I may be over reacting and pfb about this so prepared to be told so.
DS 18 is at college, 13.5 hrs a week so needs a job as well.
After many many applications he got a job at a bakery, night shifts on £4 per hour which ended when he turned 18 and his nmw increased risk 
Next he got an interview and two day training course to sell heating boilers.
No salary, all commission, no expenses, he needed a suit and it was doorstep selling..... exactly where people buy boilers 
Then he started work at a nearby factory on the production line. A zero hour contract where he turns up at 6am to be either put to work or sent home. He hasn't had a shift for four weeks, he gets up at five and goes to wait at the gates and is also charged £3.50 per week admin, whether he works or not 
Now on Wednesday he has an interview for a pot washing job, it's a care home staff bank and they told him he will need a DBS certification which he has to pay £65 for! To wash pots!
I'm older and luckily have had the same job forever so no clue but surely we are doing something wrong?
It's costing Him money to try and go to work.
I'm thoroughly pissed off.
AIBU?
AIBU?
AIBU and PFB or is there a serious flaw in our job market?
Fatstacks · 06/07/2015 19:12
He is registered with agencies (22 of email, really!) They cover most of the casual work like stewarding and cleaning.
He's going to his pot washing care home interview in the morning (if he has to buy his own DBS we will just have to suck it up, you can update them so at least it's his) and then the pub interview in the afternoon 
I complain about being a civil servant but it's shut me up, I'm glad I've been stuck in the same job forever!
Or out of date.. That document is dated 2013.
It's worth questioning because (a) it shows initiative and (b) it's 10 hours pay!
Oh Ellie, your giant assumption that the two are mutually exclusive is showing a tiny bit there.
Not at all. Indeed, those who tend to spend their lives doing what they are passionate about, then to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. They also live longer, and few worry about the money. That in no way means they are rich. It means they have found contentment.
Fatstacks Thank-you. 
My children are not that old yet, but rest assured the situation will be substantially worse when I face the hurdle you do. The vast majority of Britains pupulation spends the bulk of their productive lives working to enrich others. Then they complain about it. It took me 40 years to change the way I had been brought up.
If he has a roof over his head, and food on the table, and there is no threat to those, the rest is just desires/wants. The learning process may be in learning the difference between wanting something and needing something. A summer posting YouTube videos or learning Chinese may be far more fun that selling hamburgers. He may need to do is forgo the spare cash to go out with his friends, but maybe exploring his value system could be time well spent.
In ten years he'll have a mortgage and a car loan, energy bills, taxes, insurances, and maybe the credit cards that accompany so many of our lives. I'd like to think when my children are 18, provided they show hope and determination, and passion for their own lives, I'd encourage them to spend their summers indulging their freedom before they take on the mantle of responsibility.
If he has passion, and even the most stupid idea for a way of making money on his own, might I suggest giving him an umbrella to work under, and a pillow to fall on. He may well fail, but he won't forget that you gave him the chance, and he'll have a hell of a story for a job interview.
'What did you do that summer?'
'I tried to build a business. I thought I could sell shoes for bees. Turns out I was wrong, but gave it a damn good try. I made flyers. I canvassed people in the street, and I learnt that I could work 42 hours straight when I was under pressure. So bees don't need shoes. Who'd have guessed. That was a hell of a summer though. I really enjoyed myself though.'
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