Does your Graduate child have a job?

[Karma2023]

The volume of advertised jobs for Graduates is apparentely at a historical low which is obviously worrying for students and their parents.

Just interested in sharing experience and perhaps offering assistance to those going through the job hunting process.

Has your young person secured a job? If so what subject did they do and how did they find the role?

I have a dc who secured an internship this summer, he is studying STEM and found the job directly from the company site. He is hoping to get a return job offer however he hasn't loved the job so will be looking for other opportunities. He may take a year out and improve his language skills as it might add to his CV.

If you think X Factor style interviews are OK where applicants were sent home during a full day interview if you didn't 'pass' a stage are OK then fine. If you think 'pre' interviews are OK where they invite you to look around the school to see if you 'look' like you'll fit in but then cancel your interview if they don't like the look of you then fine. If they invite 20 candidates and then send home all the white candidates before the interviews start then fine. If you apply for a job in a Catholic School and aren't Catholic and are then sent away then fine. None of those approaches help a school employ the 'best teachers' in my eyes. In fact some of them are probably illegal!

Yes, DS graduated with a degree in accounting, worked for a Big Four firm for a while, and now works at a law firm doing tax work. DD double majored in neurobiology and data science and works for a government agency analyzing medical research.

Some of these replies are irrelevant some posters are talking about people graduating a few years ago.

Graduate vacancies have hugely reduced in the last year. The OP wanted to know about this years grads not 5/7 years ago.

Mine started work this month. She secured a job at the end of last year. She also did an internship last summer and had an offer there. Most of her cohort are staying on to do masters or travelling. She applied for dozens of internships and then jobs. It was really gruelling and disheartening. Time consuming at a point when they’re really busy with final year. She got through to a few end stages and took one of the offers. First class degree. She has a lot of work experience having worked since 15, held down long stints in public facing jobs and also tutors. She said once she got past the AI bots the interviewers were really interested in the work experience.

That’s so true, they spend their final year, when they should be working on their thesis, etc. Applying to endless jobs with more and more complex and involved applications.

I do blame some of this on Angela Raynor’s employment reforms. They have put a noticeable chill on hiring, especially hiring people without a track record.

Mine (DS2) has - history degree and is now a trainee journalist at a newspaper. (Did do a journalism master's). Incredibly hard to get on the big grad schemes for journalism though. Still a lot of privilege and nepotism in that field.

Teaching interviews are indeed brutal. Stuck in a very old recruitment model that honestly has not changed since the 1980s, if not before. Do they still give travel expenses at least?? In fact interviews for low paid jobs in school are often like this too.

Journalism can be similarly rigid. DS being expected to drive sometimes 300 miles for a 20 minute pre interview for a local paper. When he suggested virtual it was a 'we don't think you are right for us' response- even though he was clear he would move to the area if appointed : journalism is unexpectedly ad hoc, low tech and slapdash re deadlines. Some big grad schemes do only virtual interviews so the picture is piecemeal. At least teaching is fairly consistent in its interview. They also don't tend to greyrock people after interview which there is lots of in the current job market.

@HappySonHappyMum You said all day interviews! Nothing about illegal practices. Do Jewish schools employ Jewish teachers? You bet they do. I’d prefer to get religion sidelined in schools but it’s not going to happen. I also think you are talking about a tiny minority of schools. It’s normal to invite candidates to look around a school. Often before they apply. Not after interview is confirmed, but it might be. I’ve never heard of this and that sounds like staff of the school having too
much influence. It’s also bizarre.

Most schools want the best teachers and use fair processes to select them. I’d suggest looking at better quality schools. Who would have time to see 20 applicants anyway? I’d guess a Muslim school would find few white candidates suitable. However some schools are utterly foolish but they can be avoided!

Maximum word count on applications and cvs is required

Yes the market is very different.

