No one wants weekend work

[LastOrdersMaura]

My friend has a cafe. It's in a central location with a good bus route, cycle route and ten mins walk from a huge university campus.
Despite the jobs being on Indeed and advertised on a local job site, no one is applying. Or they apply but say 'is there any negotiation on the days?' Why doesn't anyone want weekend work anymore? I would have thought there would have been college students, Uni students, mums/ dads who can only work when partners are home, retired people who are bored. Why is it so difficult to recruit?

Don't 6th formers do weekend jobs anymore? If it's front of house ie not a chef job that needs lengthy training this would be a 6th formers dream when I was that age.

@Spidey66

Don't 6th formers do weekend jobs anymore? If it's front of house ie not a chef job that needs lengthy training this would be a 6th formers dream when I was that age.

They do, but very few people will want to work both weekend days.

I worked retail for ten years (supermarket and clothing) and weekend shifts were spread out so you either worked Saturday OR Sunday, unless you actively chose to work both.

Shifts were also set up so you did either an early or a late, not a weird midday shift like 10-4 - again, unless you actively asked for it. I used to work 6-12 which meant I was done by lunchtime and had the rest of the day to myself.

Other people did 2-10 or even 4-10 which meant they got to have a long lie-in before they started work to recover from the night before

The only people who worked 10-4 or 9-3 were single parents of school-aged DC who used to do it during the week to fit around the school run.

@tattleandbagels

If you read other mumsnet threads lots of parents don't like their children having part time jobs because they want them to focus on their education "school is their job" etc.

Then the children are surprised when they graduate uni aged 21 and hiring managers dismiss them because they don't have any work history 🤔

it's not accurate at all.

Parents are well aware of the competition in the real world, and encourage their children to choose carefully.

It's the real world. Priority is given to people who worked 'smart". Any job is better than slobbing in front of your video games all weekend.
But relevant experience or more interesting experience gives an enormous advantage. They will still be in competition with 20, 50 other candidates with the same degree, the same experience!

Some kids start applying for internship, anything, nearly a year in advance to show how keen and interested they are!

It's nice if you worked in a little cafe down the road, or babysat for your neighbour, but honestly.. who cares?

How can you say it's not accurate? There are posters on here saying exactly that, that they want their children to prioritise education and having fun, and they will pay for them rather than them needing to work!

Your 'not accurate' is my 'lived experience!' I was specifically told when I got my first full time job out of uni that the reason I was hired was because unlike other graduates applying I had a few different part time jobs rather than an empty resume. They didn't care specifically that I'd 'worked in a little cafe down the road' but they did care that I'd had experience dealing with awkward customers, had good references showing that I was used to turning up on time, was reliable, dressed appropriately, etc. had basic financial skills (working a till, stock ordering), good at team working, etc. Of course it's all anecdata but of the 6 of us who house shared in my final year, the three of us who had worked part time in random jobs throughout uni got full time jobs within a month of graduating (this was just after the 2008 financial crisis) the others were still unemployed, with one temping occasionally, by Christmas.

I'm friends with HR in my current job and she says exactly the same. We run a trainee graduate scheme that has a lot of applicants. Anyone with no work history at all doesn't even make the first sift.

Yes if they had prior jobs they will 'still be in competition with the 20,50 other candidates with the same experience.' But without jobs they won't be in the competition at all!

Plus I agree why would you want to mix with the general public for minimum wage if you’re unvaccinated. I think the young people should’ve been vaccinated 1st really.

@Peanutbutterandbananatoastie We have a case study for this, unfortunately: Bulgaria. They vaccinated everyone who was “pertinent to the economy” first, not who was most likely to be killed by COVID. Result: it’s one of the top seven countries with the highest COVID death rates in the world. Our UK rate rate of death from COVID for those 70-89 is about 124 in 100,000. Theirs is 421 in 100,000. Here’s a great article about what happens when a country vaccinates the young (and others) first.

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/20/putting-economics-over-ethics-is-a-dismal-vaccination-strategy-bulgaria-shows-why

I used to work weekends all the time and one day in the week while I was at college I loved it in a coffee shop. In fact it was the best job I have ever had we were a good team, we had great nights out and made life long memories.

It closed down in the end and as we were young we all went on to do other things.

We weren’t getting extra for working weekends either. I would assume most places don’t pay extra in that field.

Your 'not accurate' is my 'lived experience!' I was specifically told when I got my first full time job out of uni that the reason I was hired was because unlike other graduates applying I had a few different part time jobs rather than an empty resume. They didn't care specifically that I'd 'worked in a little cafe down the road' but they did care that I'd had experience dealing with awkward customers, had good references showing that I was used to turning up on time, was reliable, dressed appropriately, etc. had basic financial skills (working a till, stock ordering), good at team working, etc.

This was exactly my experience too and to be honest I’ve carried it over to when I’m on the other side of the recruitment process. Working consistently in “a little cafe down the road” impresses me more than an unpaid ‘internship’ at daddy’s friend’s accountancy firm where you’ve pottered about in a skirt suit and done a bit of photocopying.

thevassal

did you read my post?

Let me repeat and quote my own post
Any job is better than slobbing in front of your video games all weekend.
But relevant experience or more interesting experience gives an enormous advantage.

I happen to work in recruitment...

Working consistently in “a little cafe down the road” impresses me more than an unpaid ‘internship’ at daddy’s friend’s accountancy firm where you’ve pottered about in a skirt suit and done a bit of photocopying.

I don't even know where to start with that post...

