Thread 55 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Autumn 25 - Yr 4 Uni and Graduates

[Oblomov25]

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.
Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp
Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had.
Previous thread 54:
Thread 54

I mentioned the training course - who knows in what though!

I suspect he may not interview all that well.

@Piggywaspushed Don't lose hope, they do surprise us all sometimes.

Commiserations to the job hunters!

@shimy I understand your frustration with ds2, especially as one of the points of doing a placement year is to increase your chances of a grad job - and then he went and turned it down! Personally I also have no idea why he doesn't like tax, but we're all different 😂He could do worse than trying some local smaller accountancy firms, if he's willing to do ACA/ACCA? I did my training with a two partner firm and once you're qualified the world's your oyster, you really can go in any direction you want, you're not stuck in accountancy.

@Piggywaspushed good luck to your ds1, has he had some help with interview technique? They can go back to their uni careers service even after they've graduated can't they? How is ds2's course going?

@craggyrat I was looking at how the masters loan works - it's paid back separately, based on a lower threshold, so they end up with something like 15% deductions. Dd was talking about doing a masters in counselling and I've put her off for the time being on this basis (especially considering she's doing an integrated masters already!). It's obviously different if you can pay outright.

Dd had a bad mark back last week which confirmed that she did the right thing in giving up Nando's - the job pretty much took over last term, alongside a new boyfriend and getting really involved in kids and youthwork at church. She needs to get her head down this semester. She did get offered two jobs this week though - both caring/youth related I think - which she's turned down, but it's reassured me that her interview technique is improving. She had said before Christmas that she didn't think she was great at interviews, so practice is helpful.

Ds is swamped with deadlines and has had to ask for an extension on a couple, but he's getting there. He did an online exam last week - well, an essay which had to be uploaded by within 2 hours or whatever. After he'd submitted it, he asked ChatGPT to mark it and confidently told me it should get between 67 and 70 😂It will be interesting to see how close ChatGPT's assessment is!

@Shimy this is in Classics but isn't the Masters as he doesn't have A levels in the appropriate languages so it would be a Diploma which he'd need to apply for uni funding assistance for, then do the Masters thereby putting off real life for 2 more years!! If it was a choice between that and pgce then I'd rather he did pgce - well I'd actually rather he got a job but hey ho...! I do get the feeling a lot of his choices at the moment are based on whether he thinks he's got a sniff at making the Boat Race crew.....

@craggyrat He might just land a job with the PGD. The real question is, what does he ultimately want to do with it? The only person I know who studied Classics ended up doing a Masters in Law, so there are definitely different paths.
The issue with the PGCE is that it channels him straight into teaching. That’s great if teaching is the dream, but if it’s just a temporary detour to ‘get a job’, it could end up locking him into a career he never actually planned for.
I agree it feels like this whole process is dragging on, especially when it doesn’t guarantee a job at the end, but it definitely guarantees more debt! From his perspective though, staying in higher education means he avoids unemployment and keeps his CV clean with no gaps. Even DS has casually mentioned doing a Masters, although he’s not sure what subject yet.

@shimy he definitely is enjoying the history TA job so the teaching seems the more logical post grad qualification to me. At least he's got a good CV so hopefully one day he'll find his path. Seems like a long slog to us - neither of us went to uni, just got jobs and worked our way up. Ah children of the 60s...!!

Amen and fingers crossed for him @craggyrat. To be honest i struggled to get a job when i graduated and I'm a 69er if that counts? I didn't have a glowing CV like our bunch here though.

DS2 has had a number of interviews this week, and 1 at his current place of work tomorrow. This one will be a promotion from his graduate scheme, i really hope he gets it.

Good luck to both DSs @craggyrat and @Shimy. The fact that both at least are getting through their respective processes; let's hope they get the outcomes right for them.

I am also in the non-HE camp, my academic advancements stopped at 4 O levels. A bad collision, timing-wise of poor school (an ex grammar-turned- comprehensive on run-off, premises sold to a private school without our knowledge) and hitting a rebellious streak in years 4 and 5 (that's what they were called in my school). I still, to this day do not know how I managed to get into grad type roles in the FMCG sector with a U in my maths, such different times!

DD is now showing signs of nervousness as she nears the end of her UG, I think it's a combination of her peers that are not going onto PG studies now securing London posts, giving her a touch of FOMO which she has always been guilty of. I do remind her that she has the role flexibility (we hope based on what she knows) to build wfh/weekend time back in London as frequently as she needs, whilst benefitting from a lower cost of living in NI. She agrees that it's best for all of us that she lives independently. Whilst I love her deeply I would enjoy her company more when she's not a regressive mardy lodger.

