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

Most places don't even ask for GCSE grades when you are 17.
The young people I know who have PT jobs are tenacious and show a good work ethic, not just a bunch of 9s. And of course, the jobs have to be available.

A future career is a different kettle of fish, but I don't think that's really what's being discussed here.

Unfortunately this is the truth. Under 18’s are only allowed to work certain hours and can’t sell age restricted items. Plus they have to have extra breaks so it doesn’t make sense to employ them if there’s 18 year olds applying for the same position.

My kids have struggled too - lots if unpaid trial shifts in cafes then heard nothing back ( I.e slave labour)
@Whyohwhy1973- blimey - have you tried HRT? Might take the edge off.xx

Any nurseries around that open in school Holidays near you?

I manage a nursery and have 3 lovely 17/18 year olds I’ve just hired as summer staff to cover the staffs annual leave - loads have school kids and won’t be around

there’s enough qualified staff on any day so we just need some extras to come in and play with the children basically - they are Great! Do it every year and some of them stay on as part timers and work the days they aren’t at college or work short notice to cover sickness

it’s great for us as don’t need to use agency staff and these girls are already familiar to the children rather than getting a random in from an agency

off the back of working at my nursery some of the girls who’ve been summer staff before have ended up getting jobs at after school clubs and summer camps and things like that as well as they’ve got experience

also they end up with babysitting jobs from the parents as well

How about care homes? I had friends at school that helped with meals, cups of tea etc.

I would agree with you here. So many parents focus on exam grades.
Yet employers, while wanting foundational literacy and maths, favour the work ethic, attitude and communication skills in such jobs.

Well it sounds like there’s quite a lot of reactive applications when you probably need to be proactive. Firstly I would mentally go through all your friends / family and identify any with the ability to either recommend or hire your teens. Contact them and let them know your teen is looking. Casual - whatever.

Id get the teen to post something on your local Facebook or Nextdoor.com site with a good list of their qualities. Not a one liner but a detailed list and a list of jobs she’d / he’s willing to do. Do not do this for them because people won’t want to hire someone who can’t be arsed to open their own FB account.

Produce a flier with a list of jobs they’d do… cat feeding is a good one as it only takes an hour a day for 2 visits. Car cleaning etc. distribute among your neighbours.

If they have zero job experience then volunteering is the way to go ( as already suggested numerous times ). My DD 14 volunteered at a friends gymnastics club and this has led to a job offer. ( she has no gymnastic experience but it’s with toddlers ). She volunteered previously at a stable in exchange for rides so can prove she can graft. I volunteer at a library and my first day they asked me if I know any teenagers who want a Saturday job because the one they have is leaving in September.

Teenagers I know work at a theme park. At a David Lloyd in the cafe. A couple do waitressing at chain restaurants like Ask. I have employed them babysit in the past and to feed my cat while we’re away. Occasionally one will walk my dog.

Id use ChatGPT to help construct answers for online applications to ensure the competencies are being hit. ( and nb handing in your own cv does not breach GDPR)

DS applied for several - no response

We're in London and it took my 18 year old from June to October to get a part-time job for her gap year.

She did some volunteering before that which, aside from keeping her busy, gave her something to talk about at the interview.

Ds (16 at the time) got his job because I happened to see a Facebook post by a local business who had been let down by another teen at short notice over Xmas.

Keeping going with the applications and doing some voluntary work is probably the best bet, but it's blood hard for teens right now.

Thats only in the last 4 weeks prior to that she had applied for anything and anywhere..we live in a small town so she has applied for 20 miles away in the hope someone might accept

My son got his jobs (first while in college) by going in person and then basically going in every week afterwards to remind them of his interest! His first job he did his weekly visit and next thing had an apron on and was washing dishes! Made redundant during Covid, a week after lockdown ended he got in to his next target and started there and fortunately they kept him in during the next lockdowns and he went full time after college.
Other mates did shifts at supermarket, golf club, worked flipping burgers at a theme park…
A lot seems to be walking in just as they need someone.

Well yes, but this particular teenager is struggling to get a part time job, it isn't as easy as just landing in her lap, lots of teenagers struggle to get work it isn't a failing,

No offence taken. I'm no longer classed as a young person but I employ a lot of people in this age bracket and also work with hundreds of volunteers of this age. I deal with hundreds of applications each year for employed roles and voluntary posts. So I can confidently see things from my own journey but also from a recruitment point of view.

I most temp jobs for teenagers are just given to someone who know is reliable in your network. I'm employed kids of contacts (clients, other staff etc). . It's not really worth doing a full recruitment process for short term work. The reference from a contact is normally enough. If they are good they stay on, if they are bad it was only short term anyway.

I don't think it's really changed that much. The teens working in pubs are normally the child of a regular etc.

So just ping some whatapp messages to people you trust who might have those types of roles.

That said I do think it getting harder to employ under 18s. I was recently as by a parent whether we had DBS check for staff - we don't so I didn't take that one.

All three of mine worked at McDonalds
durIng their time at college. They take 16 year olds and it’s above minimum wage.

The world and his wife are doing dog walking and you need insurance and preferably to have experience of dogs .

Their are lots of vacancies for care work and in care homes. That's realistic. Not sure on age though.

Insurance is cheap. Pet sitting is easier than dog walking.

That depends on whether they're in college or school. If they're in college, the restrictions for retail, hospitality and agriculture are negligible.

my daughter had been concentrating on studies, got interviewed at a pub. Publican spent 5 mins waffling on ather about why shes never worked before (she already volunteers).. Didnt bother to tell her she didnt get job, in fact all the face to face interviews she has had haven't got back to her the day they said or even at all. 1st on 1 week 2 days later than they said thet would. pub job not informed must be 2 weeks later so obviously not got it, factory job said Tuesday at latest and again nothing. Soul destroying and utterly mannorless - a polite 1 min call or an email is all it woukd take!

sorry didnt mean to quote!

Where do her friends work? If it's a place that employs teenagers ask them to give her a heads up if anyone is leaving / they are looking for staff and ask if they can recommend her to the manager. DD knows a few people that have got jobs that way - the company would rather avoid having to go through proper recruitment if they can.

I know this is not helpful for a summer job, but if she ends up not finding anything, be aware that vacancies will open up in September when students go back to university and if she's in the right place at the right time she may be able to grab one of them. Then she'll have more experience to add to her CV.

Everyone I know (my kids included) are desperate for a job at McDonald's as not only ate they after a decent well paying job, it's one of the best companies to race on your CV.

Are there jobs available at McDonald's? NO!
Or anywhere else, it's so depressing.

And for all those saying my 15 year old got a job and has been there ever since - that's because there were jobs available then. Its so different now...

@DeftGoldHedgehog Does every town have one of those? How can you get a warehouse job if there’s no warehouses near you?

Volunteering is good. My DD volunteered for the NT but she could volunteer in a care home. Chatting to residents? What about cleaning cars? Seeing if older folk need an errand run. There’s usually some project gojng on in an area. Looking after a pond or community garden. There’s always something that needs another pair of hands.