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.

Yes! Several actually. Costa Coffee, a cleaning job, sticking up at the skittles, English conversation with foreign students and Sports activity coordinator.

And the same is for volunteering where you deal with the public.

Paid work is not all which teaches skills.

DD has to deal with 6-8 year old often not willing to do what being told.

She planned to be a room guide/till/cafe at a EH property which means dealing with public.

She currently has work experience at a Reception class (no museum or historic building does offer work experience at all or under 18).

She has to be on time, deals with being told what to do which will include things she is not keen on.

The "chosen field" comment was about students not working, not necessarily teens.

All this is similar to having a p/t job but is not paid.

My son worked in Waitrose collecting trollies from end of GCSE year. He got the job after he saving done three months volunteering in a charity shop to get some retail experience. I would suggest that as something to put on CV.

We found the same - DD has been desperately looking for work in all the usual places. She’s had one interview for dominoes and didn’t get that. She hardly ever hears back. It’s so tough out there.

She’s going to do a few days a week with DH over the summer, doing admin and receptionist type work. I’m only too glad she has something and is earning some money but it’s shit it relied on good old nepotism to get her something.

Well dd has applied for a couple of local volunteering jobs today so hopefully she’ll hear back from one of those but she really wants to start earning a little bit of money.

Have printed off her cv and she’s going to pop into some smaller shops and cafes outside of the city but like some other posters, we are in a university city and part time jobs are snapped up so quickly around here abd on Indeed the listing are often closed earlier due to so many applicants. When ds was looking one p/t warehouse job came up and within 4 hours it had 500 applicants.

Both my boys did lifeguard training when they turned 16 and work casual shifts at a local sports centre. They get paid adult London living wage plus 12.5% on top to compensate for not having paid holiday, so about £14.80 an hour in total. It's a zero hours contract so they are sent a timetable and they choose their shifts, with no obligation other than to do 2 hours training each month (also paid for). This works well for fitting around exams and their sporting commitments. My eldest is at uni now, but still picks up shifts when he is home in the holidays.

Yes both my DD's have worked since 14 just little jobs pot washing 1 night a week at a local pub at first. DD 17 has been a lifeguard since 16 and gets paid well £12 ish an hour. She does probably 4-6 hours a week sometimes more.
My friends DD was at a cafe and now works at Next.
I do a lot of dropping off and picking up but it's worth it.

As far as what to put on a CV is concerned, dd1 started by babysitting for friends of friends so she then had experience to put down. She also did NCS. Dd2 did volunteering through DofE and a couple days' work experience. She also put (predicted) in very small letters under her GCSE grades! Anything like helping at scouts or football, doing shopping or gardening for a neighbour etc. Any extra curricular stuff, even if not particularly relevant, shows they have some get up and go.

Both my girls got jobs that weren't being advertised so it's definitely worth going round with a CV or emailing local small businesses who may need staff. Big companies will probably direct you to a web application process but smaller shops cafes etc won't. DS(13) paper round was advertised on the newsagents door and they didn't require a CV just employed him as soon as he enquired! Now he'll have that on his CV for future job hunting once he's a bit older (most places won't employ under 14 or under 16)

Big companies yes, but definitely not true of small businesses. Walking up and down our high street there are frequently cards in windows advertising jobs, asking for CVs. Both my kids got jobs that weren't even advertised. The only time dd applied for a job online she got turned down without interview (Aldi).