How to help lost DD find a career.

[Imtoooldforallthis]

I've posted about my DD before but could really do with some advice. She so doesn't know what to do with her life. She is educated to cellege level and is hard working and conscientious. She has worked in retail which she didn't mind but low paid and unsociable hours. Got herself a job in sales that was for graduates only, did well but extremely high pressured and an unpleasant industry to work in. Then got herself another high pressured sales job but has handed her notice in after a week as she says it's not for her and doesn't want to waste their time. She can walk back into a retail job so I'm not concerned about her not working, but I am concerned for her mental health and how I help her going forward. Whenever I see these posts people always ask what are her hobbies and interest, but she doesn't really have any. Wondering if she should look at working abroad but I don't know where to look, or should I leave well alone and let her get on with it.

This is SO TRUE. Trying to find ‘her passion’ is a waste of time and a distraction. She just needs an ok job she doesn’t hate where she can work ok hours, earn ok money, and progress to more senior levels if she wants to.

Most people never work out what they want to do and end up doing something else.

She doesn’t like sales or pressure, fine, me neither. Maybe look at management trainee jobs at department stores? Or eg cosmetics companies? My friend has a fab job working at a make up company.

Or actually - Amazon! They have a billion jobs including some really great apprenticeships. And it’s a company with a pretty solid future…

Police officer

I agree she should just try something new, any job that has scope for progression and take it from there. The idea that teenagers or 20 year olds should have a life path all mapped out for themselves is just Hollywood crap, don’t be pressured by it. Most people just work on trial and error and that’s fine.

Could she get a job that is specific shifts (like factory, warehouse, hospital cleaner or something) so she knows exactly when she is working - none of that faffing around with this day/that day/can you work tomorrow that retail does.
Then...in her free time she needs to do something she enjoys. It could be a hobby, volunteering, studying something random, doing an evening class etc.
She might find something that could lead to a job or she might find something that she loves doing just for fun and by having a job with set shifts she can have the 'work is work, I do it, go home, don't worry about it until next shift' life and have a fantastic fun life away from work.

Unless this is something that she's interested in I would not push it. You need to be driven to do it to make it work and it's a good way to blow a few grand and waste six months before you run out of money and need a flight home if you're not going to knuckle down and make it work.

I'd let her mill about in retail for a bit so she's earning and occupied, and one day she will realise she hates it so much it will galvanize her into action.

You can't do this for her unfortunately.

She sounds a lot like me at that age, im also not a sales person but had done retail. Im now in tech which i got into via a customer service job in telecomms but i'd recommend telecomms industry for that exact reason - i had no idea what i wanted to do but once you are in a big company you do discover more about different types of jobs etc and you can get into a well paid industry without a tech background - go on all the big providers for mobile, internet etc and see if they offer any apprenticeship schemes or front line call centre jobs - they can be a bit shit but its a way into something and earning. Alternatively if she'd like to try coding, codefirstgirls are running courses at the moment.
However in general i would absolutely recommend making a massive list of huge brands/companies and going on their individual jobsites, you will see so much more on there than on linkedin.

I'd suggest that she tries temping. It's a bit like "try before you buy" and she could get to try a lot of different industries before she commits long term.

I'd say, why not stick with retail, but maybe look at one of the bigger employers who offer retail management apprenticeships?

I used to work for a huge retailer who offered apprenticeships in almost every possible field (hgv driving, green-keeping, HR) and also offered taster days where it was possible to spend a day working in another field to see how you liked it/got on, and all vacancies were advertised internally, so p,entry of scope to advance in many many directions, where the shop-floor experience gave you unique insight into how the business actually made its money.

Ps do not do a gap year. Is for rich kids to blow money on yr long holiday before settling down to long hrs job. Fab for those who can afford it but given the weakness of the pound, travel costs about twice what it did when I was twenty…

Just get her into an apprenticeship.

Is there anything she is interesting in doing?

Business studies, IME, is a useful qualification. If she looks at entry level jobs in whatever sector she prefers, assuming she isn't keen on staying in retail (as in customer facing, shop floor?)
As an example in a previous job we took on 2 apprentices (really entry level officer roles) who both had business studies qualifications from college. They came into procurement/buyer roles and have both done really well. One is still with the same company in a slightly more senior role and the other really took off- in 5 years he went from ~£15k entry level to ~£45k senior position with a different company and loves it. I wouldn't be surprised if he made director level before 30. But I've seen similar success with people in admin/office management/PA/IT type roles too.

I'd recommend she gets on LinkedIn if not already and connect with recruiters, send some messages to see what's out there as i find once you've connected with them they'll regularly reach out about jobs. Plenty of searches on job sites too, even if only to look at job descriptions and see what appeals before she starts narrowing down and applying.

I left for my “gap year” with a one-way ticket to Istanbul and £200. It is actually possible to work for your money - although tbf I met more than a few who didn’t work and swiped parents’ credit cards.

what it WILL do is open her eyes to all sorts of people and experiences and hopefully widen her imagination.

you can’t go micro-managing everything for her.

What about aircrew?

Plenty of money in renewables at the moment, with lots of apprenticeships to get her on the ladder.

It's is not, I worked my way round. My attitude was worse case 3 weeks in Australia and best case a year if I found work. I was there a year.

My friends gap year involved working in some very poor communities around the world helping people using her degree which she enjoyed very much. Loved having contact with the the people and making a difference
Came back and got a brilliant job in a City company but it was just so boring dealing with just paperwork. Now works as something completely different and out earning what she could ever have made.

careers.tuigroup.com/uk/

What about a job abroad as a tour rep? I bet it's hard work but good fun. Not sure if Brexit has scuppered opportunities but worth exploring.

We live and work a long time now, why rush into a sensible job so young?

A working holiday. Countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada have them. Young people can get visas to work in these countries doing anything from waitressing and fruit picking to office jobs.

I worked abroad for my year out, my parents didn’t pay a penny

There's no point talking about her taking a gap year because she'd have to work at something to fund that anyway.

I used to love talking this through with students I taught. There are so many jobs that you're just completely unaware of at that age.

Could she start by doing a careers questionnaire online? She could do a few and look at whether certain jobs crop up again and again. Something like this might be good.

She needs to look at whether she wants to work for a big company or a small one, a local company or one in a different area, whether she wants to train on the job or just stay at one level. Does she like clothes, looking at people's homes, TV, science, technology, cosmetics, travel etc? Think of as many categories as you can.

Then google the life out of each topic - jobs in fashion, jobs in travel, etc.

Can she apply for Marketing entry level roles? Or can she do an online course in digital marketing? She can be a social media analyst, content writer or digital project assistant/ junior manager. She is quite young, she can easily switch to marketing especially from retail. All large companies have different marketing roles. Digital marketing roles are mostly agency based but there are many in-house digital roles too. If she has flair for writing, she can look for roles in marcom ( marketing communication)?

She should create a profile on LinkedIn, search for marketing assistant roles and apply. She can also contact a few recruiters in the field. Marketing jobs are well paid with good progress opportunities.