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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

16 yr old daughter can't find a Saturday job.

46 replies

Gilbertine · 26/01/2012 14:55

My daughter insists that saturday jobs are hard to find at the moment - but I don't believe her. She spent a few hrs last October going into shops and handing in her CV. No one contacted her.

I think that she is old enough now to be earning a bit of money and not relying on me all the time. She goes to college only 3 days per week. I think she should be doing much more in finding a job. What do others think.

I suppose that saturday jobs for teens are not advertised anywhere, even on shop windows?

OP posts:

workshy · 26/01/2012 21:09

I work for a large retailer

we don't employ saturday only staff as it causes issues with holidays, makes them difficult to train as there is a long time between shifts plus they are generally not that interested in doing a good job as they only work for pocket money

our weekend staff either work saturday plus 1 evening or sunday plus 1 evening so if they are at school with a fixed finish they generally aren't able to get to work for a 4pm 'evening' shift start

also age related sales mean they have to be supervised when selling certain products -we wouldn't not employ a 16 year old on this basis (we have 16 year olds working for us) but if there was no difference between a 16 year old and an 18 year old we would employ the 18 year old

we pay everyone minimum wage or above so it's not a cost issue

we do have a number of part time staff who are university students that have clung on to their part time hours to top up their wages elsewhere -I have a first year teacher working saturday mornings and wednesday evenings (6-10) as a replenishment assistant to top up his wage

in fact, thinking about it, I can't remember when we last recruited anyone -certainly over a year ago

Milliways · 26/01/2012 21:10

The older Teens with the jobs may be reducing hours soon as Exam season looms - then a whole load go off to Uni, so worth applying now for those Summer jobs.

DS was lucky. He is an August Birthday and applied for and got a job in the May before his 16th birthday. Some companies like the "just turned" 16's as they get longer from them before the move on, so less training overall.

bruffin · 26/01/2012 21:23

Ds was just turned 16 when he started at comet in October. They were shocked when he came in his uniform after school Ds they didn't realise he was yr11 and he looks a lot older. He did have a change of clothes.He had to work everyday over Christmas except Christmas day, earned a nice sum of money but it did mean he didn't really have a break over Christmas and was still tired when he went back to school.

The leisure centre he works at now say their policy is not to employ yr 11s but took Ds on for casual labour as he is a qualified life guard. Just means once he had done his training he will be lower down the list when they need some one in.

Tranquilidade · 26/01/2012 21:29

DD worked for a large store on Saturdays while at sixth form college but they don't keep on any students for holiday work when they go to uni, just tell them to reapply each holiday. Last year she was looking for holiday work and despite the store being short-staffed and her being fully trained already when she applied computer said NO! Store manager rang and queried it but head office told her she had to abide by the computer verdict - everybody agreed it was nonsense but nobody had a way to sort it and DD stayed unemployed.

Lots of stores now use these computer systems and they seem to work against students as there are lots of people who will work part-time, do extra shifts, longer than school/uni hols at Xmas, etc

Merrylegs · 26/01/2012 21:30

DS (16) has just got a job washing up in a pub. He works Sundays mostly (and gets a free roast dinner!). His mate was working there and they needed more people so DS went along and had a chat and they said when can you start? No cv or references needed. I think she needs to go in and ask.

AnyFucker · 26/01/2012 21:42

Sorry, OP

A bit of an over reaction from me to your "she can't get a job and I don't believe her" pronouncement

You should believe her...it's fucking dog eat dog out there

No "saturday jobs" round here, they have been eaten up by the "make people work for their dole at the expense of the tax payer while the big corporations make gazillions" government "schemes"

MedusaIsHavingABadHairDay · 26/01/2012 21:43

My older three have all had p/t jobs since they were 16 (one's at Uni now but works at McD in the hols) and it wasn't easy..but they did find stuff in the end.

CV dropping doesn't seem to work in our experience. Mine mostly got jobs by applying online.. the supermarket ones are ridiculously complicated , McD's is better. My DS walked into Dominos Pizza and asked for a job..and they have him one..but it was 4 evenings of 3 hours a night (and a 40 mile round trip for me!) He stuck it out for 2 years and so had a decent record when he left school and wanted full time work. DD2 is working for Fatface..but again, no saturday hours, she does 4 on one day a week and 4 another, and has to jiggle shifts with her school work (she is year 13)

Mcd's WILL take students back after term time for the hols ..DD1 has found this very handy:)

It is demoralising to try and try but if your DD keeps looking she will find something eventually.

Original poster

Gilbertine · 27/01/2012 18:24

To AnyFucker. I know the job market is bad at the moment but didn't realise it would affect 16 year olds getting a saturday job. After all, the pay is quite small. Wouldn't it be cheaper for employers to pay teenagers rather than an adult over 21.