My DD graduated this summer and met up with some friends this week. Two have jobs, two are still looking, one masters. All Humanities.
Of the two with jobs, one applied to the place she had worked over a few summers. It was a full external application process but obviously they knew her. My DD sent her CV for feedback to a wide range of people, and one of them recommended she apply for a role within their firm, she did and she got it based on her experience from her summer jobs. So both had a foot in the door but that only got them so far.
As someone who recruits myself I always say that experience is crucial, more so than grades. I want to know someone understands what's it's like to work as part of a team, that they can talk to people, answer the phone/emails, show up on time etc as well as do the job. I want to see proof of work ethic whether it's a shop or a bar or something more aligned.
It's so tough out there. I know my DD has worked for this but so have so so many others still looking. I agree with everyone who says that reaching out is important, in linkedin, through people they know. Get them to ask for advice on next steps, on CVs etc because those conversations may lead to something. And if possible (and I know not always depending on where they are) do some volunteering/any job because the structure helps them mentally and it shows they are proactive whilst looking .Good luck!

@PermanentTemporary Being much tighter in your requirements and asking for evidence. Old fashioned application forms limited the rubbish as they had limited space for it. We don’t progress very far. Controlling application numbers is a feature of advertisement writing and Job Spec writing. Tightening it up cuts out time wasters.

All of these things happened to my DD. In a way though I'm glad none of these schools offered her a job - she dodged a bullet with all of them.

@HappySonHappyMum Yes. Definitely. There are good schools out there! But long interviews might be needed.

That is quite standard and in my experience has always been the case.

Two full days, sometimes until 18.00 for primary headship.

@LikeThisTime Two says for a head is standard but one day for a NQT isn’t wholly necessary. However it’s standard.

Yes, I said it was standard for a teacher.

IME this includes ECT’s as in the usual competitive process, ECT’s are likely to be interviewed alongside experienced teachers.
Shortlisting by criteria may not differentiate, unless for instance the role demands more than an ECT can provide or the school has been prevented by OFSTED from employing an ECT.

Process is the same for all so that it is fair.

I think there is a danger that people still think that graduates can just walk into a teaching job and that is just not the case. @HappySonHappyMum
My son is ECT2 - to get his job he had to complete some written responses to set questions, teach a class of year 9 (a pre planned topic) and have a interview. I'm a teacher and think this is totally acceptable - its been like this for at least the last 10 years. Some schools include a student panel. 40 applied for the job, shortlisted to 6. I have never known applicants being selected when they tour the school and certainly haven't heard of schools sending all the white candidates home.

I never expected my DD to walk into a job - we are in an East London borough - there is huge competition for jobs and many of her teacher cohort haven't got jobs this year. I just expected it to be a level playing field and it really wasn't. The white thing really shocked me as it was so blatent - it was for a school where the majority were Muslim but even so it was shocking. The Catholic School gave the local Priest the final decision and he picked the only Catholic applicant out of the six that were interviewed. There were asked in a roundabout way in the interview about their faith so I suppose it was 'accidentally' disclosed. The day long interview is quite standard - I didn't expect it to be so XFactor!

It’s amazing how quickly it’s gone from not enough teachers to loads of applicants in the space of a few years!

I know so many people whose children have jobs but not in the area their degree was in and mostly all at minimum wage.
My grandson did not want to go to university and has secured a modern apprenticeship in electrical design. There was a lot of competition for places and although he is only paid minimum wage at the moment,
it is far better than starting his career with a debt. University is not the only route.

Yes. Dd has a politics degree. She didn’t want a 9-5 city job with 25 days holiday so she has started her own tutoring business. She’s fully booked and making quite a bit, plus no commuting time… She really enjoys it and is getting great reviews.

She might change her mind and look for a ‘graduate’ job in future, but not this year…

@HappySonHappyMumThe Catholic school I was involved with sux that and the head explained to the priest that they must have the best teacher for the job. They wanted the Catholic who would take a religious assembly and service. I had hoped such poor practice had gone 35 years on but I’m not entirely surprised. I imagine there were Muslim governors wanting Muslim teachers and the head going along with it for an easy life and appeasement. Neither scenario is acceptable but schools can select dc on religion and believe they can select teachers too.

There are still not enough teachers. Even when there are two weak applicants and they are both interviewed they put them through these interviews.

Recruitment in primary and a handful of secondary subjects is not the main issue. Retention is a big problem. A lot of teaching aspirants could consider the performing seal aspect of teaching when they go to an interview with a panel of children thta ask them what animal they would be and how they would eat a Jaffa Cake. Followed by teaching a lesson of children in a subject you are unfamiliar with, two further interviews. And a data task. And possibly another panel. With forced jollity at lunch time as if real teachers have one!

The religion criteria was probably a desirable on the person spec. I doubt it was colour . It will have been faith.