AIBU to encourage my daughter to get a part-time job while in sixth form?

[mumbunz24]

My daughter just started sixth form this September at a grammar school, and I’ve noticed that not many of her classmates seem to have part-time jobs.
I’m wondering if it’s a good idea to nudge her towards getting some work experience, or if that might interfere with her studies. I know balancing A-levels can be tough, but I also believe that part-time work can teach valuable skills and responsibility.
AIBU to think she should consider a part-time job, or should I let her focus solely on her studies?

I disagree, I actually think this time should be focused on academics, extra curricular activities and being with friends. Fair enough if it’s in the school holidays, but not during regular weekends.

Children have enough on their plate with A Level exams and revising. There’s plenty of time to work…more than 60 years of it.

I agree with PPs but also it needs to be the right part-time job, IMO... At that age, I was able to pick up a few nights a month at our local pub as a waitress on Fridays and Saturdays, but it wasn't too much that it interfered with my A levels. Might be worth asking around?

Accidentally voted YANBU but if I had my time again, I wouldn’t do it. My very able daughter dropped out before AS levels in order to prioritise her part-time job in fast food and her new friends there.

She got herself together in the end but made life much more difficult for herself for a few years. She remains embarrassed by her lack of qualifications, working in a professional environment.

@johndeer "Of course she should be doing part time work. To not be is lazy and unmotivated. It’s great for her cv and will give her life experience"

There are plenty of other things they can be doing to avoid being "lazy and unmotivated" And people sometimes have very odd ideas of what is "great for a CV."

From a sixth form open evening recently, there is apparently data showing that up to 8 hours a week of work has a positive impact on academic outcomes, above 8 hours a week can start to have a detrimental impact.

This is very sensible, imo.

It’s REALLY hard for a 16/17 year old in school or college to find a first job now.
Employers either want total flexibility, or they want identical previous experience (hard to do if you have never had a job before!)
Every single one of my kids friends who does have a job has one through family or friends. No one has managed to get through the online applications and even get an interview. I’ve helped with applications, situational tests, all that and never managed to get an interview.
I think unless you tick your availability as 24/7 the AI bot just bins you.
There really are not many retail jobs in existence anymore (yanno those self check outs and online shopping everyone loves..)
So I would say Yes to supporting with getting a job but see what you can dig up in a local cafe or something and don’t even bother with Indeed.

Do you have the kind of connections that get unpaid internships in the kind of areas she may want to work in?

I sift a lot of CVs. There seems to be a divide between those who use the experience derived from Tesco or bar work to demonstrate core skills (perfectly valid as long as done in the right way to show responsibilities, cashing up, understanding of processes such as stock rotation - things relevant even if not exactly the same).

And those who show it through internships. Some are great, others I roll my ideas at the idea they have 'overseen' anything in two weeks where they worked 8 hours!

Basically those most easily to reject are the ones with zero experience. So if you can't pull strings with your friends and family to open doors, part time work is more important. I suspect this partly accounts for the differing attitude at grammar school.

Her world is still quite defined by school. If she is moving in circles where no one has a job it could be hard for her to do it. The grammar may set homework on the assumption that students are available all evening and weekends for piles of study. If she does a lot of extracurriculars then maybe she doesn't have time for a job too, or if she is slogging for A stars for Oxbridge entrance, or prepping for medical school exams on top of A levels, or doing 4 A levels and/or an EPQ, or just happens to have teachers or subjects that set a lot of work. My daughter's doing essay subjects and always seems to have heaps more work than her double maths and physics friends, but I don't know how much of that is teacher- or student-specific. Most adults wouldn't like to work 6 days a week. It's a lot to ask of a 16 year old, especially with coursework deadlines and exams in the mix, and it is not right for every student.

That said my daughter is autistic, so it doesn't come easily, but having a zero hours job she picks up mostly in holidays and half terms is one of the best things she's done. Her college says up to one shift a week is fine, but any more than that starts to impact on grades. I'm sure that depends on where they study and what their workload is though. She enjoys it, the perspective is great for her and I think it's a real investment in the skills she will need to manage herself independently at uni. But lots of very successful adults probably spent their sixth form years concentrating on their studies instead, and that paid off for them.

One nice thing about these entry level PT jobs is there is no jeopardy. They can try it, and just leave if they don't like it. It doesn't need to feature on their CV, it won't leave a hole that needs to be explained.

I’d say lower sixth and school hols but not upper sixth. Getting good results matters and year 13 is tough

I had a PT job in 6th form and I loved it. But I was lucky enough to be in the position where I didn’t need it for the money but I liked the independence it gave me.

In the end it did actually get in the way of my schoolwork (I did subjects which required me to be in school a lot for extra work like Drama and Art, and I did an extra subject) so my parents encouraged me to quit. But I am so glad I started working when I did because it definitely gave me a taste for the real world.

I think a lot of schools discourage this for A level students because they know that the courses are so demanding.