OP posts:

AnyFucker · 27/01/2012 18:30

hi Gilbertine, thanks for your reply

google "workfare"

the "employers" don't pay them...the govt ie. tax payers do

and those employers are people like tesco, Boots etc who make massive profits and simply get another young person on the dole on rotation of 4 weeks/6 months to do the work for their jobseekers allowance

so the "real" jobs disappear

there are no jobs for school leavers any more, and the same impact is being made on the old fashioned "saturday and college hols" type employment

borninastorm · 27/01/2012 18:34

My ds got his weekend job at Game from handing in his CV.
And apparently he got the interview because his was the only CV they'd received.
So CVs do work sometimes and therre are still some jobs around.
In fact my local home base was looking for part time staff Recently and quite often the larger department stores (my local Fenwicks constantly advertises for part time staff on their regularly updated jobs board) are looking for part time staff for things like the beauty counters.
And tesco and sainsburys are still recruiting, these must be applied for on their websites.
Tell your daughter to look at the websites for all the big chains she's interested in working for and also the websites for local hotels who frequently require casual waiting staff and also local catering companies who employ weekend staff, a few of my ds's friends work for catering companies.

BIWI · 27/01/2012 19:32

Gilbertine - yes it's cheaper to employ them a the minimum wage is lower, but they're alo competing with other school leavers, who can work more hours more flexibly

BIWI · 27/01/2012 19:33

Goodness - soon I will get used to the iPad keyboard - apols fr the typos!

bruffin · 27/01/2012 19:58

Ds got his comet job applying on line. The leisure centre. The day be passed his nplq he went to tell his old swimming teacher. One of the centre managers saw the pink form in his hand and told him to put his cv in as they would be recruiting in the next few weeks for 6 casual staff

Neither jobs has he been paid minimum wage for his age.

JoyceDivision · 27/01/2012 20:05

Hvae you tried local pubs for waitressing / kitchen staff, that was my saturday job and then it grew into the bar work when i was 18 and I loved it!

And, as it was a local pub rather than a nighclub or restaraunt, it was an eye opener for a naive teenager to see blokes gettinf bevvied up for their pulling nights, and I certainly learned to deal with any lip from grumpy customers!

But as a lot of pubs rely on food for takings waitresses are usually in demnd, esp to prep food in morning and wash up after shift...

oiwheresthecoffee · 28/01/2012 16:26

when i finally got a job when i was at at uni (well when i was doing my masters - not bragging but i already had a degree so had at least shown i work hard type thing) and i had plenty of work experience in customer service , waitressing and bar work but i couldnt find anything for months.
I live in a city and in the end i had to go to the next town for a job which allowed me to work one week day and one weekend day , due to the lack of jobs and amount of competition. The rail fare cost me half my wages.
It is very very hard. I was lucky to get that job too.

Magna · 28/01/2012 16:33

Have you got any local hotels near you 30/40 beds or more? They may take on 16yo for housekeeping or laying up functions/waitressing.

unusualsuspect · 28/01/2012 16:33

It must depend where you live , non of the big supermarkets are recruiting where I live , and all the casual waiting /bar staff are usually agency workers on 0 hour contracts

mumeeee · 28/01/2012 17:47

I think it does depend where you live. No where around here are excepting CVs. All
also ask for experience which is very difficult to gain if you can't get a job. That's why DD3 is doing voluntary
work in a charity shop.

GetOrfMoiiLand · 30/01/2012 14:49

DD has recently got her first job - she had had no luck with high street shops, and Tesco and Asda told her to come back and reapply once she had finished her exams in the summer.

She spent a day going round pubs and restaurants asking. She got a trial shift washing pots and loading dishwashers in a restaurant kitchen, did well and got the job (and after doing that for a while she has ended up in front of house). She does Friday and Saturday nights, 6 hours a night, and gets the 18 year olds rate (£4.98). I am really pleased as I think, altough waitressing is a shitty job, having experience in it will stand her in good stead for working elsewhere in the future.

It took her ages though. You have to persevere. I do think though that restaurants and pubs may be easier to get a job - notoroously transient staff anyway, and they tend to deal face to face as opposed to online, so at least you find out immediately.

3boys1cat · 30/01/2012 16:45

My 16 year old niece has a Sunday job at a local garden centre, which she got after filling in an application form online. She also dropped her CV into lots of local shops, but only got one call back after she'd already started at the garden centre iyswim.

My DS1, who is nearly 17, works as a lifeguard at a local health club. We paid for him to do the qualification after his GCSEs, as we figured it would be useful for part-time employment, and would stop him spending the whole summer on the XBox! . He gets paid about £5 per hour and usually does a 7 hour shift each Saturday and Sunday.

higamoushogamous · 31/01/2012 13:05

DS2 took his CV to the local chinese restaurant/take away and got offered a job immediately taking telephone orders two evenings a week. It is very close to where we live so he can walk there and he gets more than minimum wage, a free take away at the end of the shift and they gave him a Christmas bonus. I'm impressed by him getting a job and impressed by the way they treat him too.

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