Summer job prior to going to Uni

[Onthemoooove]

DD has now finished college and has 4 months ahead of her before starting uni. She's desperate to earn some money but accepts most employers won't be interested in someone who will be disappearing in September. In fact, she's had no luck finding anything all year, has tried local hospitality businesses & shops and applied for numerous jobs on indeed with no luck, so will be even harder now. She has been volunteering in a charity shop for months in an attempt to boost her cv.

Does anyone have any ideas?The only idea we had was summer holiday clubs but they seem to be few and far between.

Would be grateful for any suggestions!

Thanks!

Would she be open to warehouse type work? I never worked in term time at uni but worked every summer in a food warehouse, picking and packing. They were busier in summer so glad of someone who could come in to help for a couple of months and then happily chip off after the busy season.

During college I worked as a cleaner of an office in the evenings which was actually great - nobody else there and I was just bopping to the music on my headphones while pushing a hoover around!

There's also festival work (litter picking, crowd control etc) which several friends have done but I don't know too much about that.

It’s so easy for rich parents to buy ‘experiences’ for their offspring eg. Internships, unpaid work experience, which gild their CVs. Meanwhile, in the real work, people have to work for money to live.

@TizerorFizz I recall you saying - maybe on another thread - that your dd applied to uni in 2010 so your info is very out of date. Accommodation costs have risen much faster than loans. And the job market is also arguably more competitive. But there are jobs out there if young people are willing to persist - my dd applied to hundreds of jobs before she got her care job. It does at least prepare them for the reality of looking for a grad job a few years later.

Plenty of internships are paid these days. They are very competitive to get and heavily skewed to EDI participation. Gone are the days of nepotism - check out the criteria for internships/insight days for the Big 4/IB/Consulting/FTSE 100. Many organisations are teamed up with specific state schools and provide work experience/internships exclusively to those pupils, similarly local councils provide work experience to a specific cohort based on “widening participation criteria”. Most if not all organisations have specific EDI performance metrics for senior executives linked to pay.

Today is very different to 30 years ago, even very different to 10 years ago.

In any case, as has been repeatedly stressed by many people on these threads who hire graduates, any sort of work experience is highly valued by employers - and a regular Saturday job in a shop will have developed many valuable skills that a week’s internship won’t (paid or not). On the other hand moaning about how unfair it is that some people are rich won’t get you anywhere …..

Could she look into babysitting, some parents will be struggling for childcare once the school holidays start (no idea when that is in the UK).

@Escapefrom1984 nepotism is alive and well in many firms. Try getting work experience and you’ll find most will only offer to current employees or ‘special friends’. And many internships are still unpaid. Even the ones that are usually offer wages that would be impossible to live on. Wish it wasn’t true but it is.

However there are lots of jobs that like students. Retail, hospitality, building all like casual staff. All v useful experience dealing with customers.

@Escapefrom1984 this is actually part of my job and WP is great and many firms are awesome in helping. However you can still buy your way in to many places too.

I’ve seen on another forum a thread about language schools needing activities assistants. Worth checking if any near you.

@crazycrofter I’m perfectly aware of university living costs. Thank you for your interest in my family though. Your memory is ultra impressive! Like most people I have younger friends and relatives and don’t live in a vacuum. Costs are not £200 a week everywhere. Thats a fact. Even if they are, parents can make up the money to the full loan as they are expected to do. Working for money is obviously useful but when dc hasn’t bothered before it seems others have the jobs first. So it’s not been a priority for this family. I’m also aware the job situation for 18 year olds isn’t easy and therefore cutting costs to suit your cloth does come into play. Don’t go for £200 a week if you need a job that’s not available. It’s basic economics really.

Don’t know what part of London you are in but I saw one of the school uniform shops were posting they wanted people for June through to mid Sept.

An @TizerorFizz you do live in a different world to most of us. Parents can v often not make up the difference, because they don’t have it.

I think it's a bit of an assumption to say that this girl 'hasn't bothered' to get a job before @TizerorFizz . A lot of parents are reluctant to let their children work during sixth form and some schools are very against it, in case it interferes with their school work. Working isn't a race, in the sense that if your child hasn't got a job at 16, they've lost their chance! There will be openings but they might need to apply loads before they're successful.

Our dd didn't work during sixth form, except for 6 weeks at a supermarket during the Christmas period in year 12, and she did have to put in lots of applications before she finally got something permanent in her second year of uni - in fact she got two zero hours jobs, one at home and one in her uni town - so I'd encourage @Onthemoooove 's dd to keep trying.

Not applying to unis known for their expensive accommodation is definitely wise, but the prices are going up everywhere and at a lot of places the allocation is random, so you may apply for the cheaper halls and be given something more expensive. My dd started in 2022 and my ds is due to go in September and there's far fewer options at or just above minimum loan than there were 3 years ago.

Just seen another yp asking on our local facebook and being given 3 good leads to a sandwich shop, butchers and a small cafe. I know yp don’t use facebook but i’d encourage them to try if you have a local area type community page.

In London there are agencies for event staff / silver service wait staff if you do an internet search several will come up. McDonald’s and dominos etc often have work. Care work - agencies will offer training. Are their local Facebook job sites as many smaller local employers or families will advertise there not via a website or agency. Locally a lot of independent shops just put a sign on the door.

My daughter got a job in a packing warehouse- think Amazon/Huboo type place. Was actually a really good hourly rate and lots of perks. Worth checking out any distribution/fulfilment centres etc nearby.

Corporate cleaners earn good money, and do strange hours so can do other work alongside.

Working in a pub/restaurant kitchen.
Many are very short staffed.
Ds has been working as a line chef for the last 6 months in his gap year. At one point he was doing several 12 hour shifts in succession as they were so short staffed.
They said he couldn't go on holiday as they had no Applicants for 3 jobs. Luckily they've found someone to temporarily cover his absence.

Has she got any experience in childcare? Nurseries always want agency staff over summer to cover staff holidays. She can sign up to an agency and she can use an app to sign up to whatever jobs are available that day

This is ridiculous
There isn’t the choice nor the guarantee of your accommodation. Dd applied for the cheapest accommodation but was allocated something over her budget.

In London try buckingham palace and mew gardens and places like that for summer workers , and chessington etc

I'm would be advertising for babysitting everywhere

Would she consider housekeeping/ hotel staff? Lots of big hotels near me take on summer staff. Tends to be live in ( rent + meals ) are £70 a week but lots of hours. People often do housekeeping, then waitressing and work 40-60 hour week. I did it myself in my younger days , brilliant for saving up money as you have no time and nowhere to spend the money. Tend to get a tax refund come April too.

My DS took a Gap Year. He worked in a local zoo in the coffee shop and then works there every holiday when he is home from Uni so 4 weeks at Christmas, 4 weeks at Easter then all Summer. It’s worked really well as that’s when they need more staff as he’s available mostly when schools are on holiday. It’s meant that he hasn’t had to work at all while at Uni and just works when he is home.

But please don’t apply for a permanent position in something like school admin if you know you’re going to uni. Despite the low salary Therr is actually a lot to learn and It takes a lot of time and effort to train someone, especially a young person just out of school. To then have to find and train replacement in September (of all months in the year!) is beyond hard on school staff and leadership.

My child has just finished A levels and has found a job at a local attraction that is busy in school holidays so she can come back in uni breaks and it works well for both of them