Son finding it hard to get a job.

miamoo

Thanks again. Some really helpful things here we hadn't thought of. I'll get him to tailor his CV more and dumb it down a bit for less skilled jobs. Also look at small local firms more, we hadn't considered this route.

The mock interview is a great idea, I'll have a think about that, honest feedback would be fantastic.

He just rang and he thinks the Interview today went really well, and he will hear back end of next week, so fingers crossed on that one. But I can help him feel a bit more positive now I have some new ideas.

[Deleted User]

I found these article's really helped when I was quite low
https://www.coburgbanks.co.uk/blog/candidate-tips/7-things-you-should-never-tell-a-recruiter/?omhide=true&dm_i=1ICR,4AO7L,JU4TFS,FPVLR,1

https://www.coburgbanks.co.uk/blog/candidate-tips/10-job-seeking-myths1/

System

I deliberately leave my degree off applications when its not appropriate, I can't even remember what GCSEs I did but they want to see the usual

Maybe an agency on zero hours?

bugslet

miamoo wrote: »

Thanks again. Some really helpful things here we hadn't thought of. I'll get him to tailor his CV more and dumb it down a bit for less skilled jobs. Also look at small local firms more, we hadn't considered this route.

The mock interview is a great idea, I'll have a think about that, honest feedback would be fantastic.

He just rang and he thinks the Interview today went really well, and he will hear back end of next week, so fingers crossed on that one. But I can help him feel a bit more positive now I have some new ideas.

I hope it comes off for him.

Smaller firms don't necessarily mean worse pay and conditions, my boys earned just shy of 40k last year on European work, which at 25 is not too shabby, and our driver retention rate his very high so we must do something right. We tend to be more flexible as we owners had the same problem as a youngster.

If he has an interest in HGV as a line of work, he may find it helpful to look at Trucknet. Certainly some of the advice will include knocking on doors at 7-8 a.m. with license and workboots etc, ready to go out then and there. It's a .slim chance, but leave a CV as well, you never know. As I said before I don't want to go through advertising if someone smart with a good attitude walks through my door.

sangie595

Is also worth double checking his CV and how he approaches interviews. In my experience the army often teach interview skills that are 20 years out of date, and even the way that people speak from a forces background can feel " off" to people from civvy street! An objective view, preferably from someone who knows what they are talking about, and that probably isn't the Job Centre, would be useful.

Lamentation

There is a website called Civvy Street which lists jobs from employers that are pro-ex armed forces personnel.

Did he get any specific constructive feedback back from the employers who gave him 5/6 interviews to say why they didn't offer the vacancies to him?

The DVLA were recently recruiting a large number of motor vehicle assessors across the country, not sure when the deadline is, though.

dharm999

Where in the country is he based? Has he thought about going in to security? With his security clearance he would get a role on sites needing security cleared staff, and I would have thought he would have got his licence training paid for as part of his re-introduction into the job market.

theoretica

I heard that supermarkets can be a good employer for former military people - especially if they had exposure to logistics.

nimbo

I know it's frustrating but it's only two months so far. He will get work. But sometimes it does take months.

Getting interviews is the really hard bit. My last two roles I did ALOT of research About the roles and both of my last jobs I got the interviewer has commented about my enthusiasm. My current manager was talking about the difficulty recruiting yesterday and said they were having problems with newly qualified workers not doing any research and therefore struggling to answer the questions.

Get him got think about transferable skills - and in the interview tell him to very obviously state why his army training and experience will make him the best for the role. He will know he has transferable skills so will the interviewer but if he doesn't say a certain set of words in certain cases he won't get the 'point' and will fall short of the required score for places that have to have a 'fair' scored process for appointing.

In my job we have to handle conflict - I'm a social worker.
So he could mention his extensive training provided by the army in de-escalation techniques - his quick reflective techniques to help him see if a course of action wasn't working and change tactic if needed.

Some feedback stated that I hadn't used enough examples. So encourage him to think through a way to use non confidential info to give examples. Get him to tell you some of the questions he may be asked in the industries he's applying for and practice answers - ambush him when he's not expecting it so they get to the point where they roll off the tongue. Every now and again throw in a random question from the net to get him to practice questions he's not had before.

It really is a tough job market out there at the minute. He will find something.

DKLS

korvskrot wrote: »

All qualified jobs i've gotten in this country have been through contacts. Small companies looking for new people, asking around in their own circles before opening up to "the public". Worth mentioning here is that I don't think this practice is right.

Why don't you think its right? IME experience its very common to be asked if you can recommend someone, where I am now its actively encouraged and if you help the company find someone there is a sliding scale of rewards from 1.5k to 40k once they have done 6 months service.

Op tell your son to network like mad, get on the military forums, trucking forums, whatever he is interested in, get his Linkedin account up to date, connect with former workmates, follow companies and join any relevant groups etc.

Also get him used to mapping his skills acquired in the military across to divvy street, I helped an ex-navy friend who initially struggled to get a job, once we sat down and mapped his skills to the competencies of the JD and he knew how to interpret Military into divvy, he was fine and now is earning six figures doing some satellite electronics wizardary thing.