Working consistently in “a little cafe down the road” impresses me more than an unpaid ‘internship’ at daddy’s friend’s accountancy firm where you’ve pottered about in a skirt suit and done a bit of photocopying.

I’m more impressed by someone with an industry internship (which are actually very competitive, more so than the actual grad schemes in some cases!) than someone who just sat in their family’s shop at the weekend reading a magazine... low quality work experience goes both ways and an internship does not mean nepotism or just making the tea

I don't even know where to start with that post...

You mean the post where I’ve been as dismissive as yours was about mine and others’ experience in “little cafes” that gave us really valuable skills which helped us get recruited to good graduate positions?

In an ideal world all students would be able to do relevant, interesting part time or summer work that also demonstrates that they can show up on time, hold down a job, deal with colleagues and customers, show initiative, problem solve etc. etc.

But outside of the large grad schemes’ summer programmes or years in industry there aren’t always a lot of opportunities for most students to do that. Especially if they are not from a wealthy background or don’t have parents who live near London. So if the choice is between proven work skills or “interesting” experience I’m going to rate proven work skills more.

I’m more impressed by someone with an industry internship (which are actually very competitive, more so than the actual grad schemes in some cases!)

Yes I am too, but most students haven’t completed an industry internship precisely because there are so few places available.

I suspect your friend is offering 10-4 pm because these are the busy times and you do not need to provide a break for 6 hours. It will be hard work, for not much pay. For 12 hours on NMW at 18 for 2 days work you would get £78.72.
It is not much money, means your whole weekend is taken up and will be tiring. There are better jobs such as working at McDonald's.
For older people, any of my friends who were in hospitality on NMW have got better jobs during the pandemic. Call centres have significantly expanded staff and pay more than NMW.

It's a chain cafe, she doesn't own it, and it's in the middle of a not very hip department store. Unlikely young people will stroll past the poster. It's both days of the weekend but 10-4

I think unless she is offering longer hours and more money than nmw then she is going to struggle

Why right off every weekend for less than £100 when you can get same or more pay but many more hours.
At 18 Dd was working in hospitality and earning minimum wage but doing a 12 hour stint and then getting similar again in tips.
Every Saturday. Even then she wouldn’t have looked twice at your friends job as by the time travel and lunch etc was taken into account there are more profitable jobs out there that don’t cut cross the weekend

@tattleandbagels

thevassal

did you read my post?

Let me repeat and quote my own post
Any job is better than slobbing in front of your video games all weekend.
But relevant experience or more interesting experience gives an enormous advantage.

I happen to work in recruitment...

um. yes...it would have been clever of me to directly quote your post twice in my response without having read it, wouldn't it? So 'if any job gives an enormous advantage over slobbing infront of your video games all weekend,' then you are agreeing with me? It's better to have some job experience than none at all?

For those that don't have family connections or can't afford to work for free, it's not always easy to get 'relevant and interesting' work experience...

@Spidey66

Don't 6th formers do weekend jobs anymore? If it's front of house ie not a chef job that needs lengthy training this would be a 6th formers dream when I was that age.

We actively discouraged our children having weekend jobs during the school term. The youngest two were not permitted by their school. We felt prioritising useful extracurricular activities, relevant work experience and academic excellence was more helpful.

That’s not to say they didn’t work - they absolutely did during summer holidays, but not at weekends when studying was more important.

Same through university. A lack of working in a cafe has never proved detrimental because they had good CVs built from early teens.

Also cafes I doubt you get tips. At 18 you can work in a restaurant and although the pay may be NMW, you will get tips as well.

Our youngest got a well paid internship off her own back. We had no connections in that industry. It allowed her to get a graduate training post with one of ‘ big 4’ - again, we have no connections. It was on merit and academic results.

brondary Dd worked in hospitality at big events and was coming out with anything from £20 (her first day) to more than she earned doing the days work.

If the friend was offering £15 per hour she would have people wanting the job but the take home pay is too low.

As a student I would have been put off doing both Saturdays and sundays every single week. I worked part-time at McDonald’s and it was usually worked out that most did either a Saturday or Sunday each week with weekday evenings also available. All weekend every weekend understandably puts off a lot of students looking for part-time hours.

Also only a desperate parent would take those shifts as it would mean they are away from their kids all weekend for not much money.

For those that don't have family connections or can't afford to work for free, it's not always easy to get 'relevant and interesting' work experience...

Internships aren’t always unpaid. I did several paid ones, the only one that was unpaid was only for a couple of weeks and they still paid my expenses so I wasn’t actively out of pocket. And none of them were from family connections - university careers service sites are full of them. As I said in my posts, you can also get good experience from extracurricular activities. If you’re in charge of a society you might have to manage people, deal with budgeting and sponsors, run events, do marketing etc. And you’d be doing it with your mates and for a couple of hours a week, which is more appealing to most people than working in a cafe if they are after experience more than money.

So many businesses , especiallly in areas such as this, have been binging on cheap eastern europen labour for years, but that gravy train has hit the buffers. They are now facing a culture-shock of having to be competetive in the labour market.

I work weekends (sundays) in care but get £20 an hour. Granted, it’s not for everyone but it’s a good wage. I’d not do it for minimum wage. Your friend might need to pay more.

Wow £20 an hour is good money.

@brondary

Also only a desperate parent would take those shifts as it would mean they are away from their kids all weekend for not much money.

Exactly.

Much better to offer an early shift and a late shift each day. Like a 6-11 shift would mean they can be home for lunch and have the rest of the day as a family, for example.