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

Someone who works part time through education clearly hasn’t had the time to get proper education. They will have a lifetime of work ahead. Unless they don’t have the means they should focus on their education and enjoying life during uni. Volunteering is something that I would encourage but not work except for internships during holidays.

Depends on your definition of proper education. Is it really so narrow as to be solely a formal education in an academic setting? DS' current holiday job is in a wine bar and he is enjoying learning about wine, pairings and the social aspect.
DS also enjoyed his work as a sports coach, which started age 16. He learned a bunch of other skills and acquired qualifications which meant his holiday job paid more than minimum wage. He got great A levels, into a well regarded university and is on track for a 2:1 Not sure what could be said to be missing from his education?

OP it is a numbers game. The AI interviews are an awful experience. I hope your DD can get a first job soon and agree with PP who said ensure she gets out of the bedroom every day. A friend's DD who graduated last summer with a masters with distinction took a p/t retail role which ensured she had an income until she landed a graduate job six months later.

@Hwi

I do agree in principle of course but its worthwhile noting that the maximum maintenance loan rarely covers much more than rent these days.
If a student worked whilst at Uni I wouldn’t hold that against them, they are probably doing it because they have to financially.

Exeter Uni for example halls of residence cost approx £7500 ( £6000 to £1100 ) exc food. Maintenance is about 10/11,000 assuming students qualify for the maximum. Many don’t even qualify for that.
A room in Shared housing in the area is approx £600pcm or £7200/yr

Hence, if they do work I don’t regard that as a lack of commitment.

Working low paid jobs as a teenager is extremely educational.
Graduates who have never had a job are likely to be unrealistic and entitled as well as lacking in experience. It's embarrassing for them!
What does telling someone to focus on enjoying life teach them, really? That you can't enjoy life and work? That low paid work is too good for them because they're educated?
I worked from age 12 in jobs including babysitting, gardening, retail, seasonal work. Not excessive hours but just a few hours a week. I got 10 top grade GCSEs and 5 grade A A levels. (From a mediocre state school) I now have 5 degrees and work in a rewarding career. I still often think back to lessons learned in those early jobs.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/thirty_days_only/5274427-my-poor-dd-just-cant-find-her-first-job-after-uni-its-bad-out-there?latest=1

Really? A supermarket job shows evidence of responsibility, handling money, dealing with customers.

A 10k run is nice but it's not evidence of any useful skills. Asking friends and family for money to do a fun activity isn't really that impressive from an employment point of view

It took my DC a master's to get a job. And they only got their job after applying after the masters had finished

Working alongside A levels is going to be useful experience for studying medicine and the years after graduation. If you can't cope with the time management/stress of A levels, which are very prescriptive and you have your mum to look after you, you're going to struggle with the demands of being a junior doctor.

Obviously there's a happy medium between never doing any paid work and spending all your free time working. That's where parents can help by putting some limits in place and helping kids to say no to the extra shifts.

Also there's nothing to stop your daughter's friends resitting chemistry. It's not the end of the world and the pub experience won't have been a waste either way.

A supermarket job may show areas you may have some experience in. That’s not what I was posting about.
It tells me nothing of interests and passions.
It tells me nothing of a persons personality

As a complete aside
re retaking Alevels. You can’t study medicine on a retake
You can of course do it at graduate entry after graduating in a related degree

If I was recruiting graduates (and I do have some experience of it albeit not super recent), I’d want the ones who had a bit of life experience not just confined to the library. The ones who know how the world of employment works, not just the cosseted world of education. Working a part time job whilst studying really is not, for the most part, remotely unachievable. Yes, even for medicine. Some of the best doctors I know worked as HCA’s through their degrees, learned how to speak to patients on a human level and have never forgot how difficult those entry level jobs in hospitals are or how integral they are to a team running smoothly.

As for your daughter OP, definitely get her to register with temp agencies and to seek out any kind of work to get her out the house whilst continuing to look for that perfect job.

More for your daughter:

Absolutely look at volunteering. I used to train employability skills and one of the things we always recommended was volunteer work to get you into the swing of working - being managed, being trained, learning, developing, interacting with customers, the public, colleagues etc etc.

Gaining valuable skills depending on what kind of volunteering you're doing say in retail - stock management, display, customer service, cash handling.

With the weather warming up now outdoor volunteering could be of interest for example woodland management, animal conservancy.

Arts organisations might welcome volunteers for classes, working with children etc.

Organisations like the National Trust basically thrive off the work of volunteers and I understand their paid vacancies are publicised to the volunteer body first.

Go directly onto the website of local companies and organisations and look at their vacancy lists.

Then maybe opportunities for internships. Local TV radio stations newspapers magazines etc.

Yes you may have your own thoughts on unpaid work - weigh that up against the potential benefits and long-term effects of doing this kind of thing.

A 10k run doesn’t tell the employer about the kind of person someone is. No one’s employing someone because of going that. Internships and volunteering are very valuable though, as is paid work (many internships are paid). I’d much rather employ someone whose managed to get good grades at school and uni whilst having a part time job that helps build their skills, then someone who has good grades but the only extras they’ve done are a few short 10k runs.

