Son's awful experience in first week of job

[ArmyofMunn]

Sorry this is long but I wanted to get it all down!

My 18DS started his first full time job last week. He has A Levels but is not degree educated and was taken on as one of four, the other three being in their mid-to late twenties and two of them with degrees. It was with a financial services company and paid £4K more per year plus commission than another job he’d also been offered, so he was very pleased.

He spent last week and the first two days of this week completing training for the job and he's been coming home each day saying how much he loves it - the training, the people, the office, the role etc. The training has been intense, involving two powerpoint presentations per day to prove he understood the training, but in which he said he kept coming second from top.

This week, following the training, he’s had to do three mock calls to a fake customer (his line manager) and he apparently made three ‘breaches’ in total, all involving not noticing that the customer had used some wrong letters during the security checks of emails and addresses etc. He thought he’d done well though as he was confident and affable and just thought next time he’d get the breaches right. He was shocked therefore to be taken into a room after his final call by two managers and told that because of the breaches he hasn’t passed his probation week and would have to leave and couldn’t appeal!

He’s completely shocked. The company didn’t tell him that his first week was probationary and he also remembers reading clearly that breaches by employees in their first month should not be regarded as breaches. He unfortunately read this on their own system so he can’t access it now, and his employer has his contract, so he can’t check that over either.

I just think this is an absolutely terrible way to treat an employee and my son is struggling to understand how the breaches he made were so serious as to warrant being asked to leave. He did ask to opt out of their employee life insurance and pension scheme, so I’m wondering if that just didn’t go down well with them!

Does anyone on here have experience of this type of thing? Are companies allowed to treat people like this these days?

Hello, I'm sorry your son had a slightly shakier start than anyone would hope. The FS industry is a tough one, the world out there is full of financial frauds and risks etc. From what you say his skillset is more the gift of talking/persuasion as opposed to attention to detail unless fully motivated (we're an ADHD house, we get this). The things he failed on - deadly serious in the FS industry - those are the attention to detail checks that make sure no-one's personal data/logins have been stolen. If he missed that stuff in a live situation, it could have ended up costing the company lots - recompensing the affected customer and dealing with the Information Commissioner for data protection flouting. So really tough, but if you get a job that potentially gets you earning more, you have to expect to raise your bar to the level they expect. If he's the gift of the gab, there's plenty of other opportunities out there and I wish him luck!

missing the point of this thread but NEVER opt out of company pension especially youngesters, when there is now no guarantee of a state pension until they are 90+

I agree with previous posters that it is exhausting having to work with and manage males who overestimate their abilities and do not listen accurately, or act on feedback on what they are doing wrong.

Yes, your son has the gift of the gab. He was given an opportunity many his age don't get and received a training place on a scheme usually only 20-somethings make the cut for. He then self-assessed as doing 'extremely well' on the progress quizzes, but fluffed it 3 times on exactly the same thing- presumably having been told twice (on top of the entire focus of the week's training) that it's really important to get the details exactly right. Obviously the company has assessed, quite reasonably, that he doesn't pay enough attention to critical detail and and further training will be a lost cause. Regardless of whether the attention problem is linked to ADHD, this clearly isn't an appropriate role for him.

The big question is, is he prepared to acknowledge his error, stare it in the face, and actually do something about it? A call back to his line manager/HR to say 'I've reflected on this and realise I didn't take some key points on board properly. I know I won't get another chance here, but could I get 10 minutes of feedback about how your organisation found me to train, what I should have been doing differently, and what I can learn from to adjust in my future career.'

They might say no, it's a waste of their 10 minutes, but even having the balls to confront yourself and put in a call like that is a step in the right direction of dropping the ego & bluster and being humble about your own limitations. Which will make him a better trainee and team player in future.

It sounds like he should target sales roles but:

1. Pay attention to the fine details. If you're told you can't cut margin below X or details Y & Z have to be explained to EVERY customer, that's what he has to do.
2. Pay attention to the contract terms. I don't imagine for a minute he wasn't told that the 3 screening calls were a potential cut point - that's entirely within any employer's rights to decide whether new recruits are a sound investment for further training - but again, was he not listening to the detail properly?
3. ALWAYS keep a signed paper copy of your employment contract and any bonus schemes/commission plans/share schemes etc. There should always be 2 copies with ink signatures on from both the employer and employee, one for them and one for you. Keep it and don't lose it. If you get a new role or promotion, get your contract updated and keep that one too!
4. Don't turn down life insurance. Ideally don't opt out of a pension either, but don't turn down life insurance.

I hope this is an eye opening experience for both of you. He was offered a foot in the door for a high-expectation, high salary role. Unfortunately he kicked himself with the other foot and the door has closed. He needs to learn from this and pay attention to what the people with the pot of cash are asking of him in order to receive his slice of it!

Good luck next time & do some listening skills practice with him ;)

Completely agree with MeandT. That is good advice and great that she took the time to type it out.

