Chicken bald back

[jlo]

My DS has been looking for a job and/or work experience since June and has had no luck. Clearly it is a little late now for summer jobs but he has been perservering to find something for Saturdays/ Sundays.

 

It has been very frustrating to not even get any reply from would be employers. Yesterday, he got a phone call from Next inviting him to an interview. He wasn't hopeful as, although he is good with people, he hasn't got much of an idea about fashion!

 

What has made me cross is that, having arrived and been put in a room with seven others and told to think about what clothes might go with what - he is then told that they don't want college students as they want people to be flexible and work during the week. He made it quite clear on his application that he wouldn't be available for weekdays come September - so why did they even bother ask him to go for interview?

 

To add insult to injury - DD was walking round Hollister in Southampton today and was asked by the manager whether she wanted to be interviewed for a job there. She is only 14 so had to say no but was happy to be asked!

[Chucky Mama]

My ES (now 17) got a job with J Lewis last year and works Saturdays and Sundays. The look after their staff well and seem to set aside a certain number of jobs for young people. Waitrose, part of the J Lewis partnership do the same.

[jlo]

Sadly - there is no Waitrose or John Lewis within an easy public transport ride! He will just have to keep looking and waiting for some response!

[Chucky Mama]

One teenager that we know just walked the streets in the town with his CV in hand and ended up being offered a job in WHSmiths - it was temporary though.

[jlo]

He tried that at the beginning of the summer. I have suggested contacting places again but he's not keen on that!

[snowberry]

What really annoys me is that employers don't have the decency to even acknowledge applicants by email; it costs nothing & if they knew how to use mailmerge it would be a doddle

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've been discussing this very topic with some friends this afternoon. My ES has been trying to get a summer job. He either gets no response (not even a knockback) or has been told they only want students who live and study locally (so they can work w/ends and then in the holidays.

 

A couple of my friends daughters have been going for interview after interview with no luck. They are always asked if they have experience and if they don't, they're not interested.

 

He's going to try the supermarket near his flat when he goes back to uni. Not holding out much hope though .

[Sam]

I've handed my cv all around town and only got a response from one shop which lead to an interview. It's a tiny card shop on the outskirts of the town center and they had 120 applications for one job. I was chosen for an interview with 12 others there about 3 weeks ago and still had no response. I did the retail park (Currys, Comet, homebase etc) and got no response from any of those. Applied online at Waitrose and had an interview there yesterday and just have to wait and see now. I also handed my cv in at Waitrose, and they were the only place to send me a letter saying thank you for applying, but check online. Not many of my friends have jobs, not because they can't be bothered, but because they can't get one. My friends who do have jobs got them because they know the owners/parents know the owners.

 

Check online though, a lot of places require an online application.

[fluffy chick]

When i was a student I applied for a bar job. I didn't even hear back. Then I saw the job advertised again a fortnight later! i called them up and said you already have my cv and the girl said 'o lovely can you come now for an interview' I did, got the job and was left in the bar on my own doing a shift on the same day They didn't mean to ignore me they were just too disorganised to get their bums in gear. I happily worked there for 4 years though and the boss was and still is my best friend (and she put me in contact with my husband) so I guess being persistent paid off!

[LolaLayla]

My YS has a part time job in a cafe which he got just over a year ago. He made up a CV and went round the town into all the shops. He introduced himself to each manager said his age and asked if they had any jobs. He was lucky enough to be phoned about an hour later with the job offer. It is only 4-5 hours at the weekend but it is better than nothing. Sadly they could not increase the hours over the summer hols so he has been round with the CV again in the hope of getting a job with more hours but there does not seem to be anything about.

[Cinnamon]

I had this a couple of years ago with Devon - places didn't even bother getting back to her,which is so rude.

One place that did is Waitrose,where she got a position,& subsequently i did too,as she said how fun it was (& the discount is great!)

It took her a good 6 months to get this job,& another bonus is that they will keep her on through Uni,so she can come back & top up her money with overtime during holidays.

The pay is very good for youngsters,& they will be hiring around now to replace those lost to Uni come the Autumn.

 

Cleo,who is 16,is looking right now,with no luck.

She is a lovely girl,very pretty,very personable BUT she has an indy/punky hair cut & a nose,plus a Monroe piercing

We though Lush may take her on,as she did work experience there & got on very well,but even they didn't get back to her.

We have a new Cafe Nero opening soon,plus a Kath Kidston,so fingers crossed.

Ikea also opens next year.

I am also going to look into promotions work for her,as she is very much that sort of girl..

 

Getting on the employment ladder is rather like getting on the property ladder - a real pain,but once you are on,you are on

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Meant to say, I found some local jobs for ES at jobseekers.direct.gov.uk (not that they responded to his application ).

[The Dogmother]

I remember the problems that Ubereglu had a couple of years ago when she was looking for a job.

 

Rosie often works during the holidays at a friend's stables, she's also been asked recently to help a friend with her two young children - paid too.

