Do your teenagers have jobs?

[TheQueenOfDreams]

My 16 yr old ds has been trying really hard to get a part time job but has had no luck whatsoever. Not even an interview. His cv isn’t bad for a 16 yr old. He has done quite a bit of voluntary work including working in a charity shop.
Does anyone hire 16 yr olds?

When I was 16 I worked in Primark for £3.50 ph. Heartbreaking when I think about it

My 16 year old has a job on dot.com in a local supermarket, pay is good, double minimal wage.

My dd couldn't get anything until she turned 18, despite trying loads of places, cafes, shops etc at 16 and 17. Covid didn't help though.

DS15 has a paper round. He really likes it

Seems like that's an unusual job on this thread - I guess it's one of those jobs on decline now

19 yr old doesn’t
17 yr old works behind a bar.

I think there are loads of jobs now and much easier to find now the summer is over as uni students probably took lots of them. Dd is 17 and just got a job at a local bakery but said there are lots of jobs vejng advertised in cafes etc near her 6th form college. Best to go in to places with cvs rather than looking online in her experience.

My just turned 16 year old has just started a p/t job at a theme park local to us.
She had her interview a couple of weeks before her 16th birthday.
She had applied to a load of shops as well but with no luck.
Her older brother also worked there from 16 and went back during Uni holidays.
As the park closes soon for winter she will be looking for a Christmas job hoping that now she can put experience on her CV it will get her something until Spring.
She gets £7 ph.

Yes.
Between them:
Lifeguarding
Shop work (don't forget it is cheaper to employ 16 yr olds over 18 yr olds, who, in turn are cheaper than 21 yr olds)
Babysitting
'Helping a younger child understand work in KS3 and then into GCSE' sort of tutoring (obviously not qualified but it worked for that pupil)
Helping a woman that ran kids parties
Cleaning.

But how do they manage to do so many hours and their school work? Dd would love a job but is dyslexic and has 3 extra lessons a week after school. She seems to have a ton of studying to do too.

Well, there are 168 hours in a week, and they are only asleep for about 56 of them, and at school for about 30 - 33 or them, so it leaves a good 80+ to spread things like eating, travel, homework, revision, sports, volunteering, socialising AND work in.

Yes, my 16yo works in a tutoring centre. My 17yo has worked there too and also has done some music tuition. He now works at our local leisure centre as a casual vacancy. It is tricky though, lots of the sorts of places my friends and I worked in at that age now won’t take under 18s. Fast food places are worth looking at too. Fingers crossed.

Dd 16 has been trying for a while to get a part time job, no luck so far though and she doesn't even get a 'thanks, but not thanks' from most places either.

My 17 year old has a job I a cafe. Its minimum wage but he never spends any money. I think it's good for him. They say he is a very good worker but I'm not sure he was a shining candidate at the interview stage.

I.think most people are desperate for staff right now

@namebunny

But how do they manage to do so many hours and their school work? Dd would love a job but is dyslexic and has 3 extra lessons a week after school. She seems to have a ton of studying to do too.

Mine is working hard at school but also seems to have hours and hours to spend in his phone . Better to spend that time doing something else, like a part time job.

Yes. My twin daughters have both had jobs since they finished their GCSEs in 2019. This is alongside college. They were furloughed for a bit during lockdown which they of course thought was great 🤔

DS IS 15 and he has a job in our local discount store on their “Tidy Team”, stacking shelves and general tidying of the store.

He works two evenings a week 4.30-6.30 and then five hours on a Saturday.

My 16 year old DS recently got a job in McDonalds. Absolutely loves it. They also get a free meal every shift. What more could a teenager want?

He applied for loads of jobs for months and got nowhere but McDonalds got back to him quickly. They must have been on a recruiting drive as many of his friends also got jobs (at a bunch of different branches).

@N0PE can I ask how many hours he does there? I heard they expect quite a lot.

Yes, DC 15 has two part time jobs, one is 2 nights a week babysitting and the other works in a local shop on Saturdays.

Good responsibility IMO

[quote TheQueenOfDreams]@N0PE can I ask how many hours he does there? I heard they expect quite a lot.[/quote]
He does 16 hours a week which is one full day (weekend) and two after school shifts. There's been no pressure to do more though there's always extra shifts available if he wants to do a bit more.

Rightly or wrongly, I see having a p/t job as the equivalent of an extra couple of GCSEs .
It teaches them so much.

Those questioning the time a job takes up- yes it does cut into socialising time- yesterday DD had an 8-30am online lesson for an hour, worked from 11-5 came home, ate dinner and spent the evening doing college work. She needs lots of sleep, so ten hours a night. She also manages to fit in a a f2f music lesson, and an online one. Half term will be taken up with work experience and working, so she'll only have one day off that week.

DS used to go to work straight after college a couple evenings a week, but he needs less sleep and would bounce out of bed the next morning. He actually had two part time jobs and college. It helps that he absolutely loved one of the jobs so it's was as good as socialising. It also helped during lockdown when one of the things he could do was go to work. I think it saved his sanity.

Both of them have learned so much from working, and it's given them a confidence boost. Also having money to spend on nonsense that I would never buy them has been lots of fun for them. I really wished I'd pushed DS1 into getting a part time job.

My dd is 16 she works on the reception desk at the gym my Dh goes to.She covers for sickness or holiday so not regular work but suits her as she dances 3 times a week so cannot commit to regular hours at the minute.This week she’s working a couple of days to cover holiday.It’s really helped with her confidence in talking to people she doesn’t know and she’s made some new friends.

My 17 year old works as a lifeguard and he gets £9 an hour which I think is great. He only does two shifts a week, usually a Saturday morning and one evening after school until 7.30 so it doesn’t impact on his school work.
He did have to do a training course to get his lifeguard qualification and that cost £250 but we were happy to pay that for him.

Tutoring duits DD as she's playing football for both the U17 girls and the women's 2nd team atm which means that she trains 3 times per week and plays two matches most weeks! Tutoring is 45 minutes each time and tends to be early so fits in, and of course she set up the times. She's home from college by 4pm, sometimes earlier. She was thinking of doing regular babysitting - there are always people looking for oldsr teens to pick their 4-6 year olds up from Kindergarten, walk them home and play with them and give them dinner before parents get home - usually 2-3 hours three or four days per week. She's decided against it for now though because of football.

Its completely up to them to decide where their priorities lie, balancing free time activities with work and extra cash, imo.

Under 16s find it very hard to find paid work IMO - my 14 year old registered for a paper round but is on the waiting list... There isn't much else he's eligible to do.