Ainu to be frustrated at 19 year DS not being able to get a summer job ?

[Munichfam5]

19 year DS has been home from uni since June and has not been able to get any work, it’s really getting me down
he has applied for loads of jobs on indeed but only very few applications are viewed and. only a few have responded

Its really becoming an issue for me as i can see he is losing confidence, and i just feel like he’s wasting his summer ,,,

How can i help him get some work until uni starts in late September?

Tia

But if he gets a job with a national chain, he'll be able to move to one local to his university when he moves on.

But I agree with a PP who says the DS needs to be doing the applying and going and asking in bars/cafes/restaurants etc himself. If he doesn't want to be front of house, there will always be kitchen porter type work available.

It depends on where you are in the country etc, jobs are plentiful in some areas, less so in others.

In fairness, most employers don't particularly have a spike in demand over the summer months, in the way that say retail does at Christmas time.

in most jobs, even low skilled jobs, a new member of staff will take a week or two to get up to speed, nearly halfway through the amount of time that your DS is working for.

I suspect that, now we're in August, many of the best opportunities will have gone - a few days of this & that here & there might be the best he can hope for?

He need to apply direct. Is there a local Primark as they always seem to be recruiting and pay above minimum wage. Both our local Sports Directs are looking for staff and those are the sort of jobs he could transfer to his university town when he goes back.

Other than that - local Facebook boards. There are daily adverts on ours for bar/kitchen staff, cleaners and carers.

My DD has just given up her retail job in favour of ad hoc bar work. She's earning £12-14 per hour for weekend shifts.

Companies don't want to spend money and time recruiting and training someone who is going to leave in 8 weeks. Its not worth it to them.

I always did catering at that age. If he applies to a company like High Society. he'll get lots of work.

Other than that lots of shops and restaurants have Help Wanted signs near me. He needs to walk in and apply rather than doing it online.

Same for my DS, applied for loads and got nothing back. Indeed seems to be a waste of time. He also went round with cvs but nothing. Lots of places here only want permanent staff. He was getting really down about it but then one day he signed up with a temp agency then got offered a job starting the next day, full time. So tell him don't give up! I don't really understand all the pieces in the news about staff shortages, maybe it's in very specific locations.

Where do you live? Is that the problem?
I suspect he's not trying very hard. Have you asked for any suggestions on say a local Facebook chat? I live in Surrey and there are tonnes of jobs here. I know so because ds1 has 2, all his friends are working saving for Uni. Our local Facebook group had people regularly asking and then their dc are sorted within about 3 days.

Yes, and he shouldn't limit himself to the places with "help wanted" signs...loads of places just don't bother with these as they get so many speculative enquiries.

DD just walked into the place where she works and asked if they were looking for staff. Everyone else who has joined since then has done it in the same way, except one, who was introduced by a friend.

I agree with the poster above, though, who said that it will be a bit late for a lot of "summer jobs" - most people would have been looking a few weeks ago.

@gogohmm there aren’t any fees for using indeed unless you pay to have a high listing.

We used to use indeed for temp staff and 90% of the applications were dire. They just clicked ‘apply’ which pre populates a basic application. I used to specifically write not to do this in the advert but people ignored it. Have you had a look at his applications?

There's nothing wrong with the OP wanting to help, but I agree with @ManateeFair that the whole post seems to be more about the OP and her frustration and what she thinks about it all and what she can do.

If the OP was saying 'DS has been trying to get a summer job and hasn't had any luck with Indeed - anyone got any tips I can pass on to him?' that would be totally fine. But it doesn't read like that at all to me.

I don't think anyone's saying that parents shouldn't make suggestions to their kids or encourage them, but reading between the lines my suspicion is actually that the OP's son is nowhere near as bothered about a summer job as the OP is and that there might be a little bit of helicopter parenting going on.

But when she pulled her finger out she got one easily. We are in London and there's a massive shortage in hospitality.

You are in London. It makes a massive difference. Dd was offered the first job she applied for in London where she was moving for postgrad. In both her college and home town there was nothing.

Indeed is not the right platform for casual work. Most bars, restaurants etc advertise locally and most places I see are struggling to find staff and advertising. He needs to get out a find something, a job won't find him.

It’s sometimes worth putting something out on community Facebook. I have a young bloke coming to help me do some gardening jobs/ fill in potholes on the drive for a couple of days next week. Not very exciting but it’s paid work. He put a notice out offering to be a helping pair of hands and got loads of little jobs.

My ds has been loafing about since June as well. He doesn't want to work in retail or hospitality because of the entitled customers (can't say I blame him, especially after reading the recent thread about CF tourists!).

He qualified as a lifeguard but it expired during covid; but even though he says it's not very well paid for the responsibility and is glorified cleaning most of the time, he decided it was preferable to other options and requalified last week. He has some casual shifts coming up, and he can get work in his university city now too.

Both our local Sports Directs are looking for staff and those are the sort of jobs he could transfer to his university town when he goes back

is this transferring thing really that easy? A local branch might need staff; one in the university town might not (or vice versa). I think you're probably really lucky if that works out.

NHS bank staff. You need to apply directly to the Trust.
DD has a summer job with local hospital, pay isn't fantastic but the hours are flexible, to the point where it suits her own needs / wants of going out and having fun!

Go to a temp agency. This is how I got work as a student.

Indeed isn't a great platform for the kind of short term temp roles that would be suitable. Are you on you local area FB site- honestly that's easily the best platform. Nice little post highlighting strengths and flexibility and I guarantee someone will know about a suitable job.

@Munichfam5 is any of this useful or is dc just lazy?

Shortages haven't just been in London though - they are countrywide.
I've been in a few different smaller towns for one reason or another since May and there are vacancy notices everywhere. I live in a City and there are jobs aplenty. Agencies are always looking for staff for events - Silverstone, (Horse) Race courses, the Cricket grounds covering the Test Matches, the T20s and the Hundred, Football Grounds, Sailing events, Music Festivals. The Commonwealth Games. These things are all over the country. They also put on buses to get people to things like the Cheltenham Festival.
Then there is fruit picking. All sorts of other seasonal work - from selling ice creams to lifeguarding. Factory work. Agency office work.

Yes, it is usually easy to transfer jobs between home and university (can't remember who asked) - more so for bigger companies like the supermarkets but I know people who have done this in smaller shops too.

But also, your CV is boosted with skills / experience if you apply for a different shop.

University holidays aren't 6 weeks, they are 12.

(Sorry, answering lots of different things from the thread there).

he needs to get off the pc and on to his feet and go and ask in shops, restaurants and places. Indeed is a waste of time, I wouldn't even have thought of it. He also needs to ask his friends if there are any jobs going where they're working, post on FB groups local to you asking for work. What about babysitting? It doesn't sound like you're being v helpful to him either. Did you not suggest to him to go into places and ask for jobs and leave CV's / numbers etc??? Surely that's the obvious starting point

Try a temp agency like Hays or Reed, put your own ad on local Facebook pages, go into cafes and shops with a CV, google temporary jobs McDonalds.

It's very common amongst the kids I know who have gone off to university in the last few years. Those working for big national chains have typically been allowed (and encouraged) to transfer to their university town, and then back to their hometown during the holiday periods. It seems to work.

DD works in an independent cafe and we often joke that her boss will have to open a new venue when she finally goes off to uni!

I did fruit picking as a student in my teens. Low pay, but was something and got me out of house

I think it relies on uni students always moving backwards and forwards between locations. DD was able to transfer during the Christmas, Easter & summer holidays. It's just a matter of finding the right company.