 

There's not a lot out there but try all your contacts and keep looking. Good luck.

[ubereglu]

I feel for you. I've been trying to get a summer job, and there just isn't anything out there at all. Some of the things that are advertised don't want someone for a couple of months as they need them to be permanent. I had a job for about 3 months during my first year at college, but the employer didn't keep me on...it was rather messy, let's just say...

 

Haven't found a job since. It's just such a difficult climate right now, and really hard not to feel down. I've even joined several temping agencies, but still no luck, as there just isn't the work.

[craftyhunnypie]

We've got a job going for a chicken sitter / helper, but not local to you unfortunately.

Emma.x

[Old Speckled Hen]

There are a lot of people fighting for those jobs and many of them are trying to feed families let alone looking for a summer job to fund a few adolescent jollies. I help a mate who is a GP with community work and there are many proud families who refuse to go the way of the benefit trap and do any sort of work to imbibe a work ethos in their children.

I appreciate the summer job rite of passage but I think in our depressed era perhaps unpaid volunteering is the way to go and kids will have to bank with mum and dad.

[Old Speckled Hen]

a Monroe piercing

How old am I ?....old enough to remember Marilyn Monroe but I had to look this up

A Monroe piercing is a lip piercing placed off-center, above the upper lip on the left hand side and is meant to resemble Marilyn Monroe's beauty spot. It is not to be confused with a 'Madonna piercing', which is placed in a similar location on the right hand side of the face, and is named after the female singer Madonna.

[Cinnamon]

And if Mum & Dad can't afford it?????

 

We need ours to work for their extra money.

With the demise of EMA for this school year,this is even more important for the youngest.who will otherwise have no income.

 

I agree that jobs are hard to find....we had 80 odd applicants for 2 places at my work last week.

And I agree that many otherwise stay at home Mums are now working to make ends meet,& are generally speaking looked upon more favourably by most employers.

There is no real incentive for an employer to employ a youngster any more,now that they are on the same starting wage as adults,unless it is for the most menial of jobs (my girl has just been turned down by MacDonalds )

 

The piercing is actually lovely,& near invisible when she wears a retainer in it

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've been looking with new eyes at the employees in various shops/supermarkets. Most of them look perfectly normal but there are some that make you wonder how they got through the interview process .

[Old Speckled Hen]

Cinnamon, I understand what you say and a summer job WAS a rite of passage for my generation and yours too but times change. This country is in real trouble and the shenanigans that started in Tottenham may be just a beginning. There is a difference between not being able to afford a night out with the family once or twice a month because your kids can't get a summer job and not being able to feed them at all on the day or two before benefit day. I'm casting no personal aspersions at all just saying that there may be people more deserving of even the most menial job than our pre uni children.

[abwsco]

My two did find jobs working in local hotels when they were 16. Depends what you're prepared to do I suppose I know mine wouldn't have thought working in McD's was menial! Just hard work like the waitressing they did where you're on your feet all shift.

 

Oh, and around here most places are only taking on under 18's as they don't have to pay them as much.

[surfer_chicken]

Yes, the minimum wage for 16-18 year olds is slightly less than 18+, so a lot of hotels around my area prefer to employ younger people for this reason. They're not very nice employers though, and as I don't really NEED the money (I would just prefer it for, as you say, teenage jollies ), I daren't apply there, mostly as the shifts aren't fixed. My friends works at one nearby and once she starts are shifts at 5:30pm she is expected to continue until the guests leave the bar/restaurant. Sometimes she doesn't get home until 4am, only to get up at 6am to catch the school bus!

 

I'll just keep applying to Waitrose every time a job goes up!

[westie mum]

This is a real bug bear for us at the moment as my eldest daughter is desperately trying to find a job.She has got an interview at Alton Towers hotel in September as a friend recommended her but she'll just have to wait and see.It's really difficult as she can't be that flexible as she is at college 3 days a week.

 

Do you have a local football club near you? My girls have in the past worked at Stoke City FC waitressing in the boxes. They have loads of agency staff as they couldn't get the workers themselves. It was only every other Saturday and if they played in the week but to them it was money.If you have a club local it might be worth trying them

[Sam]

My parents definitely won't give me money because I can't get a job - my brother never got ema so he had to get a job straight away also. I need to start earning and saving money for university and I'd like to get a car (and then theres the insurance ) so without a job, I won't be able to do either. Can't expect my parents just to give me money for everything I want.

[jlo]

There are a lot of people fighting for those jobs and many of them are trying to feed families let alone looking for a summer job to fund a few adolescent jollies. I help a mate who is a GP with community work and there are many proud families who refuse to go the way of the benefit trap and do any sort of work to imbibe a work ethos in their children.

I appreciate the summer job rite of passage but I think in our depressed era perhaps unpaid volunteering is the way to go and kids will have to bank with mum and dad.

I have sympathy with this viewpoint. The trouble is that he is not even getting replies from places where he has offered to do work experience/voluntary work. As others have said, it doesn't take much to send a reply - even if it is a negative one.