Motivate youngsters looking for a job

Relatives and family friends can be a huge source of help for youngsters looking for work or choosing a career. But how do you help most effectively? With thousands of youngsters looking for work, it’s easy for older people to get frustrated with them hanging about the house. But resist the temptation to nag.

“It might work in some circumstances but it makes youngsters feel more stressed and makes the failure to get a job worse,” says Denise Taylor, author of Parent Motivators, a parent’s guide to helping graduates find work, which is available from www.direct.gov.uk/graduates. The advice also applies to non-graduates.
Instead, agree to have a weekly or daily update on their progress. You will stay informed without adding to the pressure on them. Resist the temptation to take over. Be encouraging but don’t call up companies on their behalf. They should want to apply for a job — you can’t do it for them.

Get talking

“Get them to talk about what they are good at and what they enjoy doing,” says business psychologist Jackie Switzer. Help them research careers which play to these skills and ensure they know about the help they can get.

Offer help with putting together a CV but remember they have changed in the past 20 years. “These days, CVs are less a list of your educational qualifications and work roles and more a way to sell your skills,” says Mike Hill of Graduate Prospects. There should be a box on the front page briefly explaining what skills the person has, chosen to fit the vacancy for which they are applying. Include life experiences on the CV, such as gap-year travel or sports achievements, detailing the leadership or organisational skills they bring.
Your own experience of the world of work is invaluable. “Adults know work is not like education, where there is a smooth progression from school to university. They know the wisdom of using contacts, identifying opportunities and taking advantage of them,” Hill says.

Experience helps

Help by networking among your colleagues to find out about internship vacancies or jobs for which your children can apply. Suggest the lateral-thinking approach, such as reading articles that could help identify companies which may be about to recruit new staff. Your experience of the ups and downs of the working world can help them, too.

“Older relatives will have seen difficult job markets and unemployment before and can talk about the value of stop-gap opportunities, having realistic expectations and alternative strategies such as starting out at the bottom and working up,” says Margaret Holbrough, career consultant with Graduate Prospects. Most importantly, boost their morale. “You can help to soften the blow of rejection when a company turns an application down, or doesn’t reply at all, by putting the job-hunting process into perspective,” Holbrough says.
“You may well have been unsuccessful with interviews and had to keep going. No one will restore self-confidence like a totally biased granny.”