Supporting a job-hunting graduate

dearbarbie

jeeez he's old enough to look after himself. he can get a part time job to pay for his stuff. living at home and having his petrol paid for? he doesnt know how good he's had it. ship him off, tell him to learn the hard way and get a job while he gets 'the job'. welcome to the real world, sonny.

Jongleur

I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to comment on this thread - while I don't necessarily agree with all of the views expressed, I do appreciate the time that you took.

I'd like to clarify the situation somewhat in the light of the comments so far:

SS was supported by his father via maintenance payments up to the age of 18 (i.e. finishing high school). Since then he has made his own arrangements with pa to cover the cost of running the car and to budget for insurance etc.

The agreed arrangement at the moment is £50/wk on our side; £50/wk on their side. These amounts are subject to review depending on how SS fares with his budget and job seeking. After four months, the money will effectively start being loaned so he pays it back once he is working.

SS is living with his father and step-mother outside of London, but within a train ride (I don't know the costs involved in driving to Central London and parking there, but suspect that they are excessive). I don't know if a young person's railcard is valid at peak travel times, and even if it is, he still has to get across London on the Tube or bus. I have expressed my view that he won't always be travelling at peak times to all concerned.

As a number of people pointed out, the job market is still in a fairly parlous state and it could take him a long time (months rather than weeks) to find a job. His degree is in a subject that is not an obvious fit to any career, but then I don't think any degree is a shoe-in for a job at the moment anyway. We are keen to see him in a position that offers a career rather than turning up for money, but if that's what's on offer, he'll have to take it in the end.

I agree that he should have been looking for something before he left uni - he was prompted last autumn when companies were doing graduate recruitment, but let it slide while he concentrated on his uni work. That's all water under the bridge, anyway, but having gone through an apprenticeship programme myself in the dim mists of antiquity, I recommend that anyone who is coming up to their final year investigates as many graduate recruitment programmes as they can, and that anyone in their penultimate year at high school should really get looking at apprenticeships and other training opportunities immediately.

On the positive side, he is getting coached in job-hunting techniques that have worked well for his father, step-mum and his elder brother who have all changed jobs for the better in the last 18 months, and he is smart, effective, personable and hard-working. I don't worry about his interview technique or confidence at all.

I'm not going to comment on the many suggestions that he should stand on his own feet other than saying that the course we have taken up to now is a personal decision and I understand that while we have been happy with it over the last three years, it isn't to everybody's taste.

He has packed in his job with the burger-flippers, as his full-time 'job' right now is getting a proper job. There is some latitude perhaps at evenings and weekends, but again, we have to remember that there is a very high unemployed/position ratio for every job of that kind.

He could possibly have transferred location, but it is important to note that the job he had was shift work, typically in the evenings and often until around midnight - not necessarily conducive to a focussed and productive morning's job hunting the following day.

He is in the process of applying for/getting JSA and this should start within a few weeks. We still do not know where the JSA fits in to the picture, and we are suspicious that we will be stumping up £50/wk while the others use JSA to offset their spend. If that isn't the case, then he is effectively getting £150/wk which is excessive (actually he would be on about the same as his mother gets without paying tax - mmm, should he be declaring these contributions?).

On the subject of covering the cost of interviews, this may be a reference to the Travel to Interview Scheme which is now closed, according to DirectGov.

JSA can be contribution-based or income-based. On the basis given on the DirectGov website, I think it would be income-based since I doubt that SS has made sufficient NI contributions in his part-time job. The site says that income-based JSA depends on income and savings, but doesn't explain whether it is based on the household or the person.

One point that I didn't see any comment on was the effect on household finances of children flying the nest - naturally it depends on actual figures, but perhaps you have some feel for where the change in situation might be felt. I'm guessing energy usage, water usage and domestic shopping.

Our tactics, then, are as follows:

* We will insist on regular reviews of the financial situation, including a summary of his 'income' so that we know where we stand and that we're not being the fall guys in this situation.

* We will insist on the contributions becoming a loan at the four month mark, as we feel that this is a reasonable point to change the rules, all other things being equal.

Once again, thanks for all your comments. If anyone has any other tactics to offer, we'd appreciate them. Perhaps we can rent his room out for £50/wk!

lilab_2

Jongleur wrote: »

He could possibly have transferred location, but it is important to note that the job he had was shift work, typically in the evenings and often until around midnight - not necessarily conducive to a focussed and productive morning's job hunting the following day.

Am a little gob-smacked. My daughter worked throughout University, doing shift work at all hours of day and night and came out with a Bsc 1st Class Hons. Can't believe that he is unable to work until midnight and then 'work' the next day at finding employment. In any circumstances experience in any field counts a lot in an employer's eyes. The fact that someone has the determination to find work and has built up some experience, albeit flipping burgers, would certainly impress me more than someone who can't cope with doing a bit of shift work and apply for alternatives at the same time. Flipping burgers still requires team work, people skills and commitment to get up and into work on time.

As for driving into central London every day, if he can afford that along with congestion zone charges and parking charges, then the train fare is not going to be an issue!

Personal opinion, but I really feel there are a whole bunch of excuses why this young man is not at least trying to stand on his own two feet. Who is paying for his coaching for interview techniques?

Mk14:37

Thanks for the update, OP. I agree that £100 pw, is excessive, nevermind JSA on top.

Take driving in to Central London out of the equation - the queues at rush hour are horrendous, and it's no plain sailing at the rest of times. Congestion Charge is £10 per day and parking... well, assuming you can even find a space it's gonna cost you.

It's been a few years since I last was job hunting, but every salaried job interview paid my travel expenses. Perhaps you could pay the costs upfront, but have him return the expense claims to you? Also, it would be interesting to know how far out from London he is - the Oyster travel zone is wider now and takes in some rail travel, so he may be able to travel by Oyster only. Alternatively, if he's travelling in to London frequently, has he found out about season tickets for his rail fare? (Would need to be almost daily travel though).

As for the phone, sometimes you have to cut your cloth to suit your means - PAYG phones start at £5. It might not be the latest, shiny new toy but if he needs it to stay in touch with potential employers, it would work just fine