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

A job would require minimum commitment . So good practice

@HHHMMM
Well I myself have recruited about 30 of them over the years as a manager in biotech and my current employer ( a university- I went back to work in Innovation) is recruiting for 2 now.
Though it is getting more common that PhDs are applying for entry biotech roles.
Also for University roles outside the lab it helps if your previous course Professors vouch for you
It boils down to who you can get for what you can pay

Have you looked at temp agencies? I’ve gone back to uni and signed up with an agency and they’ve got me a few weeks work already working at sports events

Its because she has no experience , she needs someone to re do her CV, She needs to do any volunteer work, she needs ro learn to drive, she can ring all the pubs in her area for a job, she can go to all the recruitement agencies, if she has pink hair get it dyed brown, look in shop windows for jobs, go to job centre, look at indeed and monster daily, theres always jobs in retail,

This is easily one of the most awkward OPs I’ve come across, so DD is a gym bunny who can’t miss a day, yet can’t get up or brush her teeth.
99% of advice is sneered at , why bother posting??

Are you sure your attitudes are not rubbing off on your daughter. Describing call centre and cleaning as crappy, the job centre that you have to have skin of a Rhino. If she can’t be arsed to brush her teeth in the morning how do you expect her to react around professional recruiters or a job Call centre jobs and cleaning are both hard work. Overqualified graduates are everywhere the job market is competitive. You say she doesn’t need money so won’t engage with job centre are you sure she’s not engaging with their process because she wants a well paid career handed to her instead of her not you OP putting in the work, taking jobs earning her own money building confidence.

So assuming the OP's daughter does indeed have life sciences degree, what would convince you to hire her for one of the two roles you advertise now?

Assuming CV is a 2.1 middle-range Russel group 3-year university and one year off after this.

The facts are that the market is oversaturated. She is applying for jobs which hundreds of other graduates are applying for. Your daughter didn’t get a first, so she is immediately 2nd tier. And if her attitude is anything like yours has been on here then she won’t be getting marks for personality.

She may not want to do entry level lab work, but at some point she needs to realise that she has to take what is being offered and work her way up. Get some experience. She won’t be there forever. But if she doesn’t start working her way in to the field soon, then they won’t take her because there will be new graduates next year.

OP - my dd might have done a similar degree and a placement and fortunately didn't end up in a lab placement as she hated lab work. She managed to get a grad scheme just after graduation but it was tough going and felt like that opportunity was last chance saloon. She would have done a masters if she hadn't got that job. Fully aware that a masters would also be no guarantee of a job, she'd have chosen carefully. Is that an option for your DD?

I can imagine she might have been burnt out from studying - my dd was - but your DD has had a year out now. There are a number of masters that can be studied online - through decent Universities. Perhaps she could work very part time and live at home and study online, just to get back on her feet.

OP, I haven't read the entire thread, just the first few and last couple.....

I am afraid that all Grads are now fighting for a small pool of "crappy shitty jobs".

DD has a first, and an Oxbridge Masters. She is currently working in retail, who employed her as permanent staff following a temp xmas role. Its NMW. Its not her dream job, but it gets her out of the house, and hooray, it is a lovely gentle and nice group of people that she is working with. A good introduction to the workplace. Edited to add.... it wasn't advertised, she saw a card in the window and popped in.

Edited to add also....DD is a national competitor in a strength sport, she trains pretty much every day too, and manages to have a job. No excuses.

In her field, most jobs are now volunteer, and others are part-time, or require a PHD for not much more than NMW salaries.

Its shit. But your dd needs to just get in there. My niece, who has a similar background to your DD, except she has a first and a masters, has recently started with the NHS on an entry position lab post.

Have you looked at event volunteering? Those would be one off commitments but also get her out there. Sports evens or reclaim the night walks often take ad-hoc volunteers. It could be good for networking too.

are there any graduate schemes she can apply to? I think the job market is quite rough for youngsters at the mo but if she can do a bit of research into companies that are in the sector she works in, she could just look to apply for any kind of position to get her foot in the door.