”we” can’t ask for the employment contract as the employment relationship is with your son only.

He was given feedback twice before he did it a third time and was sacked. He needs to learn from it and move on.

Has anyone at school every mentioned dyslexia to you or him?? Lots of people saying he’s careless, blahze etc but has this kind of thing cropped up before?? I might be barking up the wrong tree here but it might be worth looking into to see if he has any other potential traits of dyslexia.

I skimmed past the bit about him being assessed for adhd. That’s also interesting and my previous point about dyslexia could still be something to also look into as lots of these difficulties exist together.

Maybe they have quotas on gender and race etc and discriminate against him

Yeah, that's the immediate obvious answer

So helpful @MeandT - thank you!

Could DS get in touch with the other company who offered him a job and see if they are still interested?

Arrogant as well as stupid.

I doubt the 3 errors whilst learning are the reason your son was left go. It may be the reason he was given but it’s not the real reason. Has he been overheard saying something indiscret? Is the company needing to reduce costs? Is he presentable in appearance? Don’t waste ur time looking for answers, take it as a learning that people managers are weak, business is cut throat.

It is possible that they adopt a unwritten policy of over hiring hiring ‘new entrants’ to then cut the bottom 10% at time based thresholds (ie 10% leave after 3 months, 10% after 12, 18 etc) leaving them with the top % of performers to stay with the company).

particularly ‘finance’ businesses want the the toughest, brightest, hard working candidate to invest in.

12 months now.

@WizdomE he looked very presentable IMO - he spent £200 in M&S on suitable clothes (his own money).

I have no idea if he was indiscreet but he is very opinionated, although extremely polite.

The unwritten policy of weeding out at various increments sounds plausible too, which is why there are a lot of these type of jobs on Indeed and LinkedIn etc.

Very opinionated teenage boys can be extremely irritating. Imagine trying to manage someone who know nothing but at the same time know everything!!

i said upthread he sounds immature, and this perhaps reinforced that. He might always be like this and might always be an ‘acquired taste’ in the work place.

@Stripedbag101 I think I've given the wrong impression - he's actually quite reserved and quiet, just a rather strong character.

One thing he said early on has stood out though - he said he thought the trainer was a bit intimidated by him, which I thought was odd. The guy was in his early 40s and had been there for about five years.

I agree that it is unlikely an experienced trainer was intimidated by a teenage boy unless he felt physically threatened.

it might be a good idea to explore why your son felt he was intimidating. Was your son acting aggressively - or does your son think he was so intellectually superior that the trainer couldn’t cope with him.

neither is good obviously. I think your son has some growing up to do.

Just some?

Er, yeah, I think we can be pretty sure that the trainer wasn't "intimidated" by a cocky teenage boy who thinks he's much hotter shit than he is. They're ten-a-penny. So that is another valuable clue that your son read the environment that he was in and what behaviour was appropriate quite poorly.

One of the best bits of advice I was given in my 20's when I was just about to start a new job was 'Keep you eyes open and your mouth shut'. It sounded harsh but it has served me well. Understanding the culture of the place I was going into, learning what the people were like is key to making a good impression and settling in without pissing people off.

I have had the pleasure\challenge of bringing in and training up new recruits, often students on an industrial year, within the workplace. I have noticed over the years that whilst they are keen and enthusiastic, sometimes over confident, the critical importance of attention to detail is nearly always forgotten or not understood. Things need to be right. If they are wrong, a little bit wrong or just guessed and done sloppily it causes problems down the road.

So if you son believed yes, he is confident, can communicate well, etc it does not make up for a job being done badly, which is what it sounded like happened. Maybe he did himself no favours by reading that any breaches in the first month don't count and he just thought, don't challenge and just make it look smooth, sort it out next time. When you are in training you need to learn, and prove you have got it.

Anyone making big mistakes, especially with security issues, will quickly become a major concern to the company. It only takes one mistake for the repercussions to hit a finance services company in a big way and they will not take that risk.

p.s. I doubt the trainer was intimidated by him. Maybe the concerns were coming to light early on?

Sadly OP, I think rather than being “intimidated” by your son, the trainer had him sussed fairly quickly, and stepped back a little from the training process realising that your son was never going to listen and respond appropriately no matter what was asked and expected from him in the role, and that the quickest and least painful way of easing him out of the organisation was giving him enough space and opportunity to do the easing out for himself.

Which is precisely what your immature and arrogant son did by not listening, not learning and not realising that the training was important and that the trainer was deserving of respect. He was given chances, he didn’t use them.

One thing he said early on has stood out though - he said he thought the trainer was a bit intimidated by him, which I thought was odd

And what did you tell your son at the time? This is a clear sign that he’s immature, cocky, and a liability at work.

My DH was chatting to him and told him to be careful - that there is a difference between being confident and being arrogant.