Brutal grad jobs market

[anotherglass]

Hello, my DS 22 graduated last July with an BEng from a Russell Group uni. Since then he has applied for around 60-70 jobs with no success. The whole process of online assessment, video interview and then rejection / ghosting is starting to grind him down. It is even tough to secure a part-time job in our area - such as a coffee shop or retailer - as he is considered over qualified and a risk, due to the fact he is searching for a full-time role.
I am finding myself worrying more and more about his mental health and future.
He is already less enthusastic about applying for jobs.

Any suggestions on what to do from here? Is it worth considering a Masters to try and ride out the horrendous job market?

Thank you

PS I would encourage you to ignore any post which implies "Well I wouldn't start from here". It's not too late for anything. I happened to meet an engineer who works at a big local firm and I was bemoaning the fact that my DS had missed the deadline for this year's recruitment round. She said, breezily, "Well he can just apply when it opens again."

Some people seem to take a perverse pleasure in smugposting.

Go for the masters. It will ride out time and also mean he’s higher up the pecking order when he’s applying again.

DS graduated this year with a non vocational degree. He still has no idea what path his career will take but while he works it out he’s working in a totally non related job that you don’t need a degree for. Friends have had issues finding work as deemed over qualified and are now not mentioning degrees in an effort to get any job for the time being.

This is why the phrase "Panic Masters" is becoming a thing.

Some will be lucky and get a funded masters, but many others will need to take out a Postgraduate Loan, which has to be paid back in parallel with their undergraduate loan - it isn't just added to the original debt.

People who say that sort of thing are not really advising the op, they are advising other readers who are a few years behind the op.

I learned much of what I know about modern graduate recruitment from reading Mumsnet, and it has been very helpful for advising my yp's.

My husband works in that area. I’d definitely encourage him to look for a more entry level job, if he’s good, enthusiastic, works hard it won’t take long to be promoted, gain more skills, be more employable. Good luck, it is brutal out there.

@NotInMyyNameI cannot believe a young engineer graduates without being a student member of a suitable institution. I would also advocate looking sideways for jobs.

We don’t have a vast aerospace industry. (I think the BEng was in that discipline)

Also there isn’t a recruiting round for smaller companies. They take grads on when they need them. Also bilingual grads are useful for aerospace as we have business links with EU. It’s a case of being more savvy and upskilling.

Would he consider getting some sales experience? My DS graduated in engineering, had a gap year abroad, did various sales jobs and off the back of that got a job as a sales engineer. He says that good engineers who can also sell are in short supply.

Again I'd reiterate that the engineering industry is far bigger than the big household name companies, there are tens of thousands of small and medium sized, well established businesses that feed in to those big companies.

We design, make and instal BMS equipment (the control systems that look after the heating and ventilating in big buildings) - its not making aero engine turbine blades or sports cars, but we form the backbone of what's left of the engineering industry, and many supply those bigger firms with components or sub assemblies.

Engineers working in this sort of set up have a much more fun life, because not only do you get to design the product, you get to play in the workshop making prototypes and one offs - you really can't beat wearing shop coat and safety specs leaning over the lathe or mill carefully crafting your drawings into reality - I'm in the drawing office now looking down at the factory floor and really must find a reason to go and play with machines before closing!!!

For sure! DH is an architect and he's always worked for non 'big name' places. Whilst on his year out, he had friends who worked on super big projects but did endless hours of work on very small minutia parts of the projects. He went on site, alongside the project architect learning stuff in real-time. He still works for a small place but has had good work-life balance and a fairly ok wage.

I think it’s also to think about whether a consultancy is the way to go. Again some are SMEs.

@anotherglass has he considered pivoting into technology? Presumably he did some coding as part of his degree? If not, then there are re-training options. e.g. My employer, and other big name organisations, take on junior tech staff from this re-training programme: https://www.lafosseacademy.com/apply/

Also, some big IT consultancies, like CGI, work on IT programmes for the aerospace industry, so having that degree might be beneficial.

Very useful, I have DS in same position. So hard for them

I don’t know if this is sensible but could he approach adjacent spaces and offer to volunteer to get some experience? AerospaceBristol, for example? Might not be exactly his field but it might help him get out of the doldrums, get some adjacent experience and look good on his CV? https://aerospacebristol.org/volunteer

There’s also sideways moves into finance and accounting etc.What links has his uni careers office got?

Don’t companies need to be on the list for visa sponsorship? Ridiculous that someone could sue a company for not employing them if they won’t sponsor a visa.

A company doesn’t need sponsor status to employ an international graduate who has switched to a post-study work visa (valid for 18 months), only if they employ someone eligible for a skilled worker visa.

I work in renewables. There are loads of small companies out there who would employ someone like him. It’s worth looking for a paid internship to prove himself & he could then pivot into a permanent job.

@Captcha4903I had a very similar experience. We must have graduated around the same time. For most graduate schemes I couldn’t even get past the online tests, the furthest I got was a group interview. I ended up getting a job at a small local employer in a remote small town, it paid £14k but it was in my exact field and a year later moved into a bigger and better company in a city.
I actually didn’t get the first job the first time I applied, but the boss had said there might be a similar vacancy coming up again in a couple of months, and I chased up. He said part of the reason he hired me was because of showing that determination.
So think outside the box and get him to contact companies directly, send speculative applications.

Also, and I know people dismiss this as outdated advice, but going round door to door with a CV really does still work for retail or hospitality jobs, if he needs something to tide him over. It works best for independent places where you don’t apply to a head office, and they often don’t have the budget to advertise on the big job sites.
On the whole, I’ve found that applying online through places like Indeed is a waste of time.

Also, if applying for retail/hospitality, make an entirely separate CV for that. Only include relevant experience from previous part time jobs (if he’s had them), and leave out the degree and anything else not relevant.

Nightmare. I think getting any job is essential to keep motivation. Temping, play down qualifications?

I do agree with writing a cv tailored to a basic job but I don’t agree he should hide qualifications. That is not correct and most companies don’t like liars. Be honest at all times.

@OhDear111It’s not hiding or lying, it’s just leaving out irrelevant details. I don’t mention my Food Hygiene certificate when applying for office jobs related to my degree, similarly I didn’t include my degree when I was applying for jobs in hospitality.

I could write the book on ‘lessons learnt from graduating into a recession’. I tended to get filtered at interview stage. My written applications always ticked every box. I struggled at interview getting lots of rejections for ‘lack of experience’ which was frustrating when said experience could only realistically be obtained by getting the role.

Amongst the key learning points from those austerity years:

1/ There comes a point when being unemployed can become a barrier to getting a job. You cannot allow a CV gap to develop. Anything is better than a gap.

2/ You may have to comprise. I spent too long firing CVs into a black hole in the mistaken belief I was special. If there are 1,000,000 unemployed young people you are not special.

3/ In retrospect, if the employer asks for anything more than CV/Cover letter + interview I would pass on the opportunity. I invested far too much time on hoop-jumping applications. I did a 500-word written task for an internship and never got a reply! What a waste of time!

In the current market passing on the opportunity if employer asking for anything more than a CV and cover letter would rule out so many opportunities. However I take your point you definitely need to be selective with your applications and careful about amount of time you spend on each stage particularly if you are still studying. DDs uni suggested starting early, look widely and keep going. DDs BF has a MEng plus great work experience but still found it brutal. He found less competition for defence/nuclear energy jobs where security clearance required.