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?

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

^ this

Also supply teaching assistant work through agencies - she just needs some voluntary experience of working in a primary school which should be fairly easy to come by ...

Airports? My local airport is looking for staff due to summer holidays coming up

Nanny/au pair/cm / baby sitter, cleaning jobs, selling jobs, phone jobs,gardening work, house painting, yard clean up,window washing,.....

Babysitting/nanny for scool holidays. Gumtree or ask contacts. I got a job by looking on a uni noticeboard

It's a while ago but I use to get cafe and pub jobs as a student by just going in and asking.

Any call centres around that hire? BT and British gas used to take a lot of casual workers.

Also royal mail might be worth a shot?

If you are sending cvs by post or email (rather than hand delivering and asking to talk to the manager) you need a tailored cover letter including the name and address of the company and ideally addressed to a manager by name or title, with any cv you actually want someone to read.

Agree with turning up in person for bar/waitressing/cafe/small local shops/hotels or guest houses.

That's how I got all of my jobs before I started my career.
Admittedly it was years ago I tramped the streets doing that, but I think nowadays it may have an impact because not many do that sort of thing anymore.

Also over the summer it's worth looking for live-in seasonal work, I used to go away to wherever the work was in my holidays too.

Good luck to her!

my local council leisure centre is a really good employer - flexible with hours, okayish pay, lots of different summer job type roles like in the cafes or reception. Most of the staff don't need any sports qualifications because there's lots of cleaning and catering and phone answering to do

The only thing that got me a job was volunteering first. I did shifts in a charity shop, and that gave me plenty of experience with customers, till training, stock work etc. Really worthwhile experience in many ways.

Local shops always have adverts for cleaners or personal care assistants.

She needs to contact the agencies regularly to see if they have anything for her. Once you are on their radar you get a lot more work sent your way.

She needs to contact the agencies regularly to see if they have anything for her. Once you are on their radar you get a lot more work sent your way.

not just the agencies, follow up with anywhere she's already dropped CVs by phone

Have you looked at her CV, and made are its stands out from the rest, and also well written?

As a manager who has had to deal with the recruitment rigmarole many times. My advice:

When someone has to go through a million cvs, rightly or wrong it quickly gets boring, tedious and time consuming. So you start scanning. The more cvs you have to get through, the more ruthless you get as you go through the pile. I always start with good intentions, reading word for word, and overlooking minor things in the interest of being fair.
But then it turns into scanning and fault picking so cv...
Spelling mistakes (one fine... Several absolute no no)
Changes in tense or switching from speaking in third to first person
MAD eye burning fonts
Wild assertiveness as to their experience especially when they have none
Zero experience
Cv tailored to a field wildly different to the one they've applied for
Avoid the common self descriptive lines (works well on their own as well as part of a team .... Gah makes me want to claw my eyes out 😂)

Honestly, everyone literally everyone has to start somewhere and will no doubt start with a cv with nothing on. For me, a simple clear smart cv with the facts (education, grades, work experience of any, note on whether or not can drive/owns a car etc) is fine but I would then pay way more attention to an accompanying letter detailing why they would like to work for me/my company.
Pay attention to company name spellings and actually research what they do! Give details of when available for work, over time weekends etc.

Hope that helps?

Large supermarket? Our Tesco superstore employs university students for holiday times only.

Not exactly a mega earner, but do any of your circle of friends need some one to child mind? At least it would be a bit of cash until something comes up?

There are an ambundance of care jobs but it needs to be.something she WANTS to do and will be good at. Im sick and tired of people filling these posts for the money who arent able to put their heart into it because they don't really want to be there. It's really unfair on their clients.

If she hasnt considered care work yet then it probably isnt an option for her.

A long shot but if you are in wales there are schemes called 'jobs growth wales' and 'GO wales' - only for under 25s so slightly less competition.

Although, SatansLittleHelper2, there is truth in the saying 'don't knock it until you've tried it': Care work is something that lots of people fall into before they realise they love it. I do completely agree though, that as soon as someone is less than 100% committed to it they should leave - our patients deserve better.

I think she should put more effort into fewer applications. I just managed to get a job in a highly competitive field without the right qualifications. But I spent a lot of time going through the job description and showing in my application how I met their essential criteria anyway.

In the past when I've recruited for jobs I never took someone who came in on the spot with a cv. When I needed staff I put an advert out and also took on people I felt I could trust over experience from that.

And CVs where the person had forgotten to change names on the covering letter or were clearly one of 200 being handed out went in the bin because they showed a desire to get a job but not a desire to work for my organisation.

My DD 20 was in exactly this position being on a 12 week break from her European uni

She applied for every online vacancy she could and never got called for an interview, presumably because she has no paid work experience. She has been hanging about the house getting on her own nerves and my nerves equally.

On Wednesday this week she trawled our local shopping mall calling at every possible shop, asking to see a manager and handing out one page CVs (in a nice plastic sleeve so less likely to be immediately binned). This was an ordeal for her as she is painfully shy but it paid off. She got a phone call Thursday from a well known stationers/book store, had an interview Friday and starts tomorrow 20 hours a week until mid September.

Looking for holiday work isn't like looking for a 'proper' job. I really think it is a numbers game -the more you put yourself out there the more likely you are to be in the right place at the right time. I also think visiting in person counts for a lot. If you are smart/personable and above all available potential employers are more inclined to be impulsive and bypass the more orthodox recruitment routes. This might not be a good thing if you were looking for a career but if all they want is 10-12 weeks paid work it's all to the good.

BTW - her older sister was very scathing about handing out CVs saying that could never work in this day and age. HAH - no gravy for her!

Good luck and to your daughter. Tell her to keep on swimming

Any temp jobs (summer hols / uni term time) I got by handing out CVs in person.
Professional jobs I got through agencies and headhunters.
Good luck to your daughter!

I hope she finds something but one obstacle with care and school work will be the wait for a DBS check to come back. It is also unlike!y you will find supply teaching assistant roles this late in the term. However she could start putting in groundwork ready for next summer by asking for vo!unitary work experience perhaps.

Yeah sure, katemiddletonsnudeheels they would, at the minimum wage!

Care work is a hugely responsible job, it isn't easy and it is grossly underpaid. My company is one of the most respected and awarded but I am still not paid enough. It is not a career choice. Hours are not guaranteed. It is, although, extremely rewarding but that doesn't pay bills.

The op has stated her daughter is happy to work for minimum wage cantaffordtolive. She's a student looking for a summer job.

I got paid more when I did care work than I did as a supervisor in retail!