for all the young people trying to start a career. I'm just trying to be realistic (I worked with graduate careers for a good number of years).

But it sounds as if she needs a break. She sounds like a great girl who, through no fault of her own, is battling her way through mental health crisis, and has found herself in a shocking job market.

So throw money at the problem. It can't hurt.

Its not a first job though if your child is already working??

It sounds like she needs mental health support / life coaching rather than CV advice.

Alongside the above you’ve mentioned she doesn’t brush her teeth in a morning and is “self-medication”, whatever that means.

With the best will in the world, she’s going to struggle to get a “career” job with personal hygiene and such issues. That needs to be her focus

Sorry OP If I’ve missed something but are you saying your DD hasn’t been in work for over a year. The best feedback would be her following up any job interviews where she didn’t get it, in terms of a career any job would be better than none. I’ve worked with younger people and yes at the moment the job market seems harder than normal but in order for her to network and get on in life the journey is hers. These type of professionals charging for a cv or interview techniques often give generic advice that national careers do for free. Personally I think 500 could be better spent on a qualification for your daughter.

If your DD's mental health is as fragile as it sounds (eg unable to get up and brush teeth) then is there a risk that the job coach sets up a vicious circle of "this has to work, has to be perfect... oops, not everything is going right every time... oh, it's because I'm useless... nothing will work" ...?

Could she find herself an unrelated job with shortish hours for a few months? Cover receptionist or whatever - something where being chatty and bubbly is appreciated. Just to get a routine of getting out the house, doing well at something.
Then add a couple of half days a week doing some "feel good" voluntary work. A befriender or something - so she is being appreciated for herself, and feels needed and valued. None of it is directly about getting into her perfect career, it's about improving her mental health to the point she can face the risk of rejection again. At that stage, THEN you get the job coach person involved.

Why did you call the job centre with a graduate who is academic to have a good degree she should be making the calls.

I agree if I was recruiting and someone came in with someone to hold their hand - even waiting outside. I would notice and it would be an instant no. I want to recruit able and confident staff who are self motivated.

I employ a few young people in more or less minimum wage positions and honestly, at least half of them are useless. You can coach someone to seem impressive at interview and you can get AI to write their CV for them but getting the job is only half the battle. Keeping it is the other half.

If they are useless, lazy, completely lacking in any common sense or initiative and can't leave their phone alone for five minutes then they won't make it through their probation period anyway.

Pay for coaching by all means, but pay for someone to explain what's required to keep a job, not just be offered one.

I agree with this- maybe working on DDs mental health would be a valuable first step as not getting up and brushing her teeth is not conductive to finding and keeping a job.

Actually ignore what I said. This is much better advice!

Also is she searching for Intern jobs?
Pick a life science company put their name in google with Intern jobs
Quite a lot are short term contracts but might give her an idea of what she likes doing
Project and Business Management Internship Manchester 2023 - Azenta | Bright Network

Internships | Bright Network

That is histrionic. Of course no career would be ended if someone discovered you had not been paid for an internship. The company might be frowned on but the intern wouldn't be.
You are reacting illogically, OP.

Thank you for sharing your opinion!
How many (non lab-jobs) jobs have you seen on average per year that are genuinely open for fresh graduates just after 3-year undergraduate?

I've been in the industry for 25 years, however my view is skewed towards experience in academia (lots of flavours) and one genomics industry company. There are zero entry-level life-sciences-focused roles in my current company in principle. However, I admit it might be different for other companies or roles.

Would not advise life sciences as a career choice to my children unless it is an absolute must.