fruit picking

[Cantgowrongwithstripedcurtains]

Prompted by another thread, on what 18 yr olds are doing this summer, just wondering did anyone's student dc get a fruit picking job? I'm aware of/have read about cases in which people applied and never heard back, or alternatively got an offer which they turned down. Just wondering if/how much the chat in March/April about students picking fruit has materialised?

Everyone I know who applied was rejected.

Gosh, really jan? Were they given any reasons? Slightly better then not hearing back at all i suppose ( in terms of politeness although nothing else!).
Wasnt it just last week george eustice In the press conference was urging furloughed workers to apply? Presumably he was asked by someone to say that. The whole thing has been a bit puzzling, given the desperate sense of urgency being conveyed in march/april.

There are still jobs being advertised near me. Trouble is, the farms are in the middle of nowhere so you need transport which my son doesn't have.

My dc have friends who got jobs but there's a lot of farms and an established shuttle service by coach from the city. Interestingly (for gender equality) only men got vegetable farm jobs and the females got soft fruit picking!

DD applied to a few farms and was told there were no vacancies and to look again in June.

Gosh, where I live (market town):

15/22 jobs are carers or some sort.
4/22 are other jobs for the NHS (eg admin, cleaner)
Medicine is the only operating industry now.

Only 3 other jobs: sales, HGV driver, caretaker.

Anyway, I live in a very rural county, there is one job (residential 30 miles away) on the jobcentre site, and none i can find on Pick4Britain.
18yo DD is a bit spoilt cah, she won't pick fruit.

There's a lot of farms round here, and they advertise most days on Facebook for workers but all the comments say they ring and there's no jobs. One Polish man said he rang and was told yes there's plenty of work but they'd be deducting a portion of his wages to rent one of their caravans. The employer wasn't aware he lived in the area and assumed he was enquiring from further afield. Make of that what you will 😕

My sons applied and no response.

1 of his friends did get a job - but his dad is good friends with the owner,

Thanks all, very interesting.

My impression is that as far as these replies are concerned, where people have managed to get jobs it has been through answering local ads directly, local contacts etc (though that doesnt always work, obviously!), rather than by responding to the centralised sites. (Although i think pickforbritain may work by linking you to recruiters/employers, so not sure why that would make a difference).

Given that the govt seemed last week to want people to apply for the work, i wonder if govt is keeping track of this issue. If people are told there are no vacancies at one place, could they perhaps be passed on to places that are still looking?

The farm local to us put up a statement saying they only normally deal with 5 UK applications, they got 1000s in a day and couldn’t deal with them all. Hence no replies ( suspect all those taken on were via contacts)

.... and yet so many posts on here and on social media complaining about lazy Brits!

I see robert jenrick at yesterdays press conference was again emphasising the govt’s wish to encourage people to pick fruit and veg this summer - referred to a number of schemes set up for the purpose.

Anyway, glad to hear that at least some on mn have had success!

My DS’s friend applied during lockdown and was told the picking started at 5am and they’d have to live in dorms on site during the week. Not really what he wanted to do at 17-be away from his family.

Yes i think its not for everyone - could your ds’ friend have got himself to work by 5am without living in the dorm?
It sounds From below as though some farms do employ live-out pickers, and maybe lay on the transport.

Slightly older ones may be happier to live on site - and if there was a way of going together with friends, even more so. Obviously thats harder For farmers to organise, but not impossible.

When ds looked at it none were local to use and several were just links to Eastern European recruitment agencies.