DD & work experience vs paid employment

[KatyMac]

DD has GCSEs this summer & then leaves home.

We'd sort of had the idea that a job would be hard to find & she should do work experience (various sorts - college related) instead

We kind of expected work experience to be fairly hard to find - but she has actually done quite well and has up to 6 weeks potentially sorted out (no commitment yet) within 48 hours of starting and I wonder if we have been short sighted & if we should encourage her to apply for more paid work.

The reasons we didn't were:
not enough jobs for adults
difficulties getting to where work is (which we may have sorted)
assuming that 16yos wouldn't be employed

So which should I be encouraging? & are 16yos employable?

[Mogz]

I know that within my company we are far more likely to take on an enthusiastic work experience placement than advertise a vacancy. The reasons are twofold, we are not actually allowed to employ anyone else in our department but there is excess work to be done, it is much easier to put forward a business case for taking on a school leaver to do unpaid work for a fortnight. Sad but true.
Hopefully though that she has had the initiative to get some real world work experience will show possible employees that even though she is a tender 16 she isn't work shy and knows what she's doing.
Best of luck to her.

[KatyMac]

Thanks - that's pretty much what I thought

[flowery]

It depends what she wants to gain out of it really. If she wants to earn a bit of money, then definitely check out paid work of whatever kind. If she wants to get some valuable work experience in a particular area/sector/role and is more likely to get that as unpaid work experience than as a paying job, then that's better.

[KatyMac]

I want her out of the house for the summer mid June to September is not a good idea for my sanity (or to be fair DD's as she will have gone from 7 days a week since September to 2 days a week)

She has 2 weeks teaching WE, a week at the local theatre & she is applying for WE with a make-up artist, a costume person and a second theatre.

She thought she might try to get a PT job but the return to town is £7 plus we drive for 3.5miles each way & while we will subsidise a bit of WE/training, I'm not sure I would do the same for M&S or Tesco!

[KatyMac]

Maybe I'm selling her short

She has a DBS reasonable, experience of children, can cook & wash up, could probably be trained to clean or use a cash register

Can a 16 yo work?

[bruffin]

DD 16 is in line for 4 jobs at the moment, so yes a 16 year old can work
4 hours a week respite care for a little boy. She has volunteered for a long time at a SN playgroup and the family know her well.

another job respite care with a teenage girl with Downes

Just passed her nplq and waiting to hear back from two pools about casual jobs.
DS worked in Comet at 16 but that was their christmas staff and he has been lifeguarding at 2 jobs since he was 16

[KatyMac]

That bodes well Bruffin

There is a summer sales position locally - but it starts in April; she can apply & see if anyone drops out

[KatyMac]

& maybe she could think about baby sitting/au pairing

Hmm

[KatyMac]

By looking for work experience she has managed to get an interview for a paid job

I am well impressed!

Apparently if she is willing to do it for free and is any good, she deserves to be paid - so an interview/trial session in a month or so & then she will know if she has the job

[Sandthorn]

I'm glad she's now looking at paid work. Fingers crossed she gets it. Short term Work Experience is great for seeing what careers are possible, but it makes my blood boil that employers justify unpaid labour by calling it an internship. My employer takes on "interns" for summer placements and sandwich degrees, but they pay them according to their qualifications just like any other member of staff. It works out well all round: we get "casual" employees who are committed because they feel like a valued member of staff, without the risks of a long term appointment; and the interns get a serious taste of the world of work, with the expectations AND the rewards.

I know she's very young to be thinking about it, but does she have any plans for what she'd like to do in the medium term? For instance, if theatre is her thing, this is a great time in her life to work as a general assistant, but to find out what different jobs are possible. And the people she works with will probably be delighted to talk to her about routes into careers in theatre. It's great to dip a toe into lots of different things, but very easy to forget what you've done and when. I'd really, really encourage her to keep a kind of reflective journal of what she's been doing. Even if it's just a diary recording where she worked that week, and what sort of tasks she did, it'll make CV-writing A LOT easier. But if she can develop on that a bit, like when she observes somebody on her placement, and thinks "now that's what I want to do", she should make a note of it, and what excited her about it, because it's so easy to get distracted by the next thing.

[KatyMac]

It's a trial day to see if she fits; if she does the job is hers as they aren't really recruiting; she has an evening job one night a week atm and she is very committed to that although 'technically' I get paid not her (helping in dance classes enabling her dance classes to be free).

Short term is college - she had lots of offers and we are waiting for funding decisions; she is sensible enough to know she goes where the funding goes, it isn't a case of which college she likes best.

Medium term is dancing - hopefully West End but cruises or holiday parks if not

Long term is teaching - which she really enjoys

I will suggest that she keeps a diary - she might be able to use it for her Gold Arts Award (hopefully she will finish Silver during the summer)