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?

Mine has done two summers as agency staff for Royal Mail. Not sure if he’ll manage to get back in this year though.

God its hard. My dd in her dads office. She has enough of intern and unpaid as she doing vetenary. So needs money. Hard out there its who you know. She did sports camp two years ago. Got that through her friend who knew teacher running it. Months work. Her dads is around 12 wks

My daughter is volunteering with the nation-wide summer reading challenge at the library as she intends to eventually do a doctorate in educational psychology and needs "relevant work experience".

Firstly, you don't need to tell them you are only staying for 3 months.
Secondly, the sort of jobs we are talking about don't generally need a lot of training.
Thirdly - and this is key - lots of places need holiday cover.

More widely than factories, there are lots of places where the jobs are only there for the Summer.

Temp agencies, stadiums and sports events (car park stewards etc) and pubs

Both of mine did sports camps - they had cricket coaching badges and DBS, which helped.

Try Royal Mail! Look at their job site and temporary jobs via their agency

Interesting article from the Centre for Social Justice:

"The number of payrolled employees under 25-years-old has plummeted by 119,000 since June 2024, meaning there are now 97,000 fewer workers under 25 on payroll than there were over half a decade ago.

Meanwhile, employers have increasingly turned to migrant workers to fill roles: the number of payrolled non-EU workers under 25-years-old soared by 315 per cent between January 2020 and December 2024, with growth highest in the sectors that would usually employ young British workers with fewer qualifications."

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/wasted-youth

Packing and production line work generally doesn't need training. I've worked in factories packing promotional items and gifts / food products. I know of local factories that still take people on for similar casual work locally, and I live in a very small town. I'm not going to name the companies but some are multinational (not household names) while others are local.

@BitterTits I’d be hard pressed to think of one here. Not in the mid size town either but what is there, doesn’t have seasonal vacancies. They don’t want 3 month employees.

A local boutique didnt want her for 3 mths as back to college. Hard out there. Would anyone do dog walking its always needed

Dd works in a bar…. She’s really lucky that they pretty much let her work full time (or as much as she wants) when she’s back. She’s also done them a occasional favour and come back for the weekend to help them out on St Pats, she pretty much worked the whole weekend for them.

My ds had a couple of summer jobs - one working for a marquee company they were obviously busier in the summer with events so that worked well . Another one that made me laugh was working with a landlord doing odd jobs at the end of tenancies , he had never done any DIY at home so goodness knows how he talked his way into that one .

Provided she doesn't have a criminal record, I'll find her a job in care this afternoon.

At a local children’s SEND play scheme as a team leader, this is the 4th summer she has worked there. Also has picked up several individual clients from there to work with as a PA helping them access the community. She starts her first teaching role in a SEND school in September so it has all been great experience while she studied and did her PGCE.

Warner holidays employ students

We're desperate for reliable gardeners round here. If he can cut grass and do weeding, I reckon that might be an option? Guy here started that way and didn't have his own equipment. Most people have a lawnmower.