Yes she didn’t really meet the criteria for the job but I could see she was smart and capable so hired her anyway! She was so excellent she carved out her own niche

Grads struggle with soft skills and working in the service industry helps them acquire good people skills - dealing with difficult people, problem solving, building resilience, working in a team - lots of kids really grow through these jobs - do not institute the value they bring to a grads personal development, The competition is real…everyone has a degree, it’s worth at demonstrating a point of difference has diminished.
I’m struggling to think of the skills learned when doing a 10k, it’s a lone sport, it’s not that hard - I’ve done one myself so it’s not totally alien to me - raising money for charity through sponsorship is not enough - your parents could have done that - it tells me nothing about you except that you are struggling to fill the page on your CV.

OP you dc needs a job - any job, if she’s bright she’ll learn and grow from it and move on to the next one.

Get her a job in a call centre for a big brand. From there, she can apply for other jobs within the company and work her way sideways and up.

I started out selling advertising space on the phone in the early 1990s - it was a terrible job, but everyone else there was in the same boat including a few Oxbridge grads there too. It was my first job after graduation and I was prepared to do anything (within reason!). We all used it as a springboard to better things. It was also next door to a pub and we developed strong friendships such that I still see some of them occasionally

Wouldn't that depend on how many apply and the places available. Dc were younger as doing it for DofE but there are others waiting for dc to finish his volunteering so they can start.

Places available are lower than numbers wanting to do it.

I think it’s time the OP came back to address the suggestions given here. We have got into a loop arguing about whether sixth formers should work part time. This thread is about a graduate who is presumably at least 21 and by the sounds of it has never done either paid or voluntary work?

I'm coming back to this after posting yesterday and am shocked at the ongoing argument between some posters about the merits of working while doing A levels or when at uni.

That's all totally irrelevant now. She's been to uni.
I can't understand why those posters think they are contributing anything worthwhile for the OP.

I've DCs who are now managers and recruit. They have science degrees from top unis, including a Masters.

Straight after uni, they both worked in jobs far below their ability/skills on leaving uni, as a stop-gap. In cafes, pubs, a charity office, admin jobs.

All these jobs gave them soft skills and added to their CV.

They also both registered with agencies who found them work.

IMO the OP's daughter may need to work on her CV.
She may need support with her interview skills and how she presents herself (verbally.) She may be applying for jobs that aren't a good match anyway.

I am surprised that she can't find any work because there is a desperate shortage of people in so many sectors and charity shops always want staff.

However, unless the OP comes back with more info, we don't know what her DD has tried.

I know from experience how utterly frustrating it can be for new graduates to find work. As a schoolteacher I avoid saying ‘work hard and you’ll get a good job’ for this very reason.

I echo the advice given by others to apply for lots, volunteer if at all possible, and pursue hobbies and interests to promote wellbeing and keep the cv active. Sometimes an opportunity arises because of a personal connection made through a hobby.

I’d also second applying for UC which I think (did for one of my children anyway) should come with some coaching sessions.

I wish new graduates could all have access to a mentor to support them for the first five years after the degree, particularly in their pursuit of work.

The market is saturated with new graduates, grad schemes are hideously oversubscribed and of course employers are having to cut their costs.

Best of luck to her!

I wish new graduates could all have access to a mentor to support them for the first five years after the degree, particularly in their pursuit of work.

Unis do have an open door for this in the first year after graduating.

There are also coaches who work privately providing this kind of career coaching.

Also, once someone is in the workplace, there are often mentoring schemes there. Both my DCs had informal mentoring once they were working in large companies. My DH worked as a mentor with new grads in his company (again, large international.)

I don't know if it's been mentioned but the careers dept at her Uni can be enormously helpful - they will support her for 2 years after graduation. As a recruiter for our company - I'm a massive fan and encouraged my dcs to make full use of it. They benefited from fake interviews with constructive feedback and great learning points. Interesting volunteer experience. Interview support and coaching. CV review, internship opportunities - sometimes these are just online and not very competitive to get on but they are still useful.
She needs more life experience and interaction with people - everything and anything beyond sitting around doing nothing. And yes to signing on to universal credit - they'll pull her out of her comfort zone - they will do battle so you can take the nurturing supportive role.

She's just done a degree in business. I'd be expecting her next step to be starting up one or more new small businesses, possibly teaming up with former classmates, to see whether anything flies, to start making contacts and building a reputation, and develop more practical skills as well as things to be able to talk about in job interviews (as she'll keep putting in applications). There are untold thousands of recent graduates in Business Admin, employers have their pick and the ones who haven't done anything innovative themselves are basically interchangeable if that's what they want. The ones who are taking the initiative and doing something to shift themselves are the interesting ones who catch the eye when sifting through a huge pile or otherwise near-identical applications.

I'd be expecting her next step to be starting up one or more new small businesses Really? Doing what? Starting up a small business requires having something to sell - skills, knowledge or products and funds behind you - does that sound like a new graduate? I know very few who have gone down this route and if they have it's usually been a hobby they have managed to turn into a business - very unusual indeed.

She's just done a degree in business. I'd be expecting her next step to be starting up one or more new small businesses,

You clearly have zero idea of what a business degree is for. It's not 'business admin' as you seem to think.

Having a business degree does not equip you for being an entrepreneur.

I am very scared to lose her if something doesn’t come up soon. Any advice is truly appreciated. Thank you

@Bluelagoon02 Are you really saying you think your DD is on the verge of a breakdown and would take her own life? What do you mean by 'lose her'?

It's odd you've not come back to acknowledge the support you've been given.