My 17 year old struggling to find any work

[Missypuddingchops]

So im really at my wits end atm, my dd is 17 and attends college 3 times a week, shes so she has 4 days where she is literally just at home, shes broken up from her 1st at college so now its all week apart from a driving lesson, she needs amd wants a job...not alot to ask but my god its sooo hard. Even for older people its hard but how are our youngsters meant to set themselves up for saving etc? Everywhere is all 'hand your CV in...basically just dumped on a pile with all the rest from 16/17 year olds desperate for work. Shes costing me a fortune! She must've applied for 15 jobs and handed in so many cvs in the last month and NOTHING! Even the supermarkets arent getting back to her...ive even asked in the town I work in...we are both so deflated

Nope. Only a small number of very specific jobs do, although most will advertise as it's best practice.

This is a lovely idea, but my DS' idea of appropriate spending money for himself is well above what I have the budget to pay him even if I wanted to. Plus he has a car now and his insurance is £200 a month alone - that's a lot of car cleaning, and I don't want to pay for his car insurance,even via the medium of odd jobs.

It won't be long before Boots are looking for Christmas temps (!!) if she doesn't find anything in the interim, which could hopefully lead to a permanent job

Same sorts of experiences with my dc.
The one who is still a student is regularly contacted by people asking her if she will come and do some shifts for them.
All of them had done volunteering as teens though and had picked up skills like being able to talk to people they don't know, as well as coming in to contact with people who then either asked them to work with them or recommended them to other people.
Not just in our City (Midlands) but they all got jobs in their University Towns as well.

Agree with other posters about volunteering. My daughter started out at a charity shop when she was 14/15. It was only a few hours on a Saturday afternoon but she gained work experience and showed commitment. Massively helped her get her first paid job when she was 16 (Dominoes- has your daughter tried places like that?).

It is hard though. Supermarket jobs aren’t easy to get, not these days. Lots of hoops to jump through.

Absolutely, the amount DD waNts to spend on make up and clothes she'll need a job.to pay for it or she'll have to go without unfortunately.
Some on my favourite memories are from work, it was such a good laugh working as a teen in retail and McDonald's that I was the same for DD

Many young people now are getting their first job via contacts. Friends/family who run a business or who work somewhere (like Tesco) where they can put a word in. Is there anyone who will give her a few days work experience to beef up her cv? I did this for two of my great nieces in the past. They helped with back office, order packing and photo shoots. It was only a couple of days but I bigged it up to a week and gave them excellent references. Completely different names so no way to know I was a relative.

It won't help, but they all seem to be in the same boat. Only if they know someone do they tend to be lucky. And the time/trouble for applications-one hour form filling for a job pouring coffee!
Poor kids.

Pull together a list of every company within a mile of your house. Pubs, shops, cafes, offices etc. split them into roles - pot washer, cleaner, admin, shelf stacker etc and then take in a relevant cv to each reception.

Would she be happy cleaning houses ? Look for local cleaning contractors who might need some holiday relief.

17yo are paid £8/h minimum wage so still less expensive than adults.

If you have your car cleaned regularly, can she take that over for the summer?

CV and cover letter are already saved. She is applying for shop work/ cafés etc. I don't quite get how an application would take hours. 😅

Job advertised on employment website, click apply, add cv and cover letter and answer employers questions regarding right to work, hours available, any holidays booked. That's it. Takes three minutes max.

Op a lot of it is timing my DD was struggling and applying on line ,loads of local FB posts saying can anyone give my child a job etc.
After a few months she physically went into our local town and was offered a trial at the second place she went into . It was pure lucky timing and its been a great role and good paym she's been there over a year now.
So tell her not to give and maybe go around again physically.

My ds has had a job since his 17th birthday but he's planned for it and qualified as a pool lifeguard. Even that took some persistence to find.

It isn't easy. Good luck OP

And this is highly likely why they're not getting interviewed. I'm not having a go but it's essential to tailor cover letters and CVs to the org and that's why it takes hours. I've been interviewed for pretty much every job I've ever applied for and also screen applications regularly so I've seen the dos and don'ts.

I agree with volunteering then I would try the independent shops and pubs by calling in.

This is how DD got her first two jobs, washing up in a cafe and then fish and chip shop with restaurant attached. She went in with her CV (which only had a Sunday paper round on it) a bright smile and a friendly demeanour and got picked up for the cafe, she was let go as it closed down not long after, but that experience got her the job in the chippy, then waitressing in the restaurant before moving to a high street retailer which saw her through uni.

I can’t recommend enough starting with volunteering and the worst jobs and then building up.

Has she tried waitressing? Both our larger restaurants are desperate for staff. Kitchen hand? Try local care homes too, they always need staff if she’s willing to carry on beyond September working some shifts - most places will not be interested in hiring for just 6 weeks

That's great if you're able to fund your teens' lifestyle. I can't, therefore they've had to get jobs.
And cleaning my car at, what, £5 a week wouldn't stretch very far.

You really don't have a clue.

Domiciliary care will definitely hire for 6 weeks, but it's over 18s.

My track record, role and experience say otherwise but it's completely up to you what you do.

Having been through this with my three, she has my sympathy. It is a tough effort, and IME so many big businesses are really poor at recruiting.

Mine found it better to speak to friends and family and find jobs they could actually speak to folk about - so many big organisations it is all online applications and AI run tests where you have to "guess what we are thinking when it comes to customer service"... I also think that it is not unusual for the most straightforward and junior of jobs to now expect experience...

I would also ask: what experience does she have already? Mine did paper round at age 13 (got by speaking with school pals), onwards to a few waiting type jobs at 16 (local places where you could speak to manager), then helped run covid test centre (phone call from desperate family friend as they could not recruit others), and finally in to some bigger employer places such as supermarket. The experience they had meant all three of them walked into jobs that pals were applying for with zero work experience.....

I would be going for 15+ applications a day + volunteering.
Charity shops, school, youth / homeless charities, food banks.

Is she applying for cleaning posts? All the teens want to work in shops, bars and restaurants. Fewer people are happy to clean.

Alot of the kids local to me, including both my sons, worked at a local wedding venue place. Started in kitchens, and cleaning, worked up to silver service and bar work

My DD has been applying for a year and has only had two interviews. She’s tried handing out hard copy CVs but employers don’t want them. She got told off in a high street shop for breaching GDPR for handing out her own CV. She’s done 6 months of two days per week at a charity shop and work shadowing one day a week for a few months, so two solid references. We live in an area that isn’t very affluent so not so many shops. It seems these days that FT staff are expected to cover 24/7 so the old Saturday job does really exist anymore. The only young people I know with PT jobs are ones with connections or the most extremely self confident. DD is making a few quid doing a bit of basic garden tidying for a couple of people.

No offence but how old are you? I've also had interviews/offers from the vast majority of jobs I've applied for but when I was applying to retail/hospitality jobs it was the late90s and early 2000s!!