New graduate daughter can’t find work

[Bluelagoon02]

This is my first post so please be kind to me. I’m writing about my daughter who graduated last July (2024). Although she managed to get some interviews she hasn’t been able to secure anything yet. Her moods are quiet low and she also lost touch with most of her Uni friends. I’m seriously concerned for her physical and mental wellbeing. She was always very shy but Uni life really helped her develop. She was totally transformed and happy too. She also lived in Spain for a whole year which was part of her Uni business course. This is so frustrating but I can’t get upset with her. She has been looking for anything and keeps receiving rejection after rejection. It’s so heartbreaking to see her so sad and alone in her room all the time. I also looked for jobs for her but she does prefer to keep looking herself. She also applied for volunteering work with no success. I am very scared to lose her if something doesn’t come up soon. Any advice is truly appreciated. Thank you

You must be on a different planet!

This

supermarkets do graduate schemes

Some of which pay a fortune - I know a young woman already earning 6 figures having been on a supermarket grad scheme, graduated 4 years ago. Some of her uni cohort were very dismissive of her grad scheme but not laughing now!!

For me, temping was a way in and I learnt a lot from working in different sectors.

Getting on a supermarket grad scheme is incredibly competitive. Was it not perceived as glamorous enough? 21-year-olds are a bit like that - they soon grow up.

Any job , waitress, bar , care worker , just needs to be getting out in the world .
my son did all of the above while looking for
what he was really interested in .
it took 18 months but got there eventually.
its so difficult to watch our kids struggle but there’s a balance, not micro managing them
and also letting them know they have got to contribute to their family life .
Unfortunately there is a a difference between
supporting our kids but not giving them the hard truth doesn’t matter what their degree is if they’re not getting responses to 100s of applications they just need to get a job and get a work ethic going
such an important life lesson.
mental health is not helped by spending all day on laptop applying for jobs physically mentally just getting a job and moving around
while working at anything will help
employers really prefer applicants who are working even if it’s in a bar .

@VerbenaGirl I really hope that my daughter will develop some useful skills from temping work. Do you apply to permanent jobs in between I take it ? That’s my main concerns.

My honest advice would be to get a career coach. As in a mentor that would help someone develop over multiple sessions.

@Mrsgreen100 I agree with you 100% that would be better than nothing just to keep active. Like I said, my main concern is her wellbeing. Although she suffers of anxiety she’s been pretty good at keeping her spirit up. But she could really snap at any given moment. She holds her bad news to herself and suffers in silence. I never expected my daughter to find her dream job over night but didn’t want her to suffer either in the process of looking for one.

Good luck to all the same

If she is interested in volunteering abroad one thing she could look into is the Angloville programme in Poland. I did this a few years ago. Each programme is a week long (but if you wanted to stay for longer than a week you can do more than one programme in a row - I did two so was out there for two weeks but some people I met there had been taking part for months). The programme involves travelling to a venue / hotel and taking part in conversation sessions in English with the Polish participants so that they can improve their English. There are ‘adult’ and ‘youth’ programmes, the youth ones involve more games and fun activities. You don’t get paid but you get accommodation in a hotel paid for and meals are provided. To be honest, because the Polish participants are paying to be there it is a bit cheeky that the English speaking volunteers don’t get paid. But, for me personally it was a fun short term experience and was something I could put on my CV. And lots of the volunteers were in their mid twenties and from the UK. It’s not teaching English but it gave me an insight into what teaching English abroad could be like. You have to pay for your flights, but these were cheap with Ryanair. I appreciate its not a job but it may be something she could look into as a cv builder !

I would
-speak to GP about her anxiety - she’s not going to get anywhere feeling terrible about herself.
-upload my cv to chat GTP and say ‘please rewrite to tailor to marketing training jobs’ I did this with mine and was really impressed how good it made me sound - check carefully for inaccuracies and uk spelling, and reword anything that sounds clunky.
-register with any bilingual recruitment agencies and follow up with a call - temp is fine as offers a foot in the door.

did she work when she was in Spain? Did she do any work placements? She must have some skills that would make her employable even if she hasn’t had an actual paying job.

maybe she could approach this job search as her marketing herself to employers?

Ive pm’d you a vacancy I saw on indeed - based in Canterbury, but am sure she could get a short term let.

good luck to your DD!

@LadyCrumb yes I saw it and forwarded it to my DD. I also told her about GTP. Apparently she used it before but worth looking at it again. THANK YOU x x

@Loveduppenguin International business and management with a modern language.

@Bluelagoon02
I've sent you a PM. x

I don’t work in marketing, but kind of marketing adjacent so see a lot of what the new graduates are doing. For volunteer work is she on sites like catchafire? That can help her build up her marketing skills, give her references etc.
Reaching out to people on LinkedIn and small businesses in real life not even just for a job, but networking, as it helps down the line, I fairly regularly get LinkedIn messages from grads/school leavers asking to talk about how I got into my role etc, can I look at their cv/portfolio type thing.
I would personally not go the ChatGPT approach for a cv rewrite they’re really obvious to see and if she’s wanting to get into marketing this is a great time to hone her skills “marketing herself” and then ask people in the industry to look over her cv.
is she nice an active on LinkedIn? Posting about trying to get into the industry, what she’s doing to upskill, here’s how I’d redo this marketing campaign etc? It feels cringey but lots of those posts end up getting looked at by recruiters etc

Do any organisations near you offer career mentorship schemes? I really benefited from one when I was a fresh grad struggling to find work. Look at charities, large companies, youth provision etc.

Do please remind her that it's pretty normal to be out of work for a while when you graduate.

One idea OP: lots of foreign Embassies have trade and investment offices where they need people with English and languages as well as marketing or economics. She could send her CV to the Spanish speaking ones, for instance this is the Chile office in London: https://www.chile.gob.cl/reino-unido/asuntos-comerciales/asuntos-comerciales

Look also at trade fair organisers as they employ people with languages and marketing backgrounds. She can find them via the main show venues (NEC, Excel...), find the shows and then the organisers.

I've read your comments op not the whole thread. Are you near any charities which have a marketing department where she can volunteer such as a wildlife trust or museum? For a job, hospitality is much easier to get into than retail especially now we're getting into spring/summer. They will be zero hours contacts but it means she could pick up shifts and work her way in gradually. I think volunteering would be good for your daughter to build up her confidence. Volunteering in a charity shop might also help build her confidence before applying for jobs which are public-facing. If she is interested in languages, TEFL would be a good further step. If she enjoys it, she might consider a teaching career.

@Agapornis As it happens she has a meeting with somebody next Monday. I really hope something good comes from it 🤞What kind of help di you receive from them yourself ? Thanks

@Lovelyview think we are going to head that way. She is deffo not against volunteering. But even that never worked few months ago. Shocking 😮

@Sunholidays could deffo be an idea although right now she would need to work twice as hard at her self esteem. Not sure she feels strong enough in herself to go through these type of roles. She is really low 😥 But I am proud of her anyway. She is not giving up.

A bit of a random suggestion but as she is spending a lot of time in her room, I'd really recommend an SAD type lamp - i just use mine when i'm quickly putting some make up on in the morning and i think it's made a world of difference to my mood!

I understand that, but maybe she could start by doing research and compiling a database of contacts? She could act on those when she feels stronger, and doing all that research might give her some focus.