It was an ordeal getting here. What he thought would be so easy - he'd done really well in his GCSEs, he was known to be clever - employers would be tripping over themselves to give him a job - wouldn't they?
He started in July - took a couple of weeks to write his CV.
He did an online interview questionnaire - his responses were overly honest (he has aspergers) but typical teenager - he couldn't be enthusiastic enough about shelf stacking, so they rejected him. Went into a few local shops - he couldn't believe how nervous he was, literally shaking going into the first one, better in the second and third, a pro by the forth and with that over and done with he waited...nothing came back.
Realised his CV was wrong, came home fixed.
Made some more applications online and in person, no response from any of them...I worried about how he was coming across especially when he refused to phone a takeaway about a job because he didn't want to appear too keen - warning bells!!! Spoke to him about appearing arrogant - to be honest we argued - he's not great at taking advice and he wasn't happy but something hit home and his attitude changed.
Last night someone was meant to get back to him and they didn't so he phoned them and went for the interview and got the job.
What a process though, he has learned so much and he hasn't even started, I'm impressed with his resilience - he kept going through all the rejections, honing his approach - it's taken 4 months and at times it's been stressful and things have been tense between us - it's been hard watching him screw up and trying not to say anything (and failing at that too many times).
This parenting malarkey doesn't get any easier! But some days you win!