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

My first headteacher had a DD who left school with no GCSEs and drifted between jobs in Tesco and sports direct. When she hit 20 years old, he sat her down and asked her what she wanted to do with her life. She had no idea. He asked her what her dream job was and she said ‘zoo keeper’. He said, let’s make it happen then. They wrote to every zoo, petting farm, wildlife park within 40 miles offering to volunteer 4 days a week in any capacity. They got one reply saying come and volunteer in the small mammals house. She worked 2 days a week stacking shelves in Tesco to pay for the petrol to do the 50 mile round journey 4 days a week to small wildlife park. After 6 months a job came up, she was asked to apply and got a paid job. Fast forward 20 years, she is now head of large mammals at a zoo that is a household name. This is the girl without even a gcse in Biology. Often volunteering opens doors.

My DD certainly got most of her grad schemes because of the voluntary role she has in the community. Even in the Navy, she is given time off to do this voluntary role.

Workaway was another life changing experience DD had. It changed her degree choice and the university she went to. She got into sport and language learning- both things she hated at school. She did 3 weeks grape harvesting in Germany, she learnt about making spirits from grape skins, how to chop wood and to converse with 90 year old locals who know no English. She spent a month helping to paint a barge in the Netherlands, 4 months au pairing in Germany and was due to work for a Thai NGO but ended up in hospital 3 days before her flight with a major infection. Workaway is a great website, but a bit of a rabbit hole!

@Aslocktoni assume dd’s volunteering at church - she helps run the children’s and youth groups (and they’re big - about 200 kids)- has helped get her some interviews as she doesn’t have enough paid experience for the job she’s interviewing for next week, for example.

I agree with you that having lots of different experiences has got to be a positive.

Good luck to DS re; the interview @Piggywaspushed really hoping he gets it. Despite the claims of 'networking' at private schools and ds's both went to one, we do not know any parents. We must have been absent the day it was announced! dh knows none of them. I got friendly with one mum, but after the boys left she didn't bother anymore to stay in touch. When they were in yr 10 and needed work experience, DS2 was very pro active and got stuck in with a local charity shop, with ds1 i literally had to walk up and down our small high street going in each shop asking if they would take a student for work experience. All said no, except Spec savers, so i got ds to race down there with his CV & present himself. He got the experience place and spent 2 weeks there. It looked great on his PS back then, he looked through their cameras and they explained about detecting early eye disease retinopathy and how to use tech to choose frames according to face shape etc.

DS1's school once in his time there sent an email to the whole school, offering work experience in China by an ex-student for a very specific role. I think very few applied for it or found it useful. Ds2's school alumni were hopeless and despite his emailing them through the alumni secretary, no one ever responded for until he left. I myself asked the school's career's advisor if there was anything available through the alumni as well as if someone could reply to ds's email but was told, we'll chase it up for you but 'we do not find work placements for students, they find their own'. No kidding Sherlock.

Best of luck to him.

I know when both Dd and Ds were looking at universities industry contacts was a more important consideration than academic reputation.

Ds has acquired several bits of work from contacts of his tutors. Dd has done some networking via Formula student events. Whether it comes to anything remains to be seen.

Poor DD is also fed up of applying for jobs. She’s done hundreds but then gets a rejection reply 😞 thought she stood a decent chance for Trailfinders but maybe not having read this.

We also have zero contacts of use.

Sorry to hear that @NCTDN . Has she tried applying to small/local companies as well as the big grad schemes? Is she interested in anything specific or is she applying generally to everything going?

She was applying for grad schemes and jobs in a specific field. Now she’s opened it up to any job in the area she would prefer to be in.

I think she thought she had decent chances with some companies but they’re the ones who only seem to take on one person for the role rather than a group to all complete the same scheme.

The first time DS applied for Trailfinders he got shortlisted, funnily enough. That was probably 3 years ago. Since then they seems to have decided all this exotic foreign travel is essential. Maybe yours will hit lucky. Her overall application is probably stronger than DS1's.

It would be interesting to see what happened if anyone ever challenged this requirement. I don't know if anyone read recently about the estate agent that was challenged on its requirement that employees have to already own a car on application and that it has to be less than 10 years old. A young woman challenged this and they ended up employing her (apparently , they admired her spirit!). DS had previously applied to a job there and been told his car was too old. (I can actaully almost hear the voice of a particular prolific MN poster in my head here saying ' well, why doesn't he just buy a newer car?'!)

Yes, I've heard of people pushing back successfully on "must have a driving licence" when it is perfectly possible to fulfil travel requirements by public transport as it discriminates against some disabilities plus those from less well off backgrounds. I have alsobseen on adverts "you must have transport that allows you to access our site which is not served by public transport" I guess they don't want to offer someone a position and find they can't get there. But a bike might do the trick and that is better tham saying "must have a driving licence and car"

Yes, but this one was 'must have a newer car'. Their excuse was about roadworthiness. Obviously it was actually corporate image.

