Are kids taught about how to apply for jobs?

brokeinwales

I was given some advice at school on applying for jobs, interviews etc - but since then (I am now in my late twenties) most of the advice I got has turned out to be at best useless, and at worst, plain wrong.

A great amount of time was spent on completing a National Record of achievement because it was essential as "any prospective employer will ask for it" - to this date no-one has ever asked for mine. I doubt most employers really care whether you were in the school choir.

Great emphasis was put on writing detailed personal statements to include in a lengthy CV. Most employers now tell me they don't want a personal statement - they just want a simple list of what you have done - apparently a CV should be no more than one page long. (Actually it's so rare I actually need to submit a CV at all, that I'm not sure there's any point having one other than a reference points for dates). This showed when I worked in a hotel and students used to come in with three page long CV's talking all about their A-Level courses and their voluntary work with an animal rescue shelter and how this made them a reliable and hard-working person - and no-one cared. We just wanted to know if they'd waited tables or poured pints before.

A huge amount of time was spent on what to wear for interviews and silly obvious things like being on time - but relatively little on the actual content of interviews, or how to construct answers to questions. One of my friend attended a mock interview and the only feedback she got back was "wearing flat shoes".

Huge amounts of time spent doing aptitude tests and analysing skills - which seems like a bit of a waste of time for a sixteen year old who has no workplace experience to be worrying about what their skills are - shouldn't they be more concerned about how they can acquire some skills? Also spending an hour filling in a questionaire taht then tells you "hey you'd make a great newspaper editor" or "being a plumber may suit you" may be fun and interesting - but I'm not sure it's a terribly productive use of time.

Great emphasis put on speculative applications and the old 90% of job vacancies are never advertised. I personally believe this to be an enormous lie. Most places I have worked have filed speculative CV applications straight in the bin.

(Incidentally I was also discouraged from doing the post-16 qualification I actually wanted to do on the grounds that "it would be better for me to do a degree in my best academic subject" (English) - turns out I'd have been better off following my initial idea and not listening to the "experts" but that's another story...)

Hermia

I do wonder whether parents are less involved now too (or possibly the kids don't allow them to be involved). For example one of the big problems we have with the kids we interview is them turning up in totally unsuitable clothes. I have lost count of the amount of bare tummies, cleavage and thong tops I have witnessed in the interview room in the last few years. And a lot of the boys come in wearing scruffy jeans and t-shirts. We don't expect them to be wearing posh suits, but some boring black trousers/skirt and a plain top would be nice. As these are front-line jobs it's really important that the person knows how to dress well. We are very reluctant to give people feedback on a person's appearance as we have had some verbal abuse in the past.

Savvy_Sue

KimYeovil wrote: »

:rotfl:

Straight in the bin without a second glance.

:rotfl: I didn't notice that until you pointed it out!

Given the dearth of Latin in the school curriculum, it's the kind of thing I'd now be prepared to overlook if the rest of the application were perfect, or nearly so!

Savvy_Sue

Hermia wrote: »

I do wonder whether parents are less involved now too (or possibly the kids don't allow them to be involved).

I'd say the latter: mine were initially quite reluctant to let me check anything, and the idea of copying a blank form to have a trial run of filling it in was met with blank incomprehension!

And DS3 doesn't believe that I know ANYTHING about ANYTHING, he's far worse than his brothers were at that age (18). The older two now accept that I might know something about income tax, self-employment, and how to treat a potential employer, but I usually have to initiate the conversations!

However they have managed to get themselves jobs at the local cinema, DS3 on the grounds that as his brothers had been reliable he probably would be too! :rotfl: And DS1 did let me check his CV recently. So there is hope ...

But I'm not sure the older two would believe me if I said that a suit and tie were pretty much essential for post university job interviews: the youngest would be glad to wear that because he likes dressing up, but if he didn't he'd turn up in his jeans and trainers. :eek:

GoodNewmover

Don't Secondary Year 10/11 students have Enterprise Day. Where they are given CV and genereal work advice and tips before they are sent off to do some work experience for two weeks?

I guess when they reach college/Uni they do not practise as much as all the focus is on the studies...

Savvy_Sue

GoodNewmover wrote: »

Don't Secondary Year 10/11 students have Enterprise Day. Where they are given CV and genereal work advice and tips before they are sent off to do some work experience for two weeks?

IF any of mine had such a day, they failed to mention it to me. Yes, they were sent off on Work Experience, and yes, they were meant to make the applications themselves. But I had forgotten work experience (mercifully wiped from my memory!) and I did (have to) show them how to write a letter to a potential employer.

GoodNewmover wrote: »

I guess when they reach college/Uni they do not practise as much as all the focus is on the studies...

I don't know: they're all desperate for work to top up their loans, so maybe they do get a bit of practice at that point?