Does your 16 year old have a part time job?

[SK1973]

And if so, what do they do?

DD16 left school last week and will go to college in September.

She is desperate to get a weekend/summer job but my goodness they are so difficult to come across. When I was that age (many, many years ago) weekend jobs were so easy to get and I could leave one on a Friday and start a new one Monday.

Dd1 18 has been babysitting since age 14 and also works for kids holiday clubs in school holidsys.
Dd2, 16 works Sundays in an artist's gallery shop (went up and down high street posting CVs but wants to pursue a career in art so particularly tried anywhere vaguely related to art.)
Ds, 13 does a paper round.
Lots of kids I know do potwash jobs or serve in fish and chip shops or cafes.

DD16 is a waitress in a local pub. She does Friday evenings, Sunday lunchtimes and now she’s finished her GCSEs she’ll get 2/3 more shifts during the week.

Yes they both did. One was waiting staff, the other kitchen pot washer (which was mainly loading and operating industrial dishwashers).

No but I’d say to her go around every single shop and hotel including eg petrol stations, don’t worry that she doesn’t have experience, very little people at that age do, and be polite and ‘at her best’ (eg if she’s chatty show them, if not but quiet and polite people appreciate that too etc etc, so be at her best self) (I worked in retail a lot and the ones that simply came up and were nice and polite we’d keep note of )

My boy does (he also left school last week) he applied for loads and also emailed all the local business' with his CV. It was really hard but he managed to get a job and he's really chuffed - not too many hours but enough :) x

Oh yes, let her go and ask. DS got his job when he was 14 because he walked into a golf club to ask if they needed caddies and the guy was impressed that he'd taken the initiative even though they had no vacancies so offered him a trial in the club kitchen, which turned to regular work. They always need staff in hospitality.

DS 15 has a voluntary job at an animal sanctuary

My daughter had a job at 16, working in a cafe. My son is now 17 and has never worked because it took so bloody long to get a NI number. I’m not sure why it has slowed down so much in two years.

You can work without an NI number they just assign a temporary one.

DS had a full time apprenticeship at 16 so not really helpful to OP but his GF works part time at the local sports stadium, and two takeaways.

Yes DD has a job as a lifeguard, but you do need to do the qualification for that. Some leisure centres will pay for it if they are looking for staff. DD did the cause first then got a job, you do have to be a reasonably good swimmer as well. She loves swimming so it's a good job for her, she may also do some swim teaching in the near future as well.

DD 18 has worked waiting on in a pub since 14. DD 16 has a part time job in a salon lined up to start later this summer.

When they were 16, 2 worked as lifeguards.
They both also did babysitting.
One of them also worked, helping a woman who did children's parties.
The other one worked in a local shop.

Mine are a bit older now but both started at 16.

Mostly fast food/local cafes and retail. Bar work after 18yo. Night work often pays well, e.g. picking/packing orders at a warehouse.

Getting a job at 16 seemed impossible here. Everywhere seemed to say 18.

In the end, in his first year at college, he did some KS3 and GCSE tutoring in Maths and Sciences.

In his second year at college when he was 18, he continued with the tutoring but also a job in a supermarket.

My dd worked in an independent cafe at 16. It was very easy for her to find a job but some of her friends said it was impossible.

I think one of the key differences is in how they look for them. There is no point in submitting CVs or online applications at that age. The only way seems to be to print out the CVs and physically go into shops/cafes to ask about vacancies.

I think one of the key differences is in how they look for them. There is no point in submitting CVs or online applications at that age. The only way seems to be to print out the CVs and physically go into shops/cafes to ask about vacancies.

I'd agree with this.

Plus, if they are already volunteering (through their sports, or Guides or Scouts or BB or GB etc).

My child started working at McDs at 16. She loves it!

My son did GCSE tutoring too whilst he was doing his A levels from 16-18.

He tried local cafes/pubs/shops, both applying online and going in to speak to them, but they all said you had to be 18 or they weren’t taking anyone on at the time. Only a couple of his friends got those sorts of jobs at 16.

As soon as our son reached 18, he got various parts time jobs easily. At 16, it can be really hard.

My DC began working on a farm at 15, just a few hours a week. It's really well paid, but you do have to be physically fit and a hard worker. They could now get as many hours a week as they wanted, outside of studying, and have been offered work at several farms due to building up a good reputation. One farm my DC approached, the other farms have approached them. Even one when we went on holiday and they helped out on a farm our holiday cottage was based on.

My DC had made a point of working on several farms for work experience at 15, prior to starting work, to make sure they had the experience behind them.

She's babysat since the age of 14 and now that school is out for the summer (not in the UK) she's working part-time at the local outdoor pool. Not a lifeguard though - ticket office mainly. No way would we have been ok with her doing bugger-all for 3 months!

No, because where we are most places want over 18s (London). I don't know why.

She's 18 in September so will be looking again soon.

@Hellocatshome we tried that - places around here are very reluctant to take kids on without an NI number in place and a valid passport.

Yes. Both my teens work in hotels.

My kids have had various part time jobs, but all of the places that employ youngsters nowadays (apart maybe from places like McDonald's), treat the staff terribly. They seem to recruit too many and then try to get them to keep their jobs by doing as much as possible and if they can't do something like come in at the drop of a hat, they stop giving them hours for a few weeks. This has happened to my boys and my daughter. They are also shocking at paying on time.

All my nieces/nephews (3) aged 16-18 work - one as a lifeguard, two in hospitality. They do seem to do less hours than I did at the same age, but I think that’s because their parents are more worried about the impact on their studies than my parents were.