Shaw Trust JETS Programme - Graduate seeking work

ParkN2021

On the 13th of this month, I start on the JETS (Job Entry Targeted Support) programme which is run by the Shaw Trust.

It is my understanding that this programme is very new (not even a year old), so there may not be many people reading this who have experience being on the programme, but I'm hoping there will be at least a couple of you out there who have stumbled across this post.

First, I will give a little context. I worked in a dead-end, low-level, manual labour job from when I left school up until my late 20s. The job was gruelling and physically hard on my body, and every day I would come home feeling absolutely wasted; suffering from fatigue like you couldn't imagine. Someone of my age at the time (in my 20s) should never be suffering from chronic back pain and chronic fatigue from being overworked in such a job.  Basically, this job was modern-day slavery. It was low-paid (just a little above the minimum wage) and the supervisors treated you like something sub-human; they would even time you on how long you would spend in the toilet when you had to go, I kid you not.

Anyway, as I started approaching my 30s, I just thought to myself, 'I cannot do this anymore'.  So I quit the job, moved from my town (a small industrial town) to the big city to start a higher education course at a university. For the first time in my life, I was truly happy. I worked and studied really hard, I was getting top marks most of the time and I did a couple of really cool internships (albeit unpaid) with a couple of very reputable organisations. It felt like my life was finally, after all those years as a depressed and unskilled manual labourer, on the up. I made lots of really amazing new friends and acquaintances and life was just really good, for the first time ever for me. 

Then last year I graduated (with a First Class Honours degree) - in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. I had no job and couldn't afford to pay my landlord my rent (I was renting a single room in a shared house in the outer suburbs of the city). I ended up moving back home to my grey, boring, depressing industrial town where there are very few to even no opportunities for people who want to do better than factory or warehouse work (no offence intended at all to anyone who does that kind of work; I have deep respect for you).
There is no chance for a half-decent job in my hometown let alone a rewarding and fulfilling career. All that is available here in my town is low-paid menial work, mostly physically gruelling manual labour work in warehouses with low pay and very long hours. And in most of these jobs, you are micromanaged something chronic and treated very badly by very nasty supervisors and managers. 

Since I returned home (where I'm living with family despite being in my early 30s, which comes with its own feelings of guilt and shame), I have not been able to find any work either directly related to my degree or at the graduate level more generally. In my town, there is no chance of that, but I've been looking in other areas (I'd like to move back to the city anyway, because of the opportunities and the better life I experienced there). The past year since graduating, I've been unemployed most of the time - I have worked intermittently through industrial staffing agencies in my town ...again, the only work they can get me is horrible warehouse and industrial jobs. I've had lots of pre-interview phone screenings and a few Zoom/Skype interviews for graduate-level jobs, but all resulting in 'thanks but no thanks'. 

I am really depressed (and I don't mean that as in I simply feel down, I mean that as in I know am suffering from clinical depression) as a result of my situation. Unemployed, still living at home and having my mother take care of me like a child, unable to find rewarding and fulfilling work or a career that would bring and give meaning to my life. Those three happy and very promising years at university seem like so long ago now; that time when my life seemed to be turning around for the better, now is long gone. 

For the past 3 or 4 months, I've been getting Universal Credit. The Job Centre has been terrible. They've not helped me at all whatsoever in trying to find work. All my appointments with my work coach have been them 'checking up on me', basically. All they do is ask me what jobs I've applied for and they can see that by looking at my online Journal on my UC account anyway. And that's literally all they do. They do nothing else. At my last appointment, I told my work coach that I feel I am all alone and really have no support or help whatsoever in my search for suitable employment. I was very honest with them in telling them that I feel they are letting me down in giving me no assistance whatsoever and that I feel they are not providing me with a service.

I also voiced my concerns about not being able to conduct myself well during interviews (I suspect I have undiagnosed autism or Asperger's, but that's for another post, perhaps) and that I really struggle to get through an interview.  I emphasised the point that I know most people don't like interviews and everyone experiences interview nervousness, but that I suffer from an entirely different beast and monster to what the average person experiences during interviews.
For me, interviews are paralysing and debilitating experiences. I also told my work coach that my constant rejections and ghosting from employers is contributing to my depression and that I'm having major issues now with motivation.
I feel like I cannot keep this going for much longer. I am quite a resilient person, but this is really getting so hard and tiring now. I also mentioned to them that I don't even know what jobs I can really apply for, or which jobs I really want to apply for (I'm struggling to work out what I want to do career-wise) and which jobs I should not waste my time applying for.
I don't know what my skills are exactly.... I mean I do know some of course, but I feel I need some help in identifying some of my other possible skills I may not really be aware of so that I can have a better idea of what sort of careers I should be looking at and shouldn't be wasting my time looking into.

So, I've been referred to the JETS programme run by the Shaw Trust - which launched towards the end of last year, I believe. I've read into the programme and have done some research, and I know they help with motivational issues, interview techniques and help make your CV look better; and even help in matching you to specific job vacancies or companies based on your individual skillset, so that you're only applying for suitable roles and not wasting time applying for jobs you'd be no good at. 

