To ask how you get a job? Any job?

[Fairyliz]

My daughter finished her first year of uni three weeks ago and has been looking for a summer job; partly for the money but also for something to do! She is happy to do any kind of work, shop/bar/factory etc and isn't expecting more than £5 per hour.

So far she has sent out 137 emails, handed out 100 cvs and registered with three agencies but no luck.

We live in the suburbs of a medium sized town but no tourist jobs (you wouldn't want to visit). Shops are losing staff rather than recruiting and bar/ restaurant work seems to go to those who previously worked there. We don't live in an agricultural area and there aren't any factories on nearby bus routes.

I feel so sorry for her as she is trying so hard,so nice mumsnetters any ideas?

Move to our local town at least 17 jobs advertised in Windows. Can't offer any useful help. McDonalds was always good.

Has she looked on the job centre website for vacancies? Applied to Clarke's, they always want summer staff.

Care work will snatch her up :)

Surely she couldn't legally get paid £5 an hour though? She'd have to get minimum wage?
Are there agencies to register with? I used to do temping work through agencies.
Could she sign up on a babysitting website?

^ what they said. Always vacancies in care.

Everything is online now, no point in bothering handing out CVs.

Make a list of the big retailers in the area, work through the careers section online.

McDonalds and other fast food places are generally always hiring, betting shops too- but you need to fill in the applications online.

Agree with care assistant posts. There's loads available but the hours can be gruelling as you'd expect. Often 12 hour shifts over the weekends and split shifts. Perhaps handing her CV in in person would help too.

Turning up in person at bars, pubs, restaurants can help as the employers can see you're keen and judge your overall suitability.

Surely she couldn't legally get paid £5 an hour though? She'd have to get minimum wage?
The national minimum wage for 18-20 yr olds is only £5.30, assuming she went straight to uni from school or the year after she'll only be 19 or 20.

Dd is the same shehad a xmas temp job and nothing since we got her C V reviewed at the careers service she has 2 1 for retail 1 for hospitality she is applying for everything and anything people say kids should get a job but if they cant get a job its hard for them,

Register with more agencies, as many as she can find, then call them up once a week to check if they have any work. Has your DD been doing this with the agencies that she is already registered with?

Community care work!

I'm pimping myself about for a job - anything - but ideally waitressing. It seems that these days CVs are commonly asked for (mandatory?) even just for floor staff roles. So I'm rocking up to the venues I'm targeting with hard copy CV in my paw confidently asking for duty manager. It might help?

When I was at uni I worked in a school uniform shop over the summer. It was always packed and they just had a load of students alongside a handful of full time staff so when it went quiet in September and we all went back to uni, the full timers just carried on.

Job centre, adverts in windows, local newspaper?

Garden centres, farm parks, events waitressing

handed out 100 cvs
Were they all the same? "blanket bomb" CVs go straight in the bin, send less CVs out but taylor them for the specific job/company each time for a better result.

Bar work:
Here are my interests that show how sociable I am
Here are examples of how flexible I am and don't mind working hard for unsociable hours

Shop work:
Here are hobbies/interest that demonstrate my attention to detail
Here are my interests that show how I love your particular products
Here is how my hobbies/interest show that I'll go the extra mile for customer service

Waitressing:
Here are examples of how reliable I am to show that I will show up for those exhausing split shifts
Here is examples of how I work well under pressure, remaining presentable and cheerful at all times

Each time make it look like that job is the ONLY job she wants to apply for, so it doesn't read like "please give me a job, or any other job, not bothered what job cause I don't favour your industry/company over any others"

Sending out 137 emails and handing out 100 CV's is a bit 'spray and pray something sticks'

Look back over her CV, tailor it to the type of role she is applying for, remember a lot of skills are transferable e.g customer service, so could be used in retail, hospitality etc...

Look in local paper, shop windows, big retailers. Go into bars and present cv in person so they get a feeling for personality.

Good luck with the job hunt!!

Temp jobs in an office are usually easy to come by from the right agencies.

I found while looking for a job that everything is online now, all on each company's website. When I was applying for my current job I had a list of companies I wanted to work for and I regularly checked their job websites, registered for alerts and applied with a tailored CV whenever something came up.

Sites like indeed.co.uk and the Job Centre website are good places to look as well.

Have a look and see if you have a local Facebook group. Post on there giving details of what she's looking for.

For the type of work your DD wants, casual summer job, to get experience why did she need to send out all those applications?

I'd suggest she just turns up looking smart and keen at any shop, pub, restaurant where she'd like to work and ask if there are summer jobs going for under grads. My DSS did that 9 months ago and he's still in the same PT job while he's at tech college.

Also how about Waitrose, Tesco or Sainsbo. They are always after PTers

Face to face for casual work is often the most immediate. They look at you, talk to you and think, yup they're great and it's "How soon can you start". Solves their problem.

It was how I got my first Saturday job!

Also, when she turns up to a place with her CV, don't say to the first staff memeber she sees "hi, can I leave a CV here? thanks bye"

Ask if the manager has a few moments to see her, say some complimentary bollocks like "I pass this bakery all the time and would love to work here, do you have any vacanies at the moment?" if they say no, only then whip out the CV and say "okay, thank you for seeing me, can I leave a CV incase any do come up over the summer?"
and smilesmilesmilesmilesmile

Much more likely to get called than another CV dumped on the managers in box by front of house staff