No jobs out there...WWYD?

Anything really! What does he like about the jobs he does do?

My first point of call would be to suggest a Call Centre customer service role? He has the experience in CS so should be good. It all depends on what company though. Whereabouts in the country are you? If its a big company then he should be able to progress up the ladder etc. All of our senior managers started on the phones in my company. Our director of customer service was on the phones 20 years ago and has got to where he is now. I only ever started as a building block to get to where I wanted to be and progressed through the management chain quite quickly to get where I am today.

Hi Mini, yes this is something I have suggested to him but he said he 'doesn't feel comfortable talking over the phone' so this would be a no go. I am in Wiltshire.

The whole thing is really frustrating. In his current jobs he likes meeting new people and has often been told by customers that he is wasted on the tills and should be doing something more important. He even gets customers say hi to him in the streets - I don't get that! That's about all he likes. He wants to be out there doing more with his life but how can he if he won't even have the guts to answer a phone?!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

A lot of our Retail Managers started as basic shop floor and worked up the ranks. Quite a few transition to HO too.

Hmm, thats frustrating. Can he articulate to you what he doesn't like about talking over the phone. TBH in most office/admin based roles its kinda necessary? I think he will struggle to find a role that involves no phone work at all?

Yes, and I believe this is why it is so difficult him getting another job. He doesn't want to do anything admin-y. Part of the problem is how bad he's been treated at his supermarket job so he also doesn't want to work in a supermarket again. He's really stubborn. Unlike me, I'll take anything that comes...

Would he do a floor based retail role?

Lots of product knowledge needed, talking face to face with customers?

I wouldnt want to work in supermarket either! There is nothing admin based about a call centre or a shop?

Call centre = phones. He doesn't like phones. Doesn't want an admin job (whatever that is!?). Doesn't want a supermarket job. Not really left with much else are we...?

I often say to him 'you can't expect people to help you if you can't help yourself'. I'm sure there are plenty of people who aren't happy with their jobs. I don't enjoy mine much (supermarket) but it gives me the money I need to get by. I'm struggling to keep him positive and driven

Not always, we have a team that deal purely with email contact. Would imagine that is a bit lonely though.

Has he spoken to his manager about his supermarket role? Try to address the issues to make it a bit more bearable?

He has many managers and they aren't approachable at all. Literally the day he started they begun being nasty to him. They are like it to everyone and we realised afterwards they have a bit of a reputation for being bad employers.

In answer to your previous post (about floor role) I think that would suit him really well. He's tried applying to things like Currys, Comet etc but never successful.

If he likes contact with people and helping them, can he look for training in advisory roles such as housing or benefits? Or he might look to recruitment which is also very customer facing. You mention he works part time for a charity - Is that fundraising? I'm sure there are many roles in that area which are quite customer facing. I used to do direct marketing, working on postal campaigns.

With the creative side of things, I would suggest he finds voluntary roles that allow him to use those skills,such as with young people or other groups. These will allow him to develop soft skills and will look good on CV. Also, I'm sure he'd like some way to explore that interest. He could look on i-to-i or find the local voluntary coordination group.

Does he get feedback as to why he isn''t successful?

If he's not even getting an interview for a shop floor role despite having experience then I would suggest that his cv isn't tight and perhaps he is going into these roles without the right attitude?

I may sound harsh here, but what *does* he want to do? It founds like he us ruling alot if things out without trying them? I never would have thought I would have fine a call centre role but I had to leave my role as a retail manager because my boss was awful, really nasty. Tbh I would have cleaned toilets at that point if it covered my bills and meant I was able to leave that awful place.

Could he become a private music teacher, teaching guitar or piano...he could keep one of the part time jobs whilst he builds up clients and then eventually become full time self employed potentially?

Is it one of the large chains he currently works for?

I work with all the large supermarket chains and know they have policies in place for many of the matters you mention, he should raise these matters with his manager and if things do not improve he should go down the formal grievance route, I'm sure his work colleagues are feeling the same so even better if they raise a grievance collectively or via the union if they have one.

Another supernmarket, they aren't all the same believe me and if he is good at what he does he will get snapped up. Market research face to face, selling energy etc face to face although probably not a career.

Hi Han,

He can look into the different sectors and see what attracts him, at the moment he is ruling everything out without trying anything. If he wants to stay customer facing in order to meet new people has he considered bar work or maybe working at a betting office? I worked at a betting office as a student and if you learn quickly there is opportunity to work your way up to deputy manager, manager, supervisor etc. It wasn't for me but I worked with people who loved it.

The way I worked out what I wanted to do was by process of elimination. I wrote down every sector and job function I could think of and eliminated them if I knew it was definitely out. So for example, I knew I definitely didn't want to work in accountancy or finance so that was out. I ruled it down to a couple of sectors and marketing stuck out for me so I went hell for leather just applying to entry level marketing jobs. I used this website as well - http://prospects.ac.uk/sectors.htm - it's primarily a resource for graduates however there are some good pointers regarding job sectors and to be honest, I think experience counts more over education in a lot of cases. Might be completely unrelated to what he wants to do but if he likes meeting people and building up a rapport, maybe he could consider something like PR? Or, like another poster has suggested, has he considered private teaching?