I think one of this generation's issues is that actually too much choice is as fraught as not securing their ideal role from the outset, or they opt to wait for that perfect role to materialise. Yet CV wise, they will be able to overcome the gaps, job transitions, sideways moves so much more easily than in our day as the stigmas do not exist as they did for us.

But, they may need to kiss a few frogs to get there :) And scroll less to not be taken in by the overwhelming growth of 'I am happy to share' posts that consumes them with peer jealousy!

Best of luck to yours for tomorrow @Shimy

@ealingwestmum Re: 'I'm happy to share posts', DS2 got into such a state about them on linkedin right from when he did his GCSEs then it was A'Levels, then it was people securing internships etc. Even though he knew they were meaningless posts, he still felt pressure to list his as well.Thank goodness we didn't have that kind of pressure.

DS is enjoying his job. He had his appraisal yesterday which went very well. It is a small company (40 staff), but growing. To put an enormous spanner in the works, he heard his bosses discussing up and coming rounds of job interviews in Feb. His ex-girlfriend (who dumped him and caused him utter heartbreak) has only gone and applied for a grad job. Her name came up and he was thrown into a real spin. He deliberated for a few days but decided he had to say something. She has an interview in Feb and they said she is an excellent candidate.

I don't know what she is playing at, I am fuming. He does not think he could stay working there if she got a job in the same office.

Oh no @Aslockton what a worry for him. He probably did the right thing by making them aware but they have to go through the process fairly. Let’s hope she trtips up massively in the interview.

DS has got an interview on Monday, the job sounds perfect for him, he’s a really good fit for the job spec, it’s fairly local (40 mins drive) but very close to my parents.

@Aslockton Oh what an awkward situation! of all the places she could have applied to, I hope his employers handle it sensitively and hopefully if she is offered, they'll be in completely different depts. Congratulations on his appraisal and i think it shows his good character that he spoke up.

@EndlessDistraction Good luck to your ds for his upcoming interview, I really hope he gets it, it sounds perfect.

Thanks @Shimy he had taken his foot off the gas a bit with the jobhunting as he has been been busy with his part time job and volunteering, a friend of mine who is in a related field sent me the link so that was lucky, we might not have picked it up. Good luck to your DS tomorrow too.

I didn’t have much trouble finding a job when I graduated, the experience from my placement year undoubtedly helped. There was a major shift in the industry not long afterwards where you suddenly needed a degree to even get on the lower rung which I could have got onto with A levels or as an apprentice so it was good timing. DH did a PhD and postdoc and didn’t get his first “proper” job till he was nearly 30.

Oh no @Aslockton that’s really unfair of her - although she’s entitled to apply of course, but you’d think she’d also want to maintain some distance? Fingers crossed she doesn’t get it!

@EndlessDistraction great news about the interview - good luck to him! And to your Ds @shimy - is this ds1 who’s already graduated?

@ealingwestmum i can imagine NI might start to sound a bit provincial compared to London but hopefully she will make friends and enjoy the fact that her money will go a long way 🤞 Does she have friends from uni who will be staying in Ireland?

@EndlessDistraction and @Shimy wishing your young people all the best with their interviews.

Good luck to your DS for Monday @EndlessDistraction 🤞, and I really hope the ex messes up @Aslockton for your boy’s sake.

She will have both contacts from both sides of Ireland @crazycrofter and has covered a lot of the geography over the last 4 years so she’ll be fine, contacts wise. The office is really friendly and doesn’t have the London competitive vibe, which may be a good environment to cut her teeth, and hopefully there may be some more grad starts for Sept too. It was her choice to pull out of other opportunities, so hopefully this is just a small green eyed monster blip as the pressure builds for all. I personally think she’s made the right move, for her!

Good luck to your DS @EndlessDistraction!

Thanks all. Yes, its DS1.

Good luck to the DCs with interviews, keeping everything crossed for them.

Good luck to those with interviews!

it’s a big one for DS tonight. He’s deputising on the uk tour of a musical. He was nervous earlier when he rang me but he’s arrived at the theatre, had a run through, spoken to the MD & he feels well prepared.

Hope it goes well @Comefromaway !

Best of luck with the job interviews 🤞🏼

Hope everything goes silky smooth for your DS tonight @Comefromaway

What a wonderful opportunity @Comefromaway, hope it’s all gone well for him!