Son desperately looking for employment

[YourPoisedWriter]

Why aren't employers giving younger generations a chance. My son is 20, he studied I.T and media studies at college, he is desperately seeking any employment, but every interview he has, always ends in knock backs, he either has no experience or isn't successful this time.

He always dresses smartly with a shirt, tie and trousers and always arrives early to interviews, he's polite and helpful, and is keen to learn new skills, it's just so frustrating, it's making him feel really low. I feel terribly sad for the younger generation, why aren't the job centres helping them?

Try Gov.uk as it has info on Apprenticeships. Also Google other companies that offer apprenticeships such as BT. It's just knowing where to look. Make sure he gets help with putting together a good CV. Wishing him the best of luc

The honest truth is that his grades are weak and some detail is missing. So if he is going for jobs in IT or media then he will be up against those with stronger qualifications. As he is getting interviews it sounds as though his interview technique needs work. He just needs to keep applying and applying.

I’m surprised he’s even getting interviews with the lack of details on his qualifications post-GCSE, he definitely needs to tighten that up if he’s applying for jobs that are relevant.

It’s very tough for youngsters.

id recommend he look on civil service jobs online and try to find an entry level or apprenticeship role.

What's all that "9FC" etc on his qualifications list.
It's very confusing to read. That might be putting employers off because they don't understand what qualifications he actually has.

To be honest that sounds more like he's being exploited to work for free in a job that should be paid rather than volunteering. It's good that he's trying to get experience though.

Would he be interested in going back to college to gain some more qualifications or maybe trying to learn a trade? In the meantime he might have some luck with shops and restaurants advertising for Christmas staff or he could ask around the local pubs if anyone needs some bar staff. Any extra work experience on his CV will help.

lol at rough pubs
My son has a full time security job on I think around 46k working shifts but only works 18 days a month on average plus 2-3 overtime shifts

he also does a few door shifts to bump up his pay and enjoys it
he’s 30 now but started off doing crowd control and marshaling for local clubs and events

I have two graduate sons back at home, one had a year contract with a company nothing I last 18 months, he gets interviews & feedback is always candidate hired had more experience.
youngest has no work experience & is applying to anything, not even hearing back, currently he volunteers in a charity shop a few days a week.
both sons getting despondent.

I sympathise OP. I’m 41 years old and employed with loads of transferable skills. I’ve been trying to change career to something office based, but when I get an interview the feedback has always been “very strong candidate but we had an applicant who was experienced in the field”. I don’t know how anyone is supposed to get through at the moment when there are so many applicants after every job.

Poor chap. I think it's quite hard out there for young people currently. It's very demoralising for them. I'm pretty old and I've never been out of work (professional services in HE) apart from a couple of months, years ago - and I found that period very stressful. I'm not sure people realise how tough it is for current school/college/university leavers.

Lots of good suggestions from others ... I'd definitely look at the apprenticeship route with him for the medium term. The volunteering is good. Some paid PT work in retail or hospitality would be great if he can get it.

Is he preparing for interviews well enough in terms of making sure he's familiar with the company? Looking at their website, annual report, strategic plans etc?

It really stands out which candidates have done this. And it's what we mean when we ask how they prepared for the interview (we've had candidates telling us what they had for breakfast!)

The other things that separate them are the level of enthusiasm shown. Nothing worse than a candidate where it feels like pulling teeth. And the questions at the end. Ask about opportunities for training etc, not about annual leave or mental health support. These are for HR once offered a position. It's usually the tone you leave the interview on and how they remember you.

In additional to his volunteering, something like bar work is extremely useful in learning how to talk to different people.

He will get there. He needs to keep going.

the thing is as well as competing against the job description, at entry level there will be others with better qualifications, work experience including Saturday jobs and other transferable skills.

he needs to look at wider volunteering opportunities for customer service etc. Also he needs to start thinking about a skills based cv rather than focus on the qualifications.

he is volunteering which is great and should demonstrate commitment, reliability and technical competence (depending on what he is doing).

