Bob
Well-Known Forumite
Thanks so much for the help and support with previous posts regarding school issues. This forum is incredibly helpful - hence this post.
I have a younger sister, we share an absent, biological waste of space that both of our mothers were unfortunate enough to have a relationship with in the past. My mum had her head screwed on at a relatively young age and moved out of London with me and raised me well. My sister was not so lucky and had a quite an unstable upbringing.
She moved house and schools 3 times during her 2 GCSE years and subsequently left school with no qualifications. She's started courses in her later teens though failed to complete any due to housing issues and has lived in London, Wrexham, Wiltshire, back to London then Staffordshire in the past 5 years. She moved to Stafford 18 months ago and I helped her get settled, paid her deposit and got her help with benefits, the only thing I asked in return is that she found herself a job. So far no job.
It's not for lack of trying, I'm constantly sending her web links for jobs advertised, everything from care to catering, bar work and office based apprentices, she is applying but getting very few interviews and no offers. She's lacked confidence and motivation which has worsened with every rejection, but she has recently completed a 12 week Prince's Trust course designed to help in these areas of her life. The course has been brilliant for her and she seems much happier and far more motivated. I'm concerned that a few weeks of back to the job centre and nowhere to go of a weekday morning will see her slip back into her old routine.
Her age is a problem, she'll be 20 before the next intake on any college course and cannot fund a course herself, her lack of GCSE's put many employers off but it's not a lack of capability, just circumstance at the time, nobody however seems to be willing to take a chance on her. She's done voluntary work in a charity shop in Stafford and has some catering experience from before she moved here.
I want to help, but I don't know where to start, I can't seem to find anything that can put her on the right track because of her age, under 19 or over 25 and there are options for education but currently zip. I don't know if thing's have changed in recent years, I bounced from job to job to job at her age and have worked in virtually every pub and fast food/takeaway establishment in a 15 mile radius, I never struggled to find work even temporary work while I was at college, it wasn't until I'd finished my A levels that I actually stayed in one place for more than a year. In reality I think there was only two interviews for jobs before the age of 21 that I didn't get. Is there less unskilled work now or are people just more picky?
If anyone hears of any jobs going, aside from indeed and the like which she trawls hourly would be thoroughly appreciated. Any funding routes for NVQ's or GCSE retakes would also be greatly appreciated, as would any suggestions for anything I can bully her into to get her out of the house at 9 am on Monday morning.
Thanks guys and girls.
I have a younger sister, we share an absent, biological waste of space that both of our mothers were unfortunate enough to have a relationship with in the past. My mum had her head screwed on at a relatively young age and moved out of London with me and raised me well. My sister was not so lucky and had a quite an unstable upbringing.
She moved house and schools 3 times during her 2 GCSE years and subsequently left school with no qualifications. She's started courses in her later teens though failed to complete any due to housing issues and has lived in London, Wrexham, Wiltshire, back to London then Staffordshire in the past 5 years. She moved to Stafford 18 months ago and I helped her get settled, paid her deposit and got her help with benefits, the only thing I asked in return is that she found herself a job. So far no job.
It's not for lack of trying, I'm constantly sending her web links for jobs advertised, everything from care to catering, bar work and office based apprentices, she is applying but getting very few interviews and no offers. She's lacked confidence and motivation which has worsened with every rejection, but she has recently completed a 12 week Prince's Trust course designed to help in these areas of her life. The course has been brilliant for her and she seems much happier and far more motivated. I'm concerned that a few weeks of back to the job centre and nowhere to go of a weekday morning will see her slip back into her old routine.
Her age is a problem, she'll be 20 before the next intake on any college course and cannot fund a course herself, her lack of GCSE's put many employers off but it's not a lack of capability, just circumstance at the time, nobody however seems to be willing to take a chance on her. She's done voluntary work in a charity shop in Stafford and has some catering experience from before she moved here.
I want to help, but I don't know where to start, I can't seem to find anything that can put her on the right track because of her age, under 19 or over 25 and there are options for education but currently zip. I don't know if thing's have changed in recent years, I bounced from job to job to job at her age and have worked in virtually every pub and fast food/takeaway establishment in a 15 mile radius, I never struggled to find work even temporary work while I was at college, it wasn't until I'd finished my A levels that I actually stayed in one place for more than a year. In reality I think there was only two interviews for jobs before the age of 21 that I didn't get. Is there less unskilled work now or are people just more picky?
If anyone hears of any jobs going, aside from indeed and the like which she trawls hourly would be thoroughly appreciated. Any funding routes for NVQ's or GCSE retakes would also be greatly appreciated, as would any suggestions for anything I can bully her into to get her out of the house at 9 am on Monday morning.
Thanks guys and girls.