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

This is the internet, we don't need your authorisation to be here.

You've started a thread with completely mis leading title and information then drip, drip, drip more info and now making stroppy remarks to people trying to help.

Go ahead and spend £500 on a coach for your daughter. I'm sure it will really help.

As someone with over 40 years experience at senior levels in a broad range of industries who has successfully helped numerous grads and job hunters into grad roles and specialist industries in the past few years, I am surprised by some of your responses.
There is lots of really helpful advice on here. The job market has shifted massively.
What skills does she have that employers want?

I'm guessing OP has a decent amount of money (£500 isn't expensive) and can't comprehend that money doesn't fix everything. Your daughter sounds academically very bright but you seem terrified she'll have to settle for a "low level" job.
Or even worse a "crappy shitty" job (that she can't even get anyway!)
This attitude isn't gonna help. The attitude that volunteering is pointless won't help

She sounds a bright girl. What was her degree in?

Do you live in or near a decent town or city? What field does she want to work in? Has she tried local recruitment agencies. Is she getting through the initial screening rounds of interviews?

Has she got friends who have jobs in local companies?

@mothersdaywoe a lot of people on here are kindly offering you good advice which I'm afraid you are dismissing in a rather rude way. We may be able to offer more relevant advice and practical help if you let us in on the secret of what her degree is in and which career it is she has in mind. There is no point in any of us suggesting good ways to become a ballet dancer or a brick!she'd if she only wants to be a brain surgeon.

If they are on UC, their work coach can do all of that with them.

It was via the JobCentre.
He had his initial interview at the jobcentre when he signed on, I went with him and explained about his autism and how that might impact him and the jobcentre staff member handed us a leaflet about this scheme.

He was referref by the jobcentre. It was run by a local charity but part funded by the local council.

The life coach helped him with applications and liaised with the employer about reasonable adjustments.

Sorry, above post should read ballet dancer or brick layer!

Has she ever had a 'job'?

What about signing up with temp agencies for office jobs. They can turn into permanent or at least contract positions, once they discover how capable you are. And in terms of unexpected contacts, I temped as a receptionist for a well-known head office during uni holidays. I helped a visitor with something unrelated to work, not expecting anything in return, and he said, "I hear you're studying law at uni. I have a contact at (named a big city law firm) who does their work experience and placement programmes. Would you like me to introduce you?" Of course not all temp jobs will offer great connections or opportunities, but the more you do, the better the jobs you will be offered, the more people you will meet etc.

I don't mean this to come across as knocking you when you're down, but some of your responses are coming across as rather snobby and aren't doing you any favours. If your daughter has the same entitled attitude, it can hold her back.

I'm also surprised you think it's the school/uni's job to teach your DD how to find work. It's a parent's job to teach their child how to construct a CV; how to write a cover letter; how to prepare for, dress and behave in an interview; how to write a brief thank you note following a knock back; where to look for jobs; help them develop self confidence etc.

All that being said, the job market is hard for everyone, but your DD is in a better position than most. She's young, presumably healthy, and has no financial worries or responsibilities. Her age means she's eligible for a working holiday visa in lots of other countries, where she may be more successful finding work. She could also do a shorter stint abroad, like a summer camp job. It might not be her ideal, but it's better than sitting at home moping. You've also been given good advice re Tesco - these types of organisations are massive with lots of different roles. Has she tried to move into any of these? A friend started off on checkouts in highschool, then moved into management and a senior HQ position following uni.

Contact senior staff in the companies she'd love to work for; talk to the parents of her fellow classmates; follow people on LinkedIn and comment on relevant posts; go to public lectures and socialise with people in the industry. What would you do if you were looking for a job? That's what your DD should be doing.

Don't dismiss job centres

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/17/labour-young-people-work-jobseeker-employment

As an employer that employs young graduates, I can assure you that I'm very interested in transferable skills and general work ethic. Indeed, I value such things far more highly than I value a polished CV or personal introductions.

And with respect, if you didn't come here to talk about "jobs", perhaps you should have worded your thread title differently.

You can pay for support if you like, but my personal opinion is that it sounds like a monumental waste of money.