My DC worked through the summer and has had a weekend job since the start of term but is now finding it too much, and can't continue much longer.
They do also have a demanding hobby, but otherwise don't spend time socialising with friends, so only you know what other demands there are on your child's time.

I disagree with most. A levels are full-on and it's a very short time, with such a lot riding on it especially if you're going to university or for a competitive apprenticeship. All my children's friends who had part time jobs struggled and a lot gave up their jobs part way through sixth form. However a holiday job would be great, definitely do that in the long holiday at the end of Y13, even if they can't get one for the six week holiday in Y12.

They wanted a reg commitment of at least 20 hours including during working days, which was incompatible with lectures.

Yes, my son's friend (the one who did lifeguarding at college) went away to uni and got job as a lifeguard there too but he had to quit as they told him he had to do min 20 hours per week. After half a term I saw him and he looked totally burnt out. It wasn;t sustainable.

Locally to me all the retail jobs go to older/semi-retired people who can commit to at least one weekday as well as weekends.

@mumbunz24
"The big difference I've noticed is that in her old friend group from the non-grammar school, most of them are working part-time. But in her current grammar school, hardly anyone seems to have a part-time job"
That's because kids in grammar schools in general come from better off families who can give them the choice....

Dd was at a grammar school sixth form and had a part time job. She only worked one shift a week during term time but did more in the holidays. It was at an independent food market. It's a great place to work and she still gets shifts when she comes back from uni.

It also helped massively when she was looking for a job when she was at uni. She managed to get a job as a hostess in a bar looking after vip booths. She earns between £100 and £200 a week for just one shift which combined with what we give her gives her a very comfortable student life!

It depends. Neither of mine had regular PT jobs while at school for good reasons - one wanted to work very hard to get top grades for Oxbridge, the other had a lot of issues that were way more important to sort out than a job.

Both of them did very well at uni and both walked into paid employment in their chosen profession after graduating. DS1 had a summer job and also a couple of ad hoc freelance jobs that looked good on his CV. DS2 did some freelance work and an internship. By the time they left, their CVs were more targetted at the industries they wanted to be in than if they had just shown good work ethic by having a Saturday job.

It depends on the teen. If they are mooching around on their phones and sleeping off hangovers every weekend, I'd expect them to get a Saturday job to mature a bit and take responsibility. Or if they were so shy that they found it hard to look a stranger in the eye, then work in a shop or cafe could really help them build confidence. But if they are slaving away to get good grades, and active in a couple of extracurriculars at a high level that shows work ethic, then I wouldn't worry.

None of our DC worked until school exams were finished
Thought they had enough on their plates

My DS1 went to a good grammar school and worked Saturday and Sunday mornings in Tesco during 6th form. He got 4 great A level grades and did PPE at Oxford. He carried on working in Tesco in his uni holidays until the day before he headed for London and his well paid graduate job. It was really good for him, great colleagues and plenty in his savings when he did fly the nest. DS 2 had two part time jobs and also benefited.

This is true. One thing worth considering is a bit of freelance work or helping out a start up.

DS1 had some very entrepreneurial mates - they set up a business while at school which actually did incredibly well and sold it on for good money! But they had no English skills. Although DS did Sciences, he could have done English to A level, and so they paid him good money to write their press releases, business plans for investors etc and sometimes even to check their emails and schedules of work for important clients. DS was very shrewd and charged a basic rate but doubled it if they called at 11 pm expecting him to pull an overnighter.

DS2 did similar. He had friends who created a start-up in the industry he wanted to get into so he helped them out at sales events and industry fairs. That meant he had selling and product experience over a number of months with three or four different companies, and it helped him land a big internship which led to his first job in the industry.

It doesn't have to be every Saturday, 9-5 for a year. It could be a few hours here and there, or the occasional weekend.

Both my dc had jobs in hospitality when they were 6th form and as pp have said it was really good at building confidence and all sort of life experiences. Both also found it easy then to get jobs when they went to uni as they had experience already, so dd worked in a bar, ds worked as a barrista. They also found it natural to work part time and I used to always think (deluding myself perhaps) it maybe kept them out of trouble as they had less free time!

@Autumnweddingguest that's an excellent summary

My three all went to Grammar school and they all worked part time ,Office,B&Q and Hospitality.Just a few hours over he weekends. Their friends worked PT from what I can remember. Didn’t interfere with studies or sport commitments.
The one who worked at Office then got a job in his Uni town .

Yes my DD has worked and studied, it's been the making of her. She volunteered at 15 to give herself a leg up on the job hunt when she turned 16. She's working in a little boutique shop now that employs sixth formers on purpose, offering 1 weekend day a week and possible more hours during holidays. It's been a lucky find, I'm very pleased for her.

Eta - she's in a grammar school sixth form doing 3 a-levels.

Definitely. It teaches punctuality, responsibility, money management - and something sadly missing from most teenagers lives these days. - the ability to make conversation and be confident with adults they are not related to.

All 8 of mine and DHs had jobs from 14. Mostly in cafes /pubs.