First real job and he's bored !

PasturesNew

If he's bored he's not getting involved and effectively "networking"... there must be people there he can pick the brains of, suck up to, lick the 4rses off to see/learn/understand more - and once they get talking to him they'll not only give him a chance to do other stuff/more work, but he'll also have a high presence and be known by everybody, which would put him in a better position if anything more interesting came up.

Even if nothing interesting came up, he'd have more to talk about at his next interviews!

Tell him to learn to lick a lot of 4rse.... and "be nosey" and tell people they're awesome - and to ask lots of questions.

The way to get on is to be known to the most people.

Ask questions ... appear bright/keen .... be seen to be available/helpful. Even if somebody's having trouble with their chair, get in there and give a hand ... wet brolly? Sort it out. Find your own work .... nod ... smile.... get your face known.

Then toady up.

TELLIT01

maggiesoup1 wrote: »

I'm caught between letting him pursue his dream or being pragmatic and saying he should stick to it for at least 6 months or he's going to look like he's a quitter but I see how despondent he looked every night when he gets home

You need to tell him 'Welcome to the real world of work'. What does he expect after one month, to be producing blockbusters? It's all very well to try to pursue a dream if you have other people prepared to bankroll you.
If he's going to be anywhere he first needs to prove that he'll stick at things even when they aren't going well.

ViolaLass

I wouldn't tell the manager "I don't have enough to do". Instead, can he look around and see where he could help? Bound to be little jobs people would happily pass on to him.

FBaby

I'm caught between letting him pursue his dream or being pragmatic and saying he should stick to it for at least 6 months or he's going to look like he's a quitter but I see how despondent he looked every night when he gets home

How is telling him that he can give up the job pursuing his dream? Quitting his job is not going to make him more likely to get his dream job is it? If anything, it will make it even harder.


What you can do is teach him that good things come to those who wait. He is bored, it is highly unpleasant, but it is part of life. He needs to face reality, many jobs are not enjoyable, at least not to start with. Some are boring, some are stressful, some are working with people you dislike, some involve long commute etc... What you do though is keep up with it whilst striving to improve your situation until hopefully, some day, you do get the perfect balance.


It's normal that with immaturity, your son would want to pack it in, but how can you think it potentially right to tell him that it is ok to do so?

marliepanda

I have a job I really love now, with good colleagues (which was a lot of the battle for me before, maybe its just me)

My first job when I was 16 was at an egg factory. Do you think I came home beaming everyday?

After I graduated I went to work in M&S because I didnt secure a graduate job immediately. Again, I wasnt in love with it, but it paid the bills and I had plenty of time to apply for other jobs.

Its just life. My friend was a runner for Strictly for years until he got himself something a bit better, theres a lot of competition.

bugslet

TELLIT01 wrote: »

You need to tell him 'Welcome to the real world of work'. What does he expect after one month, to be producing blockbusters? It's all very well to try to pursue a dream if you have other people prepared to bankroll you.
If he's going to be anywhere he first needs to prove that he'll stick at things even when they aren't going well.

Agree with TELLIT ( not unusual!).

He's a new person in the world of work, he's got no currency to enable him to do the more interesting stuff. The way to get that currency is to rock up in the morning with a smile on his face, do the work and when he finishes early, ask his line manager if there is anything else he can do, or is there another department that might need a helping hand.

If there isn't, make people's tea for them, re-label the filing system, do something!

Edit: I run my own company and I have to do stuff that is boring, it's life!

Mojisola

maggiesoup1 wrote: »

Son managed to secure a "runner" job (basically office junior) with a big company. Most of the staff are young and he really likes them but one month into the job he says it's driving him crazy as there's so little to do.

Maybe they've had "slow" runners previously as he seems to get through his work by lunchtime each day.

To be fair to the lad, he's not complaining that his job is boring but that he doesn't have enough work to do - he sounds like someone I'd have wanted to employ. Many young workers would be happy to skive off all afternoon!

Beartricks

I'd say that if he's old enough to be working full time, he's old enough to not be relying on his mum to figure out solutions to his problems.

My advice would be that he's not going to get his dream job. He might get something that looks like his dream job eventually but it's not going to be a straight dash to the finish line. It's going to take work.

I did a film degree at university. My first mistake was not working on enough of my own projects in my spare time. After I graduated I spent a year unemployed barely even able to get a job in a shop aside from some temporary work. Eventually I got an entry level job in radio, which I stayed in for three years. I only got that job because of some sparse student radio work at university and it's not the path I saw myself going down.

While I was in that job, employers at various TV and film companies were biting my hand off for interviews. I got through to the last four or five applicants on a few prestigious trainee schemes and internships but never passed the interview stage. That was because I was getting as much training under my belt as possible and I was working on a unique project. I still wasn't hugely interested in radio though.

Eventually, the funding dried up and I took redundancy and left. I thought I could hammer out applications full time while I was unemployed and be on one of these traineeships within six months. As soon as I was unemployed, no one wanted to give me the time of day. I haven't had one interview in film, radio or TV since I left that job.

The industry is incredibly fickle and if you're not working, or haven't worked recently, they're not interested. I was getting interviews when I was doing interesting stuff and had some good experience under my belt. Your son is a runner, which is the lowest on the pecking order unfortunately, and they expect you to work your way up from runner through the ranks. It's nearly impossible to start on anything higher if you haven't put in the graft.

If he actually is finishing at lunchtime every day, which sounds odd to me because runners don't have a set list of duties to complete every day, then he should be filling his time with something else. That's a few hours a day he could be dedicating to learning whatever he wants to while getting paid that a lot of other people don't have in their jobs.

My advice is for him to, firstly, ask anyone and everyone if there's something that needs doing because that's his job on paper. More importantly I'd find a department that I'm interested in, which doesn't necessarily have to be games development, it could be something that fits in with film more like story or the art department, and find someone to shadow who can teach him how to do whatever they do. Chances are they know that his workload isn't too heavy so they'll notice if he starts being proactive and really filling his time. As a last resort, if there's absolutely nothing to do, just sit down at a computer and learn stuff. Mess around with some of the programmes they use, spend time working on transferable skills that will look good on his CV for film and TV jobs.

I can guarantee that if he leaves now and gets an unskilled minimum wage job to tide him over, he'll be one of a sea of nameless, faceless heads all with aspirations to be in film but nothing to back those aspirations up. Producers get CVs from a ton of vaguely creative people with hopes and dreams to be in TV but who never put in any effort at all or do a few months in an entry level position and think that's enough. That's what your son will look like to TV companies if he jacks it in now.

gonthemicrobe

maggiesoup1 wrote: »

It's in an industry he doesn't really want to be in (gaming) but they are a world known name and feels it would look good on his CV.

Assuming you mean video gaming and not gambling, then that's an industry that millions of young people would literally kill to even get a foot in the door. If he's turning his nose up at it I'd say he needs a bit of a wake-up call to be told just how lucky he is!

stuartJo1989

PasturesNew wrote: »

Tell him to learn to lick a lot of 4rse.... and "be nosey" and tell people they're awesome - and to ask lots of questions.

Some people do not like licking 4rse to get where they want to be in a job. And some people do not appreciate people who do that.

There is nothing wrong with being a bit less *involved* whilst still demonstrating some of the more admirable traits you highlighted in your post.

Anyone who has ever tried to like my 4rse has ended up with a bitter taste in their mouth, and in a position consistent with the material in their mouth.