AIBU to wonder what happened to all the students wanting holiday jobs?

[WhateverHappenedToMe]

My office advertised a temp job - city centre, office based, decent pay and benefits, to start asap and run until September. Accepted it's part-time (three days a week, days of applicant's choosing, not weekends), but I would have thought there would have been students around who would be attracted to a job that gave them some money and some free time.

We had three applicants.

AIBU to think that "There are no jobs" is sometimes just an excuse?

Students are less interested in summer jobs these days. There was an item on our local news about it as they were struggling to fill all the summer lifeguard positions and have had to hire retirees to keep the beaches/pools open. This is in the US.

In response to some of the questions -

It's in the north.

The employer is a university, so a variety of benefits including free use of gym, free language training, and a wage in excess of NMW.

The job requires good computing skills and A-level qualifications, so I can't see many students thinking they were not qualified.

What happened to the three applicants? One took another job, one couldn't start for a month, and the third was not suitable.

All the students I know (I'm in that age bracket so almost all of my friends) don't apply for part time jobs, they apply for full time. There's no point applying for a job that only lasts a short while around here! I don't know anyone my age that wants short term work, long term and stability is what most people my age want

When I was a student (not that long ago!) we all had term time jobs and then used the summer hols for travel or (in the final summer especially) internships or professional placements. Plus lots of us did Camp America or Work USA. Might explain why there aren't so many willing to work in the UK!

The students at the university where the job is at will mostly all have gone home for summer, and probably won't live close. The students that go to other universities but live near to the university which is advertising probably aren't looking for summer long part time work as they may have a full time term time job at their university and so not need the money, or will be pursuing something more directly related to their career. They're also not necessarily as likely as students from the advertising university to have heard of the vacancy depending where it was advertised.

I’m also in the North and can’t find a summer job for love nor money. Everyone seems to want permanent staff. I’ve been applying since May

My DS is on summer break from Uni and would love a summer job, unfortunately nothing round here is summer time only, so he struggles, as soon as he tells them his availability... 7 days a week during uni break, they don't want to know

I'm another who did 16 hours a week all year round in retail (open 9am til 8pm so I did a lot of 5pm-8pm shifts plus Sundays). However in my first year I didn't have that job and would definitely have been interested!

Dd is too young but she can’t get a summer job as she is coming with us on a family holiday for one week & a London theatre trip for 2 days. Plus she is doing workshops related to her studies.

I work in a Jobcentre and we have dozens of summer jobs available however we cannot get people to apply. We have students coming in but the majority aren’t interested - they just want some money so that they can go on holiday .

I would have thought there would have been students around who would be attracted to a job that gave them some money and some free time.

There are loads of them. Where are you advertising and what are you stating as the requirements?

Agree, we've been advertising a job through the university job boards in our city. Graduate level position, no experience required, permanent role straight in on £25K.
Had 3 applicants in as many weeks.

When did you put up the advert? Final-year students on most courses won't have been around since the end of May. Other students won't be able to apply for a graduate-level job.

Judging by the (fairly active) jobs FB page for my town, the desire for paid employment seems to be limited to writing "interested x" as a comment on multiple vacancy posts, and then doing nothing further.

Or its the mothers keenly asking after jobs for their children. And then the children still doing nothing further.

My 20 year old is desperate for a summer job but has unfortunately just had an operation on his shoulder and is in a sling for 6 weeks! he's going round the twist with boredom especially as he is at home and not back in London where the fun stuff is!

DS is struggling to find a job - not sure where he should even look to apply - the main "find a job" sites there are 1000's of applicants for each job.
Currently writing down a list of restaurants/shops in local town to look at each individual website to see if vacancies. V time consuming yes, but i don't think he's putting in enough effort. He's so far applied for about 10 jobs this summer. No luck.
Where else can he look?

I’d hazard a guess that the part-time nature of the role is putting off applicants.

Students have a short window over the summer in which they need to earn as much as possible (to cover the following year’s living costs), so they’ll be applying for jobs with 40+ hours per week. You’re only offering 3/5ths of a job, and that’s not particularly enticing.

We advertised for a summer vacancy on the student job board and had 94 responses for 4 roles. It may be you are advertising in the wrong place for students?
I know when my dd was in her first year she had a job in Norwich but when she came home from June to September she had to find a summer job, she got hers through the student job board also

@flatmouse
Try here, there’s a lot of event/waiting/bar jobs plus tutoring, retail etc

www.studentjob.co.uk/summer-job

(Forgot to add the link!!)

Probably quite a lot who have 'good computing skills' will be doing course-related internships. (DD is working full time for 12 weeks, along with a load of others of her ilk). These placements were sorted out months ago.... when did you start advertising?

I'd also guess that if it's less work than that, most students would prefer full time for fewer weeks than part time over longer, so they can have a holiday.

thanks @tantrumsandballoons

Are A-Levels really necessary? Could you take on a 17-year-old who's between the two years of their sixth form?

My son and daughter worked hard at Uni to get their degrees, so summer was Their time to chill, holiday or catch up with friends. I loved having them around as I missed them. I can’t remember any of their friends working over the summer. My husband and I provided their income.

Are the a levels required in specific subjects and if so are they ones typically associated with 'good computing skills'? (Or do you mean IT skills...)

I think we have a sea change suddenly from hardly any jobs to moving to the fullest employment since the 1950s (albeit many people choosing to work short hours with low productivity). Whether pay then goes up is the big one.one of my student sons is scanning my photos for a few hours a day as it fits in for £10 an hour and other has a full time job in London.