Bear with me while I try and reply to everyone haha.

Mini - He is very stubborn and I too have said he won't know unless he tries, and that is something he won't do. A very stupid attitude to have but hey I can't change him.

Tallulaha - That is a very good idea, but again as I haven't got a full time job and can't because I am at uni that sort of thing has to be kept on hold until I can help pay bills. At the moment he needs to have a steady income covering most of the bills (I pay for electric, gas, water and petrol but he pays for everything else). If he went into guitar teaching there's no guarantee he would have continous clients and therefore we may be short of money sometimes, which we really cannot afford to do. Really good idea though and definitely something he would look into in the future.

Funky - He works for Lidl's. If you look it up on google what they are like to work for there is a lot of bad comments. Sometimes they are okay with him, but not very often. He isn't one to speak out when he is getting treated badly though.

3d jewellery - Do you mean like a door to door salesman?

Enjayee - Not sure about a bar or betting office. I got him to apply for a waiter job (full time) but for some reason he was funny about that even though it is face to face customer based and I thought he would really enjoy that. Meh.

Feel like I'm trying to fight a battle I'm destined to lose here. He won't help himself so how can I help him???

Ah yes I have heard lidls are crap.

Is he under 25 (I think I remember you saying you were young?) is there anything like connextions he can go to for career advice?

Yeah he is 22. He's just so stubborn Mini

The private teaching could be done on the side, though? If he works part time and knows his shifts in advance then it's potentially doable, if of course he wants to do it.

I really would advise looking at the prospects website that I wrote in my previous post. It was great for me. I know it's aimed at graduates but the advice within the different job sectors is still useful, regardless of whether you have a degree or not. Maybe he should do what I did. Sit down with every job sector listed on a spreadsheet/piece of paper and go through them one by one, listing pros and cons. Then he'll be able to narrow it down. If he writes down both his experience and everything that he wants from a job onto a piece of paper (literally everything he can think of) then he'd be able to match this to a job function. As he's so young the world really is his oyster ... it's only hopeless if he tells himself it is as he'll only end up looking at the negatives in things. No job is perfect and will more often than not always have a part to it that you won't like.

But is there anything like Connextions that he can visit?

He does sound like he is being a but silly and I'd he won't help himself I am afraid there is not much you can do for him when he won't help himself.

I can't quote in my phone but I googled career advice for under 25's. looks like it may be called centre point nowerdays but perhaps someone impartial may be able to help him?

This is great advice - thank you. I will get him to go on that website tomorrow (he has an actual day off tomorrow!!!) and will let you know how he gets on

With Lidl his shifts change so he only knows that week what he's going to be doing which is desperately annoying especially if he has been at his other job all day then has to go to Lidl all evening.

Pret A Manger are hiring? I always get good service in there and there's usually a pleasant atmosphere? /en-US/jobs/current_vacancies/team_member_opportunities_uk.htm

EDIT: Just seen your other post. No worries - the website really helped me when I was at my career crossroads! Good luck ?

Could he look in to setting himself up as a personal tutor for piano/guitar?

Ahh Lidl are pretty pants I forget about good old Lidl!

I think it would be an injustice to judge all other chains based on his experiences at Lidl....I know M&S, Waitsrose Tesco & Sainsbury's all have pretty decent training schemes I've met many a store manager who started off on the tills/stacking shelves.

Yeah I've heard particularly good things about M&S ?

Anything and everything he is qualified for? If he enjoys charity work, perhaps he could look into national trust jobs? Try pay pretty ***, but there are quite a few types of roles within the trust that are suited to creative types. Unfortunately, even for the internship I'm hiring for I'm requiring a year of university or similar experience, so might be difficult.

Has he been to any agencies? Perhaps they could assess his skills and help him figure out what he would be good at?

What does he do for the charity? I didn't see the answer to that question.

Has he tried using https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

I don't know anything about it but it offers a skills check and has job profiles to look at. It also offers careers advice though doesn't say if that is free or not.

I do really think he should try voluntering in different sectors - He might not be able to do much of it between his jobs but he could try a variety of things. The local council should have details of the volunteer centre, each council should fund one.

Sainsbury's is good, I worked there whilst at uni and enjoyed it. I was on tills but did customer service later on which I preferred and he might too. Also, scope to move up and has some training schemes - they might be aimed at graduates though.

Concerning the music tuition - Although he can set himself up without any qualifications, if he wanted to be peripatetic or do this full time he might need to look some kind of qualification. If he has his grades, Guildhall and Trinity offer a certificate in teaching an instrument. It comes above grade 8.

No like standing in a supermarket collaring customers as they wlk by to sign them up for stuff