How to help someone get going in London... (Job-wise)

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Bes

Bes

Bes

Soldato
Joined
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Melbourne
Hi

My brother moved to London last September in anticipation of starting a TFL apprenticeship.

Unfortunately he failed the medical due to colour blindness (unknown to him at the time) just a few weeks before he was due to start, and his offer of employment was withdrawn.

He has been working in Halfords for the past few months, and despite lots of job applications, he cannot get his foot in the door anywhere decent. He has GCSEs and an apprenticeship in motorcycle mechanics to his name.

He does not want to pursue mechanics as a career, and cannot seem to get anywhere as things stand. Does anyone have any ideas about what sort of thing/ he could do/ how he can get himself going? I've tried to help him, but to no avail so far. He is 25 and not keen on returning to education at this stage.

He is as keen on perhaps looking at lead generation/ sales- type roles as anything else, but cannot seem to catch a break anywhere.

I know it is kind of a broad question, but appreciate any help.

Thanks
 
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move to where there's factories and become a fitter/machine maintenance guy?

or for London maybe air conditioning maintenance/installing? would probably have to do an apprenticeship for that though.
 
Have to find out what he wants to do because people could suggest things all day and he could just say no i don't want to do that. If that is the case then you have to say well then if you don't know what you want to do then you will have to do something that you don't want to do, if you want to survive. I think maybe something like a job at a company like pirtek or something like that because of his background. If he doesn't want to do manual work like mechanic and would rather do office work then that changes the type of suggestions people would have.

sales type roles. That is different than retail to be honest. I went to a sales interview once and the guy asked me to sell him an ashtray on the table and because i didnt say the right quick bs phrase to make him want the ashtray he said i was not a sales man. If he wants to go in to sales then he should look for sales jobs in IT or Healthcare or types of industries like that.
 
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All the call centers are unfortunately up north here round Manchester,Leeds and Liverpool.

Or Cardiff.

Oh, and they destroy your soul.
 
OP: Unless things have relaxed, colour blindness will also bar your friend from any telecoms or electrical / electronic maintenance jobs due to colour coded wiring and components.
 
Pish, call centres are not that bad. Gives your brain plenty of time to work on other stuff and in a good team it can be a laugh. The only problem is getting taken seriously and moving up in a company if you start in the call centre.
 
sadly even junior positions require experience these days.. I'd either go and volunteer or start doing courses to get anything relevant under my belt.
 
Local council? Check the job sites, take something low and work your way up. In big organisations there are always opportunities to move up the ladder, as long as you dont mind starting at the basic level. Youth is a definite advantage there.
 
Get a cscs card, steel toe cap boots, hard hat, hi vis jacket, gloves and goggles.

Pick a trade and approach sub contractors on building sites, he'll get a start as a mechanical contractor labourer or fitters mate.

Good money and plenty of work with loads of opportunity to progress.
 
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