Summer holiday from Uni - where are the jobs?

[MrsClattenburg]

DS is now back from Uni for the (ridiculously long) summer holiday so will be back living here May-Sept.

He's trying to find a job and started looking before he came back home but hasn't been successful with any of his applications so far. Listening to Jeremy Vine discussing this now and it's so depressing... loads of people applying for just one job and so understandably, why would a business then want someone back from Uni for 4 months rather than someone who won't leave after the summer?

If your 18+ year olds have summer jobs, where are they working?

Locally lifeguard jobs were filled at Easter, the theme park also did its assessment days and offers then too. Supermarket don't hire for summer like they do for Christmas. The rare summer job are handed down to friends and siblings here.

ASDA were fantastic, but I had already been working there weekends since I turned 16, so they then allowed me to do uni holidays only (I wasn’t allowed to work weekends at Cambridge due to the workload there being so high). ASDA were so flexible, I could pick and choose different shifts week to week over the long Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays. Others who were studying did the same too. However, this is going back over 20 years!

Good luck to your son finding something 🙏🏻

We are in a tourist area so there are cafes, pubs, etc. some independents will put a sign in the window rather than put the vacancy online, or put a post on local Facebook page.

There are loads of fruit and veg pickers and packers jobs round where I live. Often there’ll be a minibus to take all the workers to the farms and warehouses.

Dd applied for many jobs last year and finally got a zero hours contract as a kitchen porter. She also did a course to become a swimming teacher and worked as an unpaid teacher at our community pool last year and this year has a paid position at another pool. She has also got an online tutoring job and a zero hours contract for cleaning at our local university halls of residence.

After his first year DS1 worked in a local petrol station.
After his second year he got a job temping in an office.
Not sure what he'll do this time.
DS2 is 17 and works one night a week in a restaurant, and they have several students who work every summer, just starting to come back now.

If it was me I would go in in person to any independent places and ask, with my cv to give out .

Also can he mow ? local gardeners may need assistants.

Holiday clubs tend to need people be desperate but usually want some form of experience with dealing with kids.

Thanks all, unfortunately this thread has confirmed that he might be too late for this summer even though I know he's back from Uni earlier than some of his friends. I honestly thought that employers wouldn't be interested in people applying in Feb/March if they couldn't start until May/June?

It's so frustrating as he had a job last year, in sixth form (Yr 2) but did not want to go back so handed in his notice presuming he'd get something as easily when he came back this May...

And please don't think that although I say "I" a lot, I'm doing everything on his behalf - this is definitely NOT the case! He's looking daily but will need a push to put himself out there in person so I'll be doing this now he's home 👉

https://constellation.co.uk/
try this. Lots of hospitality jobs that you can choose from.

This.
I drove both my kids around to hand in CVs to lots of cafes, pubs etc. Lots of hospitality places want summer staff as they're busier, and their regular staff have holidays.

Not in the last year or so but:
Dd did a paper round for years and in her final summer post A levels started working in the paper shop, so she kept that up in the holidays (they used her as holiday relief cover so it worked well). She also did paper rounds for ppl on holiday.

Ds2 got a job in bar one summer; another year he spent the summer away working for the RNLI but that was a tough charity sales job. Good exp tho.

I agree with others, go round local independent cafes with a CV.

Temping agency?

I would say: spend time on applications, and go around from pub to pub and cafe to cafe. Also keep an eye on Indeed as well. Care homes are another place that has a lot of job locally.

Agencies are another good call, that Constellation one doesn't cover our part of the country but there are others, around here there's no tourist stuff but there are wedding venues and other functions needing casual staff. Helps if they can drive though.

The teens and students I know work in Dominoes, lifeguard / swim coach, Amazon warehouse and McDonalds.
Also try the temp agencies and things like the show security firms. Next used to take on extra staff for a couple of weeks around the sales.

A lot of my students do care and support worker jobs. Often needed for holiday cover and will train people up. Alternatively volunteer somewhere for a few weeks to gain some experience and then apply.
Plenty of agencies such as Reed looking for temporary staff in these areas. Often possible to pick up weekend or night shifts during term time as well.

Care homes will take pretty much anyone. He’ll get two weeks paid training at most places.

Few people want to do it (and I don’t blame them), but you can always find a job as turnover is so high.

Are you anywhere near a hospital? If so, might be worth checking their website for temp bank support staff roles. Things like cleaners/porters/HCAs they'll provide all the training.

Factory work via agencies.
Summer festivals, family events, races etc

Has he signed up to his Uni jobs board? There are often research hourly paid jobs which he could do from home that pay reasonably.

DS got his job at the same place he volunteered last year. He had it sorted well before Easter though - if he had left it until now there would have been nothing available.

My son got a job in a supermarket one summer but he didn’t like it and the pay was rubbish. He does some online GCSE and A level tutoring now instead. Is that a possibility? It’s far better paid and he can do a few hours all year round.

I posted on another thread that my teenage granddaughter took her CV to every outlet in the town, applied for every part time job she saw, no matter what it was and had no response from any of her efforts. So different from her parents experience.

We lived in the middle of nowhere growing up, no jobs. Groups of us would go stay in a caravan and work in fruit picking farms. Im sure the accommodation was grim but I just remember it being incredible fun. If he has some mates in a similar position it might be worth doing it for some of the time.

A neighbour's ds has got a job in the laundry room in a local nursing home. He loves it - great hours and good money.