I wouldn’t pay for the coaching, its a lot of money for resources that you should be able yo find for free.

another idea might be to join the institute or professional body of the area that she wants to join, they quite oftn have networking & social events where she could build up contacta in the local area

You don’t need career coach, he or she will be focusing on how to network and submit job applications and interview.
looks like you need a life coach and /or therapist if she’s so depressed that she refuses to brush teeth etc

OP, do you think getting onto a prestigious career path the key to unlocking her mental health issues, or is solving the MH a pre-requisite for being able to function in the workforce at the level you think she should?

It's not clear to me from your posts, but seems a fairly fundamental issue to resolve before throwing money at anything.

@HHHMMM At this moment it is oriented to food so demonstrating interest in that. Also content of her final year project. One of them is a support role so not stunning pay but once in you could move about potentially. If outward facing there is a lot to be said for enthusiasm and evidence of having researched the organization and post.
Had some dreadful interviews in the past where there was obviously no attempt by the candidate to research the company or role. You would think it obvious but sadly no.
Also do not use a generic cv. Tailor it each time to the role you are applying for ideally giving evidence to support. As a youngster an employer cannot expect too much experience, but you could say things like in my role at Tesco I was required to be flexible. Or I have a longstanding interest in GMO
HHHMMM you probably know this but @mothersdaywoe make sure you do not pay for someone to create a beautifully designed generic cv- it is not what employers want
Oh and actually I do not give a crap if they have a first. Good at studying isn't necessarily good at contributing in a work envirnment

Has she set her LinkedIn? I find a lot of grads underestimate the value of it. I got my first grad job through that (approached by a start up who couldn’t afford to pay recruiters) and every job since.

Setting herself up to be really searchable, connecting with recruiters and applying for jobs though LinkedIn could be helpful if she isn’t already doing this.

If you give me £500, I'll hire her to clean my house.

I know somebody who was made redundant. Was out of work for a number of months and participated in a group that was supposed to be for networking, helping with interviews and updating cvs. The person who joined the group ended up being more experienced than the people running the group but there were many others who had very little experience.

However, realistically there was little to no networking and nobody ended up with a job because of the 'course'. The person I know didn't pay for it it but I don't know if others did. I hope not......

So how exactly is this person going to be level expert in all fields or do they just cover the field she wants to go into?

You'd be far better to speak to someone who already works in the field if you want careers advice. A decent CV in one field is a straight in the bin for another. I'd say this is quite scam like aimed at those desperate to find at job, I wouldn't pay it personally, I'd focus on finding ANY job first. Are there any courses that would give her a leg up to increase her chances of getting the relevant work experience? I'd be more inclined to spend my money on a course learning the skills needed for the job than paying someone with no guarantee of a job.

I wouldn't if I were you, she definitely thinks she's too good to clean, she sits in corners sulking and she 'self medicates'. It's hard for all new graduates to get jobs, but this one probably will find it harder than others.

She works in Tesco so does have some work experience.

OP, this was an incredibly helpful post by @Tonissister outlining a path which worked for someone in your daughter’s position, getting snarky and rude is uncalled for. I get the sense you are angry at the world about your daughter’s failure to walk into a stellar career from the off. GCSE grades and Russel Group doesn’t matter that much these days, which is horrible for you both but where things are. Just to help your perspective a little, each year there are 20,000 graduate training placements in this country. Thee are currently 1.2million graduates seeking their first job in their chosen career. There are so, so many qualified people just like your daughter chasing jobs, I would get 100s of applicants for every entry graduate role I had. I was going to make some other suggestions but I’m not sure you are prepared to listen, and I don’t want to be snarked at, so 🤷‍♀️

Ultimately success at career is natural ability (talent) x time x effort (enthusiasm).

I totally get the expectation of getting a job and then career progression after a degree that (1) has training on the job, not requiring Masters and PhD on top, (2) reasonable hours and (3) doesn't require huge enthusiasm for the role - leaving the job at work.
However struggle to think of any STEM area that still offers abundance of such jobs! Used to think that this is what civil service is, but might just reflect my ignorance of civil service.

Is she savy? Would she know what Angostura bitters is and how to use it?

It's also really useful to know how to make really good scrambled eggs for the morning after.

It really sounds like she needs to focus on her mental health first before she is really going to be employable. Job hunting can be a pretty brutal process and she needs to be in a place where she can deal with the inevitable rejections.