Written by Tricia Hay – Director of First Base Employment
How can we encourage kids to look after themselves, be determined and have a goal for the future – what do they want to achieve? Apart from a fabby new mobile phone and a mention on Celebrity Juice?
I know this makes me sound very old, and believe me, I have considered this prior to committing to print. But it bothers me day to day, upon seeing some of the candidates that come into my office... and its not always the younsters.
I really can spot the (should really call them) young adults, who have an aim in life from a mile away when they come in. These kids are those that will get to work, wherever it is, whenever it is and whatever it is. They have a “can do” attitude that they make you want to jump on them and make sure you get them work the moment they’ve walked out the office.
They’ve sometimes got a great support network around them. People who will ensure they get out of bed in the mornings. But in other cases they just have “it”. An indescribable work ethic that makes them want to work hard, learn and give themselves options.
On the other end of the scale I interviewed a young lady a few months ago that had so many obstacles to finding work I had to admit defeat (I’ve never come across this in 14 years), but I had nowhere to go, no glimmer of hope I could give her and I had to say ... “honestly, until you decide to look at other possible options, enrol on a course, gain some experience, find suitable child care, a vehicle and sort out your rent bills” I may have problems finding you some work.
How do you instil a desire to want to achieve? How do you impart enough advice without being controlling? How do you ensure they want to get out of bed in the morning?
I think we can only hope to give them the skills necessary to converse intelligently, make use of their strengths (and perhaps recognise their weaknesses), and the confidence to be decisive in making a choice. The desire has to come from them, and I guess whether it does or not depends on what they have been moulded by in their formative years. What they have experienced growing up.
My little boy is six. He’s charming, funny, confident and socially adept (bit too reliant on the wii babysitting service for my liking) but I hope very much that he’ll always want to jump around, try new things and try his hardest until he does what he set out to do.