@Piggywaspushed best I don't apply for a new job. My car is 22 years old!

DD reluctantly took advantage of DH's contacts a couple of years ago - a guy he'd met on a two day course about 20 years ago and never spoken to since. He organised a three day experience for her in Ghana tagged onto the end of her volunteering trip, visiting a fruit/ice-cream factory, associated farms and outreach projects (the interesting bit). They even provided transport, accommodation and food.
I doubt that will lead to a job but it gives her something different to talk about - if she can get past the AI selection process with her not so good A level grades.

I don't think AI filters A level grades because you don't actually have to put those on unless requested. I am not sure what it does look for to be honest! Legally they can't require anything that isn't in the 'essential' criteria of a person spec . I think it must score based on that. The interviews DS has had are definitely not being filtered by AI so AI does have it in for him! He just had to do a blind CV for one role and that was really tricky to know what to do.

My car is 11 years old so I too cannot be an estate agent.

Just looked at the advert. It says
A passion for travel and strong worldwide geographical awareness is needed. First-hand travel experience in areas such as Australia & New Zealand, USA & Canada or Asia is desirable.

so desirable, not essential but guess against others that have experience it will be a no.

Shocking about the essentials for jobs saying about newer cars!

I understood that AI was filtering for particular key words that match the job description/essential criteria? I guess it makes sense to get AI to help you with your CV and applications, but I’m sure the youngsters all do that anyway these days. I’m a dinosaur but I did get Co-Pilot to re-format my CV when I applied for a new job last summer and I also got it to craft the cover letter by matching the job description to my CV/experience. I did have Covid to be fair so I needed some help 🤣 I got the job!

I’ve never been asked about my car in a job application 😮

The system is broken right down to school work experience. Those with parents with contact can often organise relevant, interesting work experience. Those without are left floundering.

I don't know what the answer is.

Yes, desirable. I guess lots who apply fulfil all the essential and also the desirable.

It's a shame because DS has travelled independently all round Europe.

ETA : I'd like Trailfinders to define 'such as' ! I resume that's just sloppy grammar , like when my sixth formers write 'like' or 'such as' when they actually mean 'including' and vice versa...

You have to be careful though because some jobs still reject applications that have been 'done' by AI. They are supposed to have a policy somewhere in their small print.

I ma not even sure work experience (whether paid or not) makes a difference now either seeing as DS does actually have a good amount.

Looking at who has made it on to big grad schemes . they often went to fancy schools and have flashy internships which I am sure mere mortals would struggle to access.

I do think that if you have a DC who has travelled to far continents on a shoestring with perhaps work/volunteering versus one bankrolled by the bank of mum and dad and staying in hotels etc the former will have a huge advantage. I have two young colleagues who have both travelled extensively all over the world, one in family luxury / influencer style and one working, hostelling, travelling solo and there is no comparison experience wise. But I acknowledge that even the shoestring person is likely to be in some way backed up by family position, perhaps having gained confidence from family travel as a youngster and also knowing their parents can pick up the pieces in a crisis.

Yeah, have to say, in my experience the latter are usually heftily bankrolled by bank of mum and dad , hence the whole 'gap yah' meme! There are exceptions obviously btu I have never heard of a genuinely working class kid going off on travels : and it is apparently also far less common in minority ethnic groups so there is an inbuilt bias in recruitment. DS likes collecting weird countries and some have actually become fashionable so he has been to Albania and North Macedonia, for example.

I might suggest co pilot helps write his cover letters actually. Not a bad idea.

Yes, definitely use Co pilot. There’s no way they can pick up that sort of use of AI.

Ds did five months of travelling last year - NZ, Australia and south east Asia - and we didn’t give him a penny, other than buying his backpack for Christmas and paying for travel insurance! It was all funded by 60-70 hour weeks at Tesco! 🤣

"But I acknowledge that even the shoestring person is likely to be in some way backed up by family position, perhaps having gained confidence from family travel as a youngster and also knowing their parents can pick up the pieces in a crisis"

Describes DD and her African travels perfectly.

Not for journalism though crazy. Every single application DS2 has done has said 'DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT USING AI OR WE WILL THROW YOU IN THE BIN'. Maybe not quite so threateningly...

My DCs are very anti AI. I use it sparingly. I did get DS to get it to suggest alternatives to "I am passionate about" for a covering letter but that's as far as we've gone with it in job stuff.

Nof sure if I mentioned but DS os having manual driving lessons to upgrade his auto licence. But you can only book upgrade tests by phone and the phonelines not only take 40 mins to get through but open two hours after the slots open up online. After a frustrating week of him getting nowhere we consulted ChatGPT which told us which centres have best availability in our county and said to ask for "any within 50 miles of postcode area" instead of asking for test centres by name (they ask you which centre when you get through) and he got one at the first attempt with that strategy.