can anyone tell how how to advise my 17 yr old to get a part time job?

[ssd]

he's applying to uni, waiting to hear, but it'll be local anyway

he needs a part time job but has little experience of much

he's asking me for advice on how to get a job but I dont know what to tell him, can anyone help me out?

He needs to do what you are doing - ask around. Speak to friends' parents, apply in person to every business on the High Street, work on contacts through clubs / societies.
Do you have large venues nearby that need waiting staff or security.
Round here the charity shops are asking for volunteers so perhaps he could start there and in a few months' time he can boast expertise at working a till, backroom stock management, etc.
Has he done any work experience through school - can he apply to those places.
He doesn't need 'a job', he needs cash. He can always create his own job - car wash, lawn mowing, dog walking, etc.

If he is going to a local University then he will be lucky that he will be in pole position to ask for University jobs. Ask at the Union what might be coming up.

A hint of nepotism. Do you have any friends/ family members that are shop managers/ need a bit of casual work?

Where I live, the local garden centre is a good source of 17 year old employment (although not well paid!). Vacancies are advertised on their website. Might be worth checking at yours? I know several 17 year olds who work there.

Also have noticed that there are a lot of youngsters in my local Waitrose. Maybe worth a punt too.

It can be really hard because the application process even for basic, unskilled work is so daunting. Waitrose for example uses an online screening process & then interview with group exercises, etc. Totally over the top for stacking shelves.

My dd really struggled to get part time work. Eventually she signed up with an agency & now gets ad hoc waitressing type work. At least she is building up experience.

Has he got a CV, btw? Have you helped him realise what skills he has got so he can sell himself.
Eg sports => teamwork, willingness to show up, accepts orders/instructions; position at school => trustworthiness; music practice => dedication; life-saving badge => first aid skills; work experience => mechanical skills (or whatever it was); etc

It is true about the over-the-topness of some recruitment processes. He would be better off targeting local businesses where he can speak directly to the decision-maker. Get him to put himself about. So many jobs come purely from being in the right place at the right time.

Keep a look out for cards in shop windows - even the big high street names do this (when dd was looking for a job I noticed Boots, Fat Face, River Island and Monsoon all advertising for staff this way). Keep a look out for pubs or cafe's being refurbished or just opening - ds got a job waiting in a newly refurbished pub when he was 17 and as soon as he was 18 they trained him on the bar work too. Ask his friends who they work for and whether there might be vacancies.

Dd just kept looking and applying online. In the end she got a job in Staples - a friend tipped me off that they would be advertising, but she would have found it online anyway. Staples pay well for under 18s

DS , also 17, wrote a short cv and a covering letter (a page each) and Trekker around all the local shops and cafes handing them out. He got a job with a national high street chain by doing this.

Also look at Indeed.co.uk and put in search terms such as retail, assistant, cafe, coffee etc for your area.