Help And Advice For Son Please

SallyUK

Hello Everyone

I wondered if anyone had any good ideas or advice to help my son find a job, mainly in the summer when he's home from university. Last year, he applied for loads but kept getting the same reply - no experience.

I should also say that he has Aspergers, but very mild, no one could ever tell he had this, without being told beforehand. It just makes him really shy until he gets to know someone.

Having said that he goes to uni which is about 5 hours drive away from home and is always out socialising! ( He doesn't drive yet, too much for insurance)

He's 20 and doesn't do phones!! Lol

Sal
Xx

laurylaury

One of the best sources of information will be the university. From my experience, my university has a careers website that you can sign up to and they send out daily emails about all types of vacancies they have been informed about. You should find out from your son if his university offers a similar service.

SallyUK

Thanks

But the uni is 5 hours drive from where he lives, so I would think that perhaps the vacancies that the uni has would be too far away from home for him to travel there and back? During summer time, I mean?

Sal
x

laurylaury wrote: »

One of the best sources of information will be the university. From my experience, my university has a careers website that you can sign up to and they send out daily emails about all types of vacancies they have been informed about. You should find out from your son if his university offers a similar service.

agrinnall

What subject is he studying? If it's something that has a practical element then maybe that would help him if he looked for a job in a relevant field. Unfortunately for a lot of summer jobs employers are likely to be looking for outgoing people in areas like retail and tourism, which may not be his forte.

alyth

I don't see why he shouldn't go for a retail job. I'm a mature student and work weekends in a supermarket, and we have seasonal staff both over the summer and during term-time. People want to work different shifts for whatever reasons. He doesn't have to work on checkouts, he could stack shelves, work in a clothing department (men do!) and it may push him a little out of his comfort zone.

ravenjet

SallyUK wrote: »

He's 20 and doesn't do phones!! Lol

Hi Sal,
my son has just been diagnosed with dyspraxia but probably too late for help from uni as he only has a few months left of his accountancy degree.
As for work he spent his first summer at a local firm in the accounts department, this was meant to be only 2 weeks covering a junior who was on holiday but they asked him to stay on when she returned for 2 days a week. He was asked back the following Easter to update a customer database, this was all good and he enjoyed the work. The following summer they asked him back but he had been told some of his job would include phoning customers, he declined their offer, he didn't want to use the phone but made some other excuse as to why he couldn't do it.

I agree with others who have said try and do something which relates to his degree. It doesn't have to be a full time summer job, just filling in for holiday cover will get your son some experience and a foot in the door. Email small local companies even if they are not advertising summer vacancies, they may need support to cover staff holidays.

Lokolo

http://www.milkround.com/search-browse/job-type/1/

Summer Internships.

pennyfox_2

Have you tried asking people you know if they have any small jobs he could do? Mow the lawn, wash the car, or something similar. If they have a company maybe he could help out (they might have a shop or a decorating business or need an office assistant etc...) and so land his first job?

If he doesn't have paid experience, is there anything else he could list as experience? Did he do any placements while he was at school? Does he take part in any university societies? Does he do any volunteering?

When my brother was looking for his first job, we put as experience that he was organising concerts at the local youth centre, and he had also done a couple of weeks at a local company during a placement organised by his school. It really helped to put these things on the CV as it gives you something to talk about in the interview!

the-mango

Maybe if he could get a part-time job at somewhere like Waitrose where they are often willign to transfer you in the holidays?

[Deleted User]

What is his degree in?

What does he hope to do after uni?

Unless he NEEDS the extra cash to get him through Uni (in which case apply for everything and anything and then see what the options are) then try and focus on gaining experience (paid or unpaid) in an area the area he would like to work once he has graduated - this will really help him when he has finished Uni and competing with thousands of other grads with the same/similar qualifications. If he has some relevant experience he will stand out and his applications will be scored higher than those that don't have relevant experience, so will hopefully make getting interviews easier.

laurylaury

SallyUK wrote: »

Thanks

But the uni is 5 hours drive from where he lives, so I would think that perhaps the vacancies that the uni has would be too far away from home for him to travel there and back? During summer time, I mean?

Sal
x

Well my university is in Glasgow and they advertise vacancies from all over the UK, ranging from summer internships to graduate jobs to part-time temporary project work. I would think that the types of jobs that my university gets asked to advertise would be offered by others too...