How easily will he find a job?

[thebluehen]

Dp's nephew is 24 has a biology degree, a sandwich year of data analytics and a masters in a psychology type subject.

He is now looking for his first job having never even had a Saturday job or volunteering experience. He was a member of a uni sports society for a year. That's it.

He seems to think he can walk into a 30k a year job easily. He lives in the south east.

He says he's applied for over 40 jobs and had 1 interview. He says this is normal.

Dp has had the same job for ever and I'm self employed so how likely do you think it is that he will just find a job as easily as he thinks? I think I'm probably a bit out of touch.

Is there a reason he's never had a job? It's very rare for students not to have worked at all throughout their time at university.

He's never had a job because he's said he's never needed one.

Having a job - any job - shows good work ethic which is a key thing I look for in a very technical work field

I want someone who isn't so full of themselves that they won't turn up on time, that will do the shitty bits as well as the fun bits

He might not have needed one financially but as he's finding out the hard way, there's more to work than earning a wage.

As I've said, he should go an see a careers adviser at his uni. They'll help him articulate the skills and qualities he's developed as a student.

Did his parents or anyone else never point out he WOULD need one and in order to get one he'd need some experience?

Hope he doesn't say that in an interview!

My concern - he's applied to 40 jobs and one interview. I get so many shit generic applications from grads - they get turfed straight in the bin - I might be jumping the gun but good quality applications take time to research the role, the company, and the industry - my guess is that he needs to up the quality.
And not having any Saturday jobs might not matter but having nothing to talk about by way of examples and experience (which can be from hobbies, Uni clubs or jobs) doesn't bode well.

My BIL interviewed a 21 year old at uni when he was looking for bar staff. He asked what experience he had, the young man said none, this would be his first job as he'd never needed to work before. BIL asked why he needed a job now, the young man said 'because my mum said I've got to apply'. Needless to say the interview went no further

DSS had that attitude - lots of applications, no interviews but ruled out so many good opportunities because 'he wasn't going to work for less than £30k.'

He's now on a grad management trainee scheme earning £24k after a big dose of reality. And he had a lot of basic hospitality work experience and an RG degree.

His parents have done him no favours in enabling this.

He'll be able to get a job, eventually, when he lowers his salary expectations.

That's so bad to never have had a job and I think that will be his biggest hurdle. Employers will see him as a molly coddled man child

I wonder what he is applying for? The ratio of interview to applications seems to be 1 in every three or four from what my newly graduated DC experienced.
Outside the SE (probably higher there?) I think he will be able to get a job in the £21K to £26K bracket fairly easily with no work experience. Applicants highlight selling tickets for the school play or being an accommodation guide at Uni halls and get jobs with us. As his aunt, do you know what other, non work related skills he has? Only on MN do all DC get 1sts from RG unis with work placements in the 'big 4', to stand a chance of decent employment.
If he is determined to get a starting salary of £30k min. he may have a search on his hands.

Most grad schemes have recruited and are running now
He will be applying for next year

We didn't see him for years so don't really know him well.

He played a sport for a year at uni but as far as I know wasn't involved in running the society.

Apparently he likes playing board games.

I literally can't think what life experience he has.

Lots of companies are doing rolling grad recruitment schemes - things have moved on a bit!

In this market - grads have never been in so much demand - things have moved on - we are having to offer higher salaries and we are opening opportunities to grads with less impressive CVS - we won't compromise on ability or attitude - so they need to pass aptitude tests and interview well - at the moment having no summer work experience would not eliminate him from an initial interview - he has a year in industry doing data analytics, he should have plenty to talk about - I'm betting he's not tailoring his cv - in this market which is hot as hell, he's making more significant mistakes than having no Saturday job.

When DC got their first ‘graduate’ job, the odd jobs that they did throughout uni/a gap year May well have got them through the door, but didn’t necessarily provide content for applications or interview questions. Some things he could likely pull out might be -

• Did he take part in group work, or lead any group projects? Working in a team, people management could be demonstrated here.
• Did he do a dissertation? A great example of time management and seeing a project through to the end.
• He would have had to manage competing priorities having multiple deadlines throughout university
• Was his ‘sandwich year’ at a university abroad? If so, I’m sure that would have taken a degree of organisation and adaptability he could talk about.
• Sport could show teamwork and disciple (turning up to not let the team down).

I’m not suggesting these could get him a £30k a year grad job, but I’m sure when framed correctly he could get his foot in the door of a first job or relevant volunteering as a first step.