Is your older teen working this summer? If so what?

[Trumporange]

I'm curious - most of the dc we know who have just finished sixth form are not working this summer and I cannot get my head around this.
I worked from 16 onwards every school and then university holiday.

They have about three months off before heading to university. The majority seem to be travelling for a few weeks with friends and going on a family holiday and pottering about in between. Is this the norm now? Note most of these kids are from comfortable middle class families - not staggeringly rich but well off enough.

Our youngest has just done GCSEs and is also a qualified FA referee, so he's refereeing matches. Pre-season has just started, so he's started up again. Gets min £30 a match as ref (more if a higher league) and £20 if running the lines. Can get a few matches in a week and earns from what he loves.

My eldest is just back from uni and has got work at the local hospital. She volunteered there for almost 2 years whilst doing her A levels (to get onto a healthcare degree) and when she finished, they offered her bank work throughout uni.

Youngest is just 16 so has more limited options, but she's a waitress in a local pub and so will take on extra shifts over the summer,

UsingChangeofName
Again maybe just around here or maybe just their age, I don’t know but at the school gates it was all anyone talked about and the local facebook group is full of people asking what their teens can do

And as I said I work in a shop and we all discuss it too plus my son has been around a number of times and is online everyday. His only friends who have jobs are the sporty ones volunteering with camps at places they attend

where about s in the country are you? If you are rural, there is obviously fruit picking etc

From 13 both my kids had weekend jobs.

currently 22/21 one is travelling in the far east before uni in Malaysia in September (self funded) other one about to go into 3rd year of uni and working as hoc in several jobs.

if they want to travel etc it’s up to them to fund it we top up student loans term time as they get the minimum. But beyond food / uni fees the rest is up to them.

@ineedatreat Can I ask what your son’s tech job is? I have a similar teen…

Round here there are so many jobs from 14+ people are desperate for staff.

Mine worked at Tesco. I found ours advertises for temps every summer around June. They get holiday cover for the permanent staff and are able to pick and choose who to offer permanent contracts to come end September. DS worked on check out all summer as many shifts as they offered and was offered a weekend contract at the petrol station in September. He commuted home from uni each weekend to do his Tesco shifts. They were a good employer.

That is great he got the job but not realistic for everyone - around here there are hundreds of applicants for every vacancy in tescos, many are never even looked at

@teaandcake123 data analyst for an energy company

orangeleavesinautumn Great name by the way! Am in the midlands in Ireland, in the midlands. Semi rural, fifteen minutes drive form a big town, five minutes to small village so there should be something (we have Tesco, Penneys, Aldi, Lidl etc etc)but nothing. Weirdly no fruit picking anywhere close by (huge amount a different places in the country just none close by!)

My DC are too young to work yet but locally there does seem to be difficulty for young people to find casual work. I think maybe it depends where you live. We are in a small town with poor public transport links. There is one supermarket and a handful of small cafes) restaurants. No fast food places, not many shops. Quite a few charity shops where you could get voluntary work.

There are villages in the area with pubs but impossible to get to unless you drive or are driven by a parent every day (only one, very unreliable, taxi service). When I was 16+ I did temp work iny Mum's office every summer but I never see opportunities for teens like that available now.

There are three or four care homes locally so I think care work might be a possibility when mine are older.

We live rurally so the main issue is transport to jobs. Until mine can drive, it means I'm basically taxiing them to/from work all the time. My 17yo has two jobs, one in a local gastro pub as waiting staff and one in a shop. Both pay around £9 an hour though, so I'm impressed with the ones getting £10+!
One job found through Indeed, advertised as a casual summer job and the other job through local Facebook posts.

Both mine have worked since they started doing their paper rounds aged 13 .
they’ve had between them
Christmas temp job in a sports store
Kitchen Porter in pub - led to working behind bar
Kitchen porter in restaurant
summer working in an ice cream shop

Eldest now works full time and youngest is awaiting his GCSE results but will work as a KP through the summer - has so far been 1 day a week but as the season gets busier they’ll give him more shifts.

Mine got another rejection yesterday from a restaurant chain. That's 3 rejections so far. It's so disheartening for him.

Mine has worked as a nanny year round. I taught her to drive as soon as she was 17 - which has been a massively helpful boost to working .

At Uni she does a school pick up and looks after for 3 hrs for £165 pw
In the holidays she does school holiday cover for 2 kids 8 hrs a day for £400 a week. Neither of which could be done without a license.

thank you!

how about children's nurseries? Any in your village? They might need summer holiday cover. Or office cleaning companies? Also might need summer holiday cover?

@stayathomer

It might be late for this year, but my 16 yo has worked at all the GAA camps (including Easter & midterms) & is doing a few over the summer.

They don't get paid much but it's great experience & for CV, and from there, they'll possibly get selected for the referees course & then can get handy bits of refereeing work over the year - it's only €20 or so but only takes an hour & can be done all year round.

Like yours mine got nowhere with all the stores, coffee shops etc. From asking around, it's due to everything being more formalised - it's a lot of admin hassle to take on a 16 yo for a few months, compared to years ago where it was all cash-in-hand.

She has got a great - but tough! - gig working with a catering company. She worked with them for Bloom & then was added to a WhatsApp group & they text when they've shifts available & you signup if free. It works really well for her as they are largely evening events where she'll be serving, drinks, etc till late, so has days free, and it's not every day so again she's time to enjoy her summer. Long hours and hard work tho, they don't get a minute's break. She loves it tho.

If they’re over 16 care homes are always looking for staff.

dd1 started working in one at 17 mainly because it would look good on her uni application (healthcare related subject) but she’s found that she actually enjoys it. It’s by far her favourite job she’s had. Previously done shop work, fast food and a children’s play centre.

DD 17 found it virtually impossible to get a summer job last year, especially with next to no prior work experience. She eventually got a minimum wage job in catering at a local holiday park - loathed it and refuses point blank to work in catering/ hospitality ever again, unless perhaps as a receptionist. She gets stressed in these environments and doesn't want to be taken advantage of and required to work six days a week, as her friends in restaurants are. Term time she has a tutoring job at £8/hr, which she likes (plans to be a high school/TEFL teacher).

@sandgrown and @So1invictus I hadn't realised that there could be TEFL opportunities for this age, will direct her to look into this further. She'd love to be a tour guide, but there's no attractions near us.

We had a frank conversation this week in which I explained she might have to look for something that's not especially fulfilling if she wants spending money, as well as to save for uni. Fine, she only wants to work part-time and not in catering - she should investigate retail and office options. I think she is coming round to the idea and has put out some feelers, but, oh the invented barriers! "That sort of thing's unpaid work experience, or volunteering" "I do have a lot of other things to do." (This is true - there is a lot of prep for next year and Oxbridge entrance stuff.) And most hilariously - That won't fit with my social life!!!"

Dd 17 works in a restaurant anyway, but will advise she's available for extra shifts over summer

May I ask how to get a tutoring job? DS has high grades in Maths and Further Maths at A level. Plus Physics and Economics.

My DD has just come back from her first holiday abroad with her BF, is working full time at McDonald's to save for Uni and will
hopefully get a transfer to carry on part time while at Uni. They're also keeping her job open so she can return in the holidays back home. She's works bloody there and till very late, but it's been really good for her.

My son got a job the minute he turned 16 and has worked part time throughout college and full time since he left.
My daughter just finished A levels and I was keen she get a job, but she was diagnosed with MS in April snd one big thing she suffers from is fatigue. So I thought volunteering at a charity shop might be ok, but as of yet she hadn't done it. In normal circumstances yes I'd expect her to get a job. Most of her cohort seem to be travelling though.