Son 21 no job in limbo - need sources of help

[Hamserfan]

My 21 year old did A-levels during COVID. Didn’t achieve his predicted grades but did get an unconditional offer from his preferred uni for a closely related course. Unfortunately struggled in some aspects and after two years and a bit years including a course change has dropped out.

Back at home since end of last academic year. Has applied for lots of jobs eg retail, hospitality and for some apprenticeships. In 15 months he has done two try out shifts in a cafe. No other trial shifts, no interviews nothing.

He will not let us look at any applications or his CV. He wants to do it himself. Says that the job centre team have said his CV is OK. We are now getting concerned as the length of time with no progress is increasing. Does anyone have a careers counselling type service they have experience of and would be happy to recommend?

Has he signed up with any local temping agencies? My DS did that when he was on a year out and they were really helpful - he ended up doing about 4 different jobs during the year which all gave him different skills.

I think that the Princes Trust is now called the King's Trust.

Have a look at Brook Street agency too. They provide some temps to some departments in the Civil Service.

If he himself suspects ADHD can he add meditation abs running into his schedule?

Agree too with getting voluntary work, even if it's just retail experience gained from a local charity shop.

Does he like maths? An accountancy or bookkeeping course with AAT distance learning perhaps?

I'd get him to volunteer for something, anything local. You'd have to live super rurally not to have something you could help with - county councils usually have a database of groups looking for volunteers from befriending people - chatting on the phone - to conservation and environment management. This would at least give some structure to part of his week and look marginally better on his cv and give him new referees.

All great suggestions - that we have already made mostly! He has applied for a couple of voluntary positions recently and is waiting to hear. Learning to drive, test booked.

I have today pointed him to a couple of things on the King’s Trust website that was a brilliant suggestion thank you! I have also found some one to one sessions on Careers Wales and insisted that he book one face to face as he stated he would prefer the online session.

I can imagine they you have tried most of them already. It must be so frustrating.

I'm so glad that you e found something with the King's Trust.

Have a look at course on food and allergies. It used to be free, I don't know if it still is but it's a good thing to talk about at interviews at places like Cafes.

Also look at free courses in Wales.

And see if you can get him to do Basic Food Hygiene at the local college.

Hope that he's managed a bit of progress today

I sympathise hugely!
Contrary to what others say, I don't think it's easy to get ANY job at the moment. As he has over 2 yrs uni I think many employers will say he's over qualified sadly.
Would he consider another degree course?
Maybe apply for degree apprenticeships but get a move on as deadlines are looming, and try to get any old job to infil before it starts.
Volunteering is good as an in-fill and would make him stand out against his peers. Who knows, may lead to a job in the charity sector.
Do some free online courses (Udemy or Coursera) in the meantime and add these onto the CV to show he has used his time usefully.
You can find registered careers coaches listed on the Career Development Institute website and they can help with interview practice, online presence as well as CV review
I really relate my Ds was the same - spent all of 2022 sitting on his a**e and gaming despite having a Maths 1st and now, with some nagging from me, has completed a year in a poorly paid job he dislikes, but now accepts he was complacent...
Keep at it and don't lose heart!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. He has now booked a F2F one to one session with careers wales locally. He has indeed been trying for retail etc but no joy with these. Applied for a couple of volunteering roles but heard nothing as yet.

Will check out the career development website next

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. He has now booked a F2F one to one session with careers wales locally

T HV at DS positive step at least

A quick update a volunteering role has led to a very particular time but paid role. Applications for various part time courses are also underway

In Ireland but a number of friends have children clawing for any form of a job after college and unable to find anything. The jobs market has so many experienced adults that are willing to do anything that they’re just not taking teens and young adults. Would he consider working at a charity shop or the like just to get experience? Is there anything he can do at home to further his prospects? An online course?

Please see my update the volunteering has led to a part time role. He is still looking for something else to complement this. But his first paid work 👏

As an employer in retail myself here are the things that stand out most for me during the applications process:

Applicants using AI to generate cover letters and CVs. Generally these are unchanged after generating, they all sound identical and use the same algorithm to write the same words. It stands out a mile off.

Not following the application process correctly.

Older applicants that have to be paid more but have no more experience than a 16 year old. In retail and hospitality there is no reason I would employ a 21 year without experience over a 16 year old without experience. He would be better getting some volunteering experience or work experience in a sector he would like to permanently work in.

Out of over 130 applications for a weekend sales assistant, over 75% were immediately dismissed for these reasons.

I have to wonder whether people actually want a job. I recently recruited for a supervisor. Out of all the applications I received (12), only 5 had the experience I asked for, and of those 5 selected for interview, one didn't bother to turn up to interview and one took 6 days to call me back after I left them a voicemail offering an interview. He was surprised that the job had gone to someone else.