I'm really worried though. I'm worried it will prove to be a waste of time. I am looking for an entry-level graduate career/degree-level work. I am not looking for low-level unskilled jobs, the type that only exists in my hometown.
If that's all they can offer me, I don't know what I will do. I will sink into a depression that will be impossible to come back from, I just know it.
Does anyone know if they will be able to help someone like me who is looking for my first graduate career/job and not just any routine job for the sake of having a job?  I'm scared they will have nothing suitable for me. I'm on the programme for 6-months apparently, after which, if I haven't secured a job, I guess I will be back on my own all alone without any help or support  (and the useless JC work coach). 

Is there anyone here who has been enrolled on the JETS programme and who can testify to it being a beneficial programme? Or is it a load of ****? Do they have graduate-level jobs or links with graduate-level employers, or is it only all low-level work and unskilled employment they are able to help with  ? (Again, huge respect to those of you reading this who do such work, I don't mean to come across as condescending). Would love to hear from people who have been on this programme. 

Also, do they match you with vacancies in your local area only, or can I look nationally? I'm not looking to work in my local area, I'm looking to move back to the city - preferably London (about an hour's train ride away from me).

Thanks if you got this far down my tediously long post. 

BrassicWoman

Trustpilot have reviews of shaw trust experiences. Very mixed. 

ParkN2021

BrassicWoman said:

Trustpilot have reviews of shaw trust experiences. Very mixed. 

Hi, thanks for your reply. I've been on Trustpilot and read all the reviews; very mixed, as you say.
I was just wondering if anyone here on this site had any experiences they could share in relation to their JETS programme in particular, which was launched last year. 
Also wondering if it's all just routine unskilled work they have to offer or if they can help people looking for careers/graduate-level work/more meaningful kind of work. Entry-level grad jobs? Links with grad-level employers? 
And are vacancies on their jobs portal only locals ones in a person's specific area where they live or can you look nationally? I want to know as I'm looking to relocate.

General_Grant

When I ran a programme for a private sector company contracted to Jobcentre Plus (so a long time ago), we interviewed all candidates referred to us by the Job Centre which gave us an opportunity to get to know the people before they joined the training and to answer questions they had, such as the types of placements we could offer.   I don't know the JETS programme but does Shaw Trust not offer an opportunity to meet their staff and ask questions before you begin?

Neruda

I know nothing about the JETS programme but do want to respond to the long original post. The kind of help that you need is offered by your university careers service. It would be well worth your while travelling back to the city to have an interview with a careers adviser there (the Job Centre might even pay your travel expenses) and use their reference library.

Your age (it sounds as if you are in your thirties) would probably be a barrier to getting graduate entry jobs with most commercial organisations, but there are plenty of good opportunities in the civil service and across the public sector where this would not be a problem. And you might well be able to become an outstanding tutor in adult education or a lecturer in FE, where your life experience would be a real asset.

Marcon

ParkN2021 said:

BrassicWoman said:

Trustpilot have reviews of shaw trust experiences. Very mixed. 

Hi, thanks for your reply. I've been on Trustpilot and read all the reviews; very mixed, as you say.
I was just wondering if anyone here on this site had any experiences they could share in relation to their JETS programme in particular, which was launched last year. 
Also wondering if it's all just routine unskilled work they have to offer or if they can help people looking for careers/graduate-level work/more meaningful kind of work. Entry-level grad jobs? Links with grad-level employers? 
And are vacancies on their jobs portal only locals ones in a person's specific area where they live or can you look nationally? I want to know as I'm looking to relocate.

Have you asked these questions of the Shaw Trust? Surely they are well placed to answer them - and the questions are perfectly reasonable, so don't worry about asking them: https://www.shawtrust.org.uk/contact-us/

ParkN2021 said:

I also voiced my concerns about not being able to conduct myself well during interviews (I suspect I have undiagnosed autism or Asperger's, but that's for another post, perhaps) and that I really struggle to get through an interview.  

Why not find out? You've nothing to lose by doing so, and potentially quite a lot to gain in terms of extra help and support, not least from the various charities who offer considerable help to those on the autistic spectrum.

Savvy_Sue

I know you'll probably think that what I'm about to say won't help with your long term goals, but the way you described your home town really struck me - 'grey, boring, depressing, industrial'. 

It may be all that, and yet I am sure that there are green spaces, parks, gardens, and organisations crying out for volunteers - and getting yourself OUT and connected to those parks, gardens and organisations might well help your mental health. Yes, I know it will be hard, I know the depression will make it harder, but sitting at home won't help either. You may not think volunteering will be any help: I got one job where my relevant experience came almost entirely through volunteering. (My typing and audio skills had been practised in the workplace.)

Google your town plus Volunteer and see what comes up. If nothing, send me a private message!

The other phrase which struck me was 'having my mother take care of me like a child'. You're not a child, you're an adult: what can YOU do to make a meaningful contribution to the household? Your mother has reverted to 'mum' mode, but you don't have to be in 'child' mode. Examples from when mine came home briefly after Uni: they continued to do their own laundry (as they had done since 6th form), they cooked at least once a week, they helped with shopping and cleaning as required. Talk to your mother about your need to be treated as an adult, your need to make some kind of contribution.