Advice From Mr Bill Gates.

The small person turned 16 mid way through his GCSEs this year. When I was his age I'd already been working in a shop for a year but now the employment laws have changed to make it older. To earn a little money he's had a paper round and done odd jobs for family here and there whilst he's been treading water. Off his own bat he set up a couple of hours working in Oxfam to give himself relevant experience on his CV.

Having finished his National Citizenship Service at the end of August he has just been in a position to apply for a job. He drafted his CV and asked me to look over it. Helping people set up CVs and fill in application forms was part of my previous job as a tutor. I made sure that it was his work not mine but pointed out a few extra skills he'd missed. Last week he announced that he was going to go flat out to find a job. Having spent the best part of two days twonking about with an online application and then choosing a couple of lie ins over putting in any real effort I [Harridan Mother of 2014] told him that I was underwhelmed by his commitment and showed him this speech given by Bill Gates.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem.

The world will expect you to accomplish something

BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school.

You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.

Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping:

They called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault,

so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring

as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills,

cleaning your clothes and listening to you

talk about how cool you thought you were:

So before you save the rain forest

from the parasites of your parent's generation,

try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers,

but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades

and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer.

*This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters.

You don't get summers off and very few employers

are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF.

(Do that on your own time.)

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life.

In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds.

Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you can read this...thank a Teacher.

If you can read this in English...thank a Soldier!

And for life and everything else you have...thank God!

Now....think about this and smile if you agree and please pass this on....

If you don't agree, go stick your head in the SAND and take a DEEP BREATH!

He listened on this occasion [he quite often doesn't!] and last Thursday morning he spent two hours in the town centre finding out which shops had job vacancies in the windows, handing in his CV and picking up application forms. That afternoon he received an interview offer for Friday afternoon and another interview in the post. I am pleased to say he prepared properly, took heed of Mummikins's advice to find out about the company and practise some questions and by 4.30 he had a job. He cancelled his other interview and started last Saturday. To keep it real he will take over paying his mobile bill as I am trying to ease him into the adult world gently.

Arilx