Ive just got rejected by McDonalds - feel so crap

[NeedASaturdayJob]

I need a weekend job and have applied to Next and McD and they have both turned me away at application stage. I feel really shit. Granted I dont have experience in retail but I've mainly worked in admin but I know my skills are transferable. Just feel like a total loser.

I really need a job on the weekend as we need some money. Ive just had a baby and i can't go back to work due to childcare costs.

What am I doing wrong? Do they just want school/ college kids? I know they are probably in high demand but I've tried applying to so many. Ive tried the local supermarkets but only Tesco had a suitable job which I have applied for but Im not holding my hopes even for an interview.

OP, no advice for you but I wanted to offer my sympathy and hope that you find something suitable quickly.

Please remember - it's no reflection on you as a person.

My daughter got rejected for McDonalds she is doing her A levels at the moment. Her best friend works there and they have just took on lots and the majority are under 18. They pay them £5.10 an hour.

They like to take students on at weekend as they are cheaper, and also they like you to be flexible and cover during the week too.

Meant to add, I have a degree, but the work I do is basic minimum wage admin. I worked out the other day that I am higher educated than virtually every single person in the office, with the possible exception of 2 or 3 people. My trick to getting the job was, as others have said, not to emphasise my qualifications too much. I did make a big deal of the few weeks of admin work i did over 30 years ago as a student though!

I clicked on this thread because I knew the official mumsnet McDonald’s spokesperson would have popped up- whattodo didn’t disappoint 🙄

I’m sorry whattodo but you do this all the time! Yes we get that you’re a manager at McDonalds but you don’t speak for them, you don’t know about every branch and you certainly have no idea about national corporate strategy!

@WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue Many McDonald's stores are franchises, so what might apply to yours will not apply elsewhere.

DS got rejected by Starbucks. The interview process was like being on a conveyor belt. !0 mins each, 1 in 1 out. They are always advertising for staff as they can't keep them for long! He did get taken on by Argos for a Christmas job (the same week he was rejected by Starbucks) and they Kept him on. So I thin it is just down to their individual criteria rather than a reflection on you necessarily.

@nannybeach, what was the truth about the video?

I second temping. When the children went to school I had zero confidence, six year old cv. I worked in insurance, solicitors to name two. I could say nope in school holidays. Worked on lots of different computer systems. All good experience.

have to pretend that my hearing is dodgy and that's why I can't understand what they're saying.

Yes, my mum does the same to anyone with a foreign accent.

This doesn’t mean the person genuinely can’t speak English.

A nurse who spoke and understood no English at all would not meet the qualifications to work in the NHS as a nurse. I think you need to adjust your perception.

have no idea about national corporate strategy!

I would think a branch manager would know about corporate strategy.

Do you have any event caterers near you? Probably quiet between now and March but after that they will always be looking for good event staff for weekends. (I used to work as an event caterer and loved having older staff as well students)

Don't feel shit - but sometimes if you have a feeling of "only McDonalds" it may come across in applications. Or they could want someone to do weekdays as well, if they have a lot of young people they may have weekends quite well covered. It's not necessarily a reflection on you.

@Yabbers this poster frequently does this - things like stating over and over that McDonalds certainly won’t bring out a new veggie option as there is no demand. Posters argue that these days there is a demand and whattodo will actually be quite patronising in talking about all their inside info that proves other posters wrong. A couple of months later a new veggie option is released.

(Yes I’m aware I sound completely overinvested but it really irritates me)

Apologies for derailing the thread OP - I hope you find the right thing soon.

I haven't RTFT. How old are you? They will never admit to it, but many retail stores prefer younger people who have a lower national minimum wage requirement.

It is very rare for retailers to take on new staff in January. Were these specific advertised jobs or did you just apply on your own back? Sounds terrible but if a retailer isn't specificlly looking for staff and someone turns up with a cv - that cv won't even get looked at.
Jobs like retail and fast food places also dozens and dozens of people apply (often loads sent from the job centre).
Don't feel too down. But as others have said weekend retail work and fast food tends to go to teenagers. If you have admin skills go for admin. So many admin jobs aren't Mon-Fri 9-5 any more. Good luck.

I’m sorry whattodo but you do this all the time! Yes we get that you’re a manager at McDonalds but you don’t speak for them, you don’t know about every branch and you certainly have no idea about national corporate strategy!

Stepstepmother I don’t think you understand the level of training managers get (which is fine; why would you? However thinking you know so much about a company you’ve never been a manager for - and probably never worked for - is ignorant at best.)

Understanding McDonalds strategy is extremely important to management, so yes, we are repeatedly sent on courses to understand all parts of the business and where it’s going.

Posters argue that these days there is a demand and whattodo will actually be quite patronising in talking about all their inside info that proves other posters wrong. A couple of months later a new veggie option is released.

Actually the thread where I mentioned that was six months ago, and that’s because we were instructed not to release that information under any circumstances. Insider information is exactly that: insider.

When I worked in retail they basically didn’t want people working for them who were better educated or posher than the managers (which was really not hard).

Or assertive or likely to answer back or complain if they were asked to do stupid things (eg there was a Xmas temp who was 18/19 but - rightly - asked not to do deliveries as he’d just passed his driving test and didn’t want to be in charge of a van on a tight schedule. They then refused to take him on full time 😧)

They liked fairly desperate yes-men types who they could bully into last minute two hour Saturday morning shifts as they’d not be a FLEXIBLE TEAM PLAYER if they didn’t.

A nurse who spoke and understood no English at all would not meet the qualifications to work in the NHS as a nurse. I think you need to adjust your perception.

That's true. I often find within the NHS it's not so much the staff's proficiency in English that is a problem (of course they couldn't qualify if they didn't speak a good level of English) but more an occasional difficulty with the difference in accents or dialects between staff and patient. It's no one's fault really - so called 'Standard English' isn't universally spoken even in England, let alone globally.

Your original assumption, though, was that no one could get a job as a checkout operator without speaking much English. This is simply not true and a little naive.

Schnubbins I can only agree with WhatToDo. My son started working at McDonalds when he was in his last year of sixth form. He continued throughout his three years of university and since graduating and wanting to take a year out of education before going further he's been given a fixed hour contract although always works in excess of that, paid of course. He's found it a really good place to work, they've always been flexible if he needs time off for anything too.

In my experience of management, although retail rather than food, it's in the interests of a company to have a happy and steady team rather than to keep losing staff. Advertising jobs, interviewing and training aren't something that managers want to be doing frequently. It takes time which could be better spent.

That’s because we were instructed not to release that information under any circumstances. Insider information is exactly that: insider.

Don't post false information then? Just keep quiet.

Mcds have a ton of kids looking for a job who are by default cheaper. They, IMO, are a great employer. Saw me through uni. But you will always be competing with the 16yos who are on lower nmw.

McDonald is notorious for taking on young people OP, so they can pay them less and they can make them work all hours, that's the experience that my brother had anyway while he was studying, he said the turn over of staff was terrible.

@WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue Many McDonald's stores are franchises, so what might apply to yours will not apply elsewhere

Bombardier25966 The majority of UK McDonalds are franchises yes, but franchisees actually have very little control over what they can change.

McDonald's actually do prefer teenagers or adults with no or limited work experience as they like to mould you, so to speak. I imagine they'd think you were just going to be there as a stop gap and would prefer a teenager. There was a manager from McDonald's on a AMA, I think she said the same thing and I'd definitely heard it before. Totally get why it would make you feel disheartened!