I would recommend looking to see if there are any employment charities locally. I got some amazing help with cv, interview skills and had the opportunity to do other sessions through an amazing charity earlier this year.

for entry level jobs the competition is significant, the fact that he is being shortlisted is amazing. If the issue is experience then he needs to find a difference volunteering position or go back to college to show commitment to a chosen path. Apprenticeships are another amazing route. Some local councils offer them with a chance to undertake additional training if maths and English GCSE’s are below a certain level.

i appreciate that driving is incredibly expensive but this will also be limiting his job opportunities.

If he's getting interviews then he is clearly qualified it's just he's not selling himself and what he can bring to the company well enough

What interchangable skills does he have does he have any experience at all with team work or work experience he can use for good examples??

Just to give you some context OP, I frequently recruit for entry level system admin/system support jobs, so I guess entry level IT or tech support.

We get upwards of 80 applicants per vacancy, more than 50% of which have a degree, often in a related subject.

Im afraid your son’s CV with poor GCSEs and only A levels would be sifted out very quickly.

He needs to do some kind of further qualification and do some more volunteering to make his CV more attractive. Most of the people who apply have at least 2 years experience also.

If we get 45+ applications from candidates with degrees and relevant experience in a similar job then we wouldn’t consider those with only low school grades.

Three things:

1. Take absolutely any job he can get (bar, supermarket etc)
2. Learn to drive
3. Do more volunteering - he needs to show that he's making good use of his days, not just sitting around

Job market is awful at the moment - young and older. Keep going but he needs to be realistic admit his grades and what they can lead to.

My advice would be:
Look for level 2 apprenticeships
Or agency work
Or factory/warehouse work
Or bar work
It doesn't matter wether he wants to do these things long term or not but it's much easier to get a job when you already have a job.

The worlds turning more into who you know rather than what you know.

I echo the comments on volunteering. My career started from being a reservist (not volunteering) but if he could join army reserves in signals his doors will open.

But the thing is competition for entry level roles is quite high. It’s not about rocking up to a job centre and finding a job for life with zero experience and low qualifications. Sometimes I go on indeed and similar sites, and it literally shows hundreds of people have applied for entry level roles. If your son is applicant number 400, is he really standing out?

I have heard this elsewhere, it is tough for GCSE through to Uni Graduate leavers.

All I can do is encourage them to keep going, join agencies, put CV on Monster or similar and check Indeed, they can have good jobs and of course the gov apprentaships webpage.

mMy DH also applied for over 50 jobs recently, it’s tough but keep going.

20 plus years experience after redundancy and took me 9m!
It's brutal out there.

Young lacking experience are just so much competition.

Work on getting all experience they can.
Do any online courses he can.
Learn to drive.
Work on interview skills.
Networking and sign up to all agencies he'd possibly work in.
Prospectively contact places that might need some help or offer some experience opportunities.
Have a great CV and a covering letter than can say who is his as CV grades aren't great

Say yes to everything!

Hope he can find something soon. It only takes one.

He seems to have studied for a music qualification at college, is that his area of interest?

What exactly is the job he dreams of getting?
Where is his portfolio?

TWO YEARS????
Is that a typo? If not they're taking the piss, and they aren't going to employ him all the while they can have him work for free. He's got that experience to add to his CV now, so time to leave.
How is he getting interviews? Online applications only? Because at this stage I'd be saying get his CV ready and walk round asking for work - slightly different but my DD did this over summer and got two jobs on the same day from people who just hadn't advertised yet but were about to. Any job will do (hers were pub jobs) because it's always easier to get another job once you've already got one. Then you build your skills and your CV (and you can tailor it to future interviews).
Also, why can't he drive? If it's anything other than affordability that is impossible, that is the next thing to get him doing, especially manual lessons, opens lots of other opportunities.

I’m hoping someone will come along and tell me if this is true or not, but I’ve heard companies have been given “tax breaks” ( something that saves the company money) IF they employ working immigrants from India. This was apparently agreed by Sunak .

Im inclined to believe it to be true- as im hearing alot of natives are struggling to get jobs, but if you look in the supermarkets etc a lot of Indian nationals working.

Before anyone says, if you are a regular mumsnetter you will know I am Asian myself (born and bred here) so I am not being racist(!) It’s just an observation.

A two second google will answer this for you. FFS.