Businesses treat young people badly

[Paq]

DD17 is looking for a summer job. She has experience, is presentable, articulate, reliable, cheerful and hard working. She has useful qualifications like first aid and language skills. She has been let down three times now and is struggling to find something for the rest of the summer.

Job 1 - was perfect, aligned with her experience and qualifications. Except they wanted her to do 5 days unpaid “essential training”, provide all her own equipment and be paid as a freelancer on a day rate that was less than minimum wage. Dodgy and possibly illegal.

Job 2 - she was promised a job after going to a summer staff recruitment open day and then… crickets! She’s been chasing since April, emailing, phoning and calling in person. The relevant manager has never, ever replied. Each time she has been told they will definitely get back to her next week.

Job 3 - she responded to an ad and followed up with a phone call. Yes, they were still looking for people, could she come in to see them - just pop in, no need to make an appointment. She got all prepared, psyched herself up and couldn’t even get past the receptionist who told them they weren’t hiring.

Is this just par for the course (YABU) or are businesses monumentally shit these days (YANBU)?

Your right!
My son travelled 27 miles yesterday, turned up early for interview. Waited and waited after half an hour he just left. The person who was holding the interview never turned up despite being told by reception my son was waiting.
What a complete waste of money and time.

Yep been like this for years.

When i was young i went through a recruitment agency and got an interview.

The recruitment agency sent me to the wrong building (they had two)

The amount of questioning I received for being late and why I went to the wrong building etc. They kept asking me the same questions as to why I went to the other building 🤣

I had an email with the address of the building it was wrong.

They made me feel like an idiot despite not being in the wrong. It was an error made by the recruitment agency. I didn't get the job anyway. Glad I didn't because they didn't seem to have any comprehension skills.

I think it's mainly too many cooks in the process and people are forgotten about. Or they want to keep people on their books and just keep leading them on for a bit.

I do think it's will become increasingly hard for young people to find summer jobs, as the cost of employing extra staff is at an all time high and is just not possible for a lot of businesses. I think we'll see a lot more of the do an unpaid trial and then we'll see if there's paid work after that (which is at odds of what increasing NMW is intended to do for workers).

That's no excuse for promising work and then ghosting your daughter, but it would make me wonder if the people saying there's a job are basing that on what has happened in previous years and aren't aware the funds just aren't there.

@Ceejay9 that is dreadful.

I know the job market is tough, and if DD was simply being out-competed for jobs I would understand. But to be promised a job and then for the T&Cs to be changed, or to be ghosted, is rubbish. She job hunted up to Easter and then focused on her mocks because she thought she was sorted. Now she's missed the boat on a lot of casual work.

if she can find work experience I would do that might help her get more skills / if she proves her worth than she might get offered a paying position

YANBU

Unpaid trials, unpaid training, paying for uniform, uncertainty around shifts - turning up and then not being needed without notice or understanding that people pay to get there.

I'm not sure it's only young people that are being treated badly but generally low paid/lower skilled/casual work is prone to poor conditions.

Businesses are struggling at the moment and so want to get the most possible out of their staff - so often are very rigid in looking for individuals who have exactly the right experience/training so that they don't have to spend time and money on them.

I hope it will pass but I think the added value of workers has reduced at the same time the costs of them has risen so fewer workers are needed in general - that's a fairly significant change that needs some management that I'm not seeing even acknowledged.

However bear in mind that companies that may even only want young summer jobbers can’t directly say so or make that offer available because of discrimination in hiring laws. It used to be a lot easier when employers could be honest about what they’re looking for whereas now they have to pretend to want everyone and keep their preferences silent in the review stage

Aren't unpaid trials illegal?

Has your daughter tried in hospitality OP? In my area local accommodation are always crying out for changeover staff and restaurants always need KPs / servers. Pretty much the only jobs you can practically walk into now as a 17 year old although I appreciate I live in a touristy place which you may not.
Good luck to her I hope she finds something suitable soon.

@Trustyourinnervision we live in the most touristy area! I think increased staff costs are dampening down summer job opportunities, and now we are well into July most businesses have got their summer staffing sorted.

Two summers ago she worked in a restaurant with bad food hygiene practices, and last summer in a place that was downright dangerous (equivalent to a swimming pool without a lifeguard) so she was really hoping for a better experience this time!

As to illegal /poor working practices - both of my children have worked jobs where absolutely no rules around young workers were kept to - over hours, kept late, put in dangerous positions.

What were they meant to do? If they wanted a job they had to put up with it.

It's not like teenagers are going to be able to afford to take employers to a tribunal.

DD (19), has a part-time, zero hours contract at a local stadium, to warn whilst at college.

They treat the staff really well £11.00 an hour so over NMW, management are really nice, very accommodating of her ASD, good H&S, not expected to do anything for free … she was delighted to get holiday pay (which neither of us were expecting). Lots of people would look at this sort of role and think the worst, but it’s been quite the opposite.

My nephew is doing Festival / Gig work this summer, done it before, he loves it, it’s good money .. and good fun (as far as he tells me)

My daughters,have been treated really badly even having got jobs. Shifts cancelled at the last minute ('we have fewer bookings than we expected'), rotas never confirmed, arrangements made with managers simply ignored.

On one occasion my daughter's shift (small chain of restaurants) was cancelled an hour before she was due to start it. It was the third such cancellation in a fortnight. So, though annoyed, she set off to spend the day with friends. She got a call an hour into what should have been her shift saying that it had got busy so she should come in after all. She said, "Er...I'm on a train sixty miles away." They were very upset about that and accused her of being inflexible and workshy. The implication was that she should have been at home, on call, unpaid, in case they decided to pay her for a couple of hours of the ten for which she'd originally been booked.

She was living at home at that time. Which was just as well, as you can't build a life on that kind of employment. You can't commit to paying rent or bills. You can't even budget for food.

And, as the OP says, that's if you can get a job at all. The issue is not so much that jobs are scarce. It's the way that young people looking for those jobs are regarded, dismissed, messed about.