If you repost with more info people can give focused suggestions.
I don’t understand why she’s applying for call centre and cleaning if she’s working in Tesco?
If she’s not currently working then I’d encourage her to work in a role that will give transferable skills. Employers do look at work history and it will give her examples for interviews.
The uni careers service should be open to her. My dc’s uni has multiple online sessions each week on all sorts of topics eg assessment centres, CVs and networking events. Even if she’s can’t get a 1-1 appointment she can access online sessions.
Has she looked at fixed term or temp roles. They can be a good foot in door as more experienced won’t go for them.
Your local council website may have volunteering opportunities.
By you saying compliance I wonder if it’s legal she’s aiming for. CAB will usually take volunteers. Legal at entry level is such an oversaturated market.

@RoseField1 you may want to read the OP’s posts again …

Leaving aside your rather aggressive responses, @mothersdaywoe - a ‘career’ usually involves professional training. An undergraduate degree by itself isn’t enough.

It’s pointless to look back, but it sounds as if your DD didn’t have enough guidance through her university years on next steps. Thousands of her peers are currently training in accountancy, architecture, law, medicine, nursing, teaching, engineering …

It isn’t too late, surely, for her to proceed to relevant professional training?

I can remember a friend of mine had a sister who moved to London for work and temped and was sent to Vivienne Westwood to work as a receptionist. Because she was an extremely efficient no nonsense Yorkshire girl they ended up training her into their HR function and she used that as a stepping stone to move to different fashion companies/ designers in London.

It might be useful to provide relevant information about your daughter’s current qualifications and career ambitions. This is SM even if you spell it out people will misinterpret or not understand what you are talking about. Others will just provide opinionated advice.

The job market is really flat at the moment particularly at entry level. This is due to over recruitment post covid and a volatile economy. Employers are not investing and rising costs mean they are downsizing their workforce.

AI is an added complication to recruitment, both for the applicant and the employer. It allows people to spam job applications to an unmanageable level almost instantly. Recruiters simply stop taking applications after a period. They then have hundreds if not thousands of applications most of which are rubbish.

The applications are then run through AI for shifting. Unless CVs match language and experience perfectly they get rejected. As a lot of the applications are rubbish the recruitment process fails.

The bottom line is that CVs have to be constantly and quickly adapted to match the language of the job specification. But also that networking is back even though a lot of employers won’t admit it and it isn’t really an option for entry level roles.

in terms of the service you are asking about, who knows if it works. There may be good service providers and bad service providers. Your daughter’s CV isn’t going to be extensive. I can’t see how much CV writing will add to the quality if content is limited. But if you can easily afford it and the service comes with good reviews then it is up to you.

Ignore all the snide posters OP. Some posters love to pounce on the smallest glib remark.
I wouldn’t bother with volunteer work either. A long record of working at Tesco’s is good.

One of my DC got through to the final partners rounds of a big four graduate scheme with zero work experience apart from working in a coffee shop.The fact they had great stories to tell from the coffee shop and the fact they often worked 60 and even 70 hour weeks seemed to go down well. To be fair they didn’t get the job and it did go to the other applicant who had relevemt work experience but is shows the value of any work. They ended up approaching a slightly smaller company and getting on their graduate training program.

I think getting a job used to be more of a numbers game but it does seem to be difficult at the minute.

I agree with you.

It’s just a tough market at the moment. I have a 17 year old who can’t get an apprenticeship or a job or even work experience. I don’t think paying for anything will work with the volumes of youngsters in the same situation. And I think that’s it it’s the volumes of people rather than any lack of skills. In theory my 17 year old has good grades, good attitude etc but he’s also competing against 100 applicants even for a Saturday job in a garden centre. She needs to work on her resilience, my son had to too.

A bright young lady in her early 20's should be getting out and experiencing life instead of fretting with her mother about "a career."

Instead of spaffing the £500 on "advice", give her the money and get her to apply for a Working Holiday Visa to Canada, Australia or somewhere similar. Getting out of her comfort zone and cutting the apron strings might help her to understand what she really wants to do, give her some new life skills, and give her a whole new perspective on life, the universe and everything.

Are you able to share what her degree is in/what industry she is looking for work in? Is she looking for jobs solely in this area currently? It might be helpful to share because someone here might have experience in her sector.

I think the £500 "coaching" will likely be a waste of money. You can't buy organic networking/connections.

Is she still working at Tesco currently? If she's not, it might be worth her signing on at the job centre to keep up her NI contributions.

What about self employment, like dog walking? Cleaning? (For the time being). Tbh, I need a dog walker…

I think it would help if you mention what degree she studied and what career she wants to get into. Then those people in that industry may be able to advise.