Watching my youngest grow up one job application at a time!

Job hunting in 2025 is not for the faint hearted and for teenagers it’s an entire minefield of baffling terminology, wildly complicated portals and multiple choice questions that feel like they were written by a robot having a breakdown! Stu has been looking for a new job as he hates the one he is currently in with unrealistic sales targets and long hours but he's not the only one job hunting, my youngest is too!

Ellie has been applying for jobs. She’s venturing into the grown up world of interviews, cover letters lots and lots of emails back saying thank you for applying but you haven't been successful this time. I imagined this would be a sweet little milestone. I pictured us sitting at the dining room table, me gently helping her create a CV, going through job applications, it being a bonding experience and what I got was her flinging a cushion across the room and lots of sighing and eye rolling. lol

Her CV started as a blank Word document and a lot of sighing. We argued about what font to use, I recommended Arial or Calibri, she wanted something fun and cool looking. I said we should use more traditional language instead of saying Hi! I’m looking for a job and I’m quite nice, please hire me for her personal statement. We went with things like she has good time management, great at working in a team and has a good level of communication. We listed her GCSEs even though she grumbled that no one actually cares if she got a 5 in photography. I assured her that they do and if they don’t, we’re putting it on anyway! It turns out when you’re seventeen and have spent the last few years being told not to exaggerate or brag suddenly having to sell yourself causes a bit of a brain meltdown.

Work experience? Well, that got creative. She became a teenager in at the start of Covid so didn't have much chance to gain work experience. We went with that she has worked at my dad's business. She has but it was more fun than working. She assisted with various maintenance tasks, including interior and exterior painting, carried out regular garden upkeep such as lawn mowing and basic landscaping and provided refreshments to support team wellbeing. (making cups of tea. lol)

Once the CV was perfect we moved onto cover letters. She drafted her first one like she was writing a note to her friends which is not quite what the HR manager at the Co-op is looking for. (She hasn't applied to the Co-Op by the way) After many rewrites and at least three near breakdowns from her and me we settled on a version that struck the right balance between confident and not unhinged.

After almost three hours crafting her CV and cover letters I naively thought the application process was basically done. Nope, not even close because after uploading the CV the same CV that already contains her education and work history the application forms want all the information again! Ugh! Why even bother with a CV! There were so many dropdown menus and none of them made sense. An application form wanted to know if she was Miss, Mrs, Ms, Dr, or Reverend. Why do they even need to know? They could just be being sexist she said and I thought that was fair enough. The title options are unnecessarily complicated, especially when you’re 17 and the most official thing you’ve ever filled in is a Subway loyalty card. Why does it matter what she calls herself? She went with Ms in case you were wondering. Then came the relationship status section. Why did it matter, she eventually settled on single and took offence to that as she isn't single, she is in a relationship.

The skills section wanted her to tick boxes. Customer service? Yes, if you count helping a confused find a shop he wanted. Good Communication? Sure she can argue in group chats like a pro and teamwork, she didn’t even hesitate. She can play in a Fortnite squad like a professional gamer all while playing in a team! Then came the killer question are you willing to relocate for this role? The job was a bus ride away. lol I don't think relocation is needed.

The diversity monitoring section was interesting. What do I put for ethnicity? Am I White British or am I legally allowed to pick 'prefer not to say' or is that suspicious and in the disability section she forgot that she is partly deaf which was important as in one job she applied for the people are known for wearing headsets when on the shop floor which would be hard for Ellie being deaf in one ear. There was the work preferences section which was a minefield of boxes about full time/part time, weekends, bank holidays, shifts, evenings, mornings and nights. She ticked them all and I convinced her that they wouldn't throw her application out if she doesn't pick everything. She went mostly with evenings and weekends.

We’ve now filled in approximately 872 forms, invented three new words for enthusiastic and answered enough questions about hypothetical workplace scenarios to qualify for a psychology degree. Ellie refreshes her email no fewer than 17 times an hour just to see if she's heard anything back. We’ve celebrated every “Thank you for your application” message and don’t even mention the rejection emails they get dramatically read aloud like tragic break up letters from someone she barely knew.

Each application has got a little easier, a little quicker and a lot less ragey. She’s putting herself out there. She’s learning the weird world of job hunting and even if she doesn't land a job until the 1000th application she’s already halfway to being more employable than most of us were at her age.

As of writing this she has had a job interview for a volunteering role and another one for paid work and we are still waiting to hear back about the paid role.

When did you last apply for a job? Did you find it stressful filling in all of the forms?