Are kids taught about how to apply for jobs?

kingfisherblue

My daughter is nineteen and she was taught how to write a CV, covering letter, application letter, etc. It was covered several times in her PSHE lessons. She was also given mock interviews. I assumed that PSHE covered careers topics in all schools.

Of course, it is possible that it is taught, but widely ignored. Pupils don't seem to have a very high opinion of PSHE, which also covers sexually transmitted diseases (reported to be on the increase), smoking, alcohol consumption, (higher in recent years, at least among young females), eating disorders (also reported to be on the increase).

donquine

I didn't get any of that while I was at school - I think the help came at uni and then, you had to ask for it. The uni careers advisory service ran sessions and so did visiting big employers.

heretolearn_2

'OP - do you penalise bad grammar, bad punctuation etc in the selection process if otherwise the applicant has demonstrated that they meet the criteria you have asked for when advertising the job?'

It depends on the job - for some of them the criteria includes 'high standard of written communication' if writing letters to clients etc forms part of the role. In those cases, yes, of course. For other jobs there isn't that involvement in writing, and it isn't part of the criteria, so no. Over 50% of our staff don't have English as a first language and standards vary a lot. It's only ever a problem when someone THINKS they have great English, but they don't.

But the sort of problems I'm seeing right now from these kids is in an application for an admin role and it does involve writing to clients, preparing personalised quotations etc. And I can't believe it's that they don't know the rule of, for example, using a capital I not i (as in I can't), they just don't understand it's important to follow it!

MGCP

I'm not sure I have a huge amount of sympathy. The vast majority of kids are computer literate and have internet access. A few quick searches online about CVs and job applications will teach you enough to do it properly.

If someone needs to be spoonfed the information they will require to get on in life and lacks the common sense to teach themselves, well to be harsh that's another way that less able candidates are weeded out.

aliasojo

heretolearn wrote: »

I feel sorry for the youngsters who are making bad mistakes with their applications - maybe no-one's ever taught them what they should be doing. I hate just saying 'thanks but no thanks' and would love to give them more detailed feed back but do you think that would be appreciated or annoying. Or open us up to complaints and discrimination claims etc...actually we daren't do it just in case. Shame, because some of them are so in need of a bit of guidance.

It's such a shame your hands are tied over this, I think it would benefit many, many people if actual, relevant, personal feedback could be given instead of the usual generic 'sorry you have been unsuccessful on this occasion' letter that's normally sent out.

Yet another sign of a poor society, help could be given but dare not be in case of potential comeback.

I applaud you for caring enough to even consider this though, OP.

jamiec_3

My brother is currently looking for work. The trouble is, so are thousands of other people.

What he needs to be doing is meeting people face to face, doing something all the other applicants aren't. Getting past the gatekeeper and all that. I doubt they would teach them that in school.

paulwf

In some ways it should be much easier to write a CV than 15 years ago...easy access to word processing including CV templates and plenty of CV examples and advice online. It's probably hard to teach about applying for jobs in a short period of time anyway as more and more jobs now have online applications with some quite bizarre tests you have to pass, some employers don't want CVs any more.

One tip I would give is to be very careful using social networking, there is an incredible amount of data available about candidates with a quick Google search. Some people make it even worse for themselves by posting on the facebook wall of a company asking for jobs using text speak and slang, it just looks so unprofessional. Companies can also do a simple keyword search to keep tabs on what is being said on Twitter, I've seen teens say they have applied for a job at xxx company because their mum dragged them along...that's instant binning of a CV.

Social networking is so new we've all got a lot to learn about it's rules and etiquette, no more so than teens who seem to be doing everything possible to lessen their job chances via Facebook and twitter!

Savvy_Sue

aliasojo wrote: »

Yet another sign of a poor society, help could be given but dare not be in case of potential comeback.

Actually, we don't offer it to non-shortlisted applicants because we simply don't have time. We do try to send out a rejection by post or email - my preference is post because although it takes longer and costs more people are more likely to fire back an email for personal feedback than they are to start writing a new email or pick up the phone! - but it's not our role to coach jobseekers.

Which is why I wondered if a couple of generic sentences would help the OP? I may suggest it to our HR panel, but we'd want to monitor it, I wouldn't want everyone calling up and saying "But I did all those things!" and have to put them onto a member of the shortlisting panel who would then have to explain why they didn't get through.

Once you get a job here, we're a fantastic employer, but we simply do not have time to be super-nice to people who don't know how to make a decent job application / aren't qualified for the post they're interested in / might be capable but were not quite as good as the people we have chosen to interview.

KimYeovil

SnowyOwl wrote: »

Savvy, yes, I think it's important for employers to be clear about what they want from applicants, and to stick to that criteria when shortlisting.

:rotfl:

Straight in the bin without a second glance.

aliasojo

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Once you get a job here, we're a fantastic employer, but we simply do not have time to be super-nice to people who don't know how to make a decent job application / aren't qualified for the post they're interested in / might be capable but were not quite as good as the people we have chosen to interview.

Completely understand your points.

However we all have to start somewhere and perhaps a few pointers from a potential employer would go a long way to help future applications. But then, why would the 'refusing' employer care. Oh, is that us back to the poor society thing again? :D