Summer job after GCSE

[Blue0987]

Hi
are kids in year 11 meant to look for a summer job after their GCSEs?
I have mentioned it to my DS and he was shocked I could think he would need to find a summer job!
what is normal these days?

Yes they do. One of dd friends worked in Waitrose during y12/13 , August bday so only just 16.

My DD did some volunteering work the summer before year 11 which helped her in applying for paid positions after GCSEs. She got a job at Subway, and has kept it during college. She's gained a lot of confidence working, and I think it's really important for teens to take that step into independence through work after GCSEs, but it isn't always easy to get a job at that age, I think. She's one of the few kids on her course who has a job.

as long as he is putting the time into studying and has an active life Imo there is no rush at 15/16 unless he wants more money and you will struggle to afford it or it is related to what he wants to do in the future. they have a lifetime of working ahead of them. even if ds had a PT job earlier he wouldnt have mentioned it on his PS as it wouldnt have been in any way relevant for his course and he had more important things to included.

ds didnt get his first job until 17 (pizza place), did that for a year and has been doing his 2nd job (bar steward) for 18 months while at uni.

My year 11 got his job last year in Easter and they kept him on so he has it again this year. He works in a cafe.
He also got himself a 2nd job glass collecting in an evening.
He plans to ditch the cafe and get a better job with more hours that will also work around college

My DD did get called for a couple of interviews when she was still 15. (Sainsburys, Asda & tk maxx plus a local cafe. She ended up being offered a job at 15 but had to wait to start until 16.

Wages vary greatly at this age - £5.50 to £12ph.

She is really enjoying working and has saved about £1500 in just 4/5 months so far towards uni - and still spent lots!

In sixth form there seems to be much more popping round someone's house for food when they finish early or of an evening. I would not want to be financing that!

My dd got a job in The Range once she finished her exams, it was really rubbish money but she then got a job in Primark which paid really well.

I think they need to be earning their own money from age 16yo, my dd was able to pay for her own driving lessons once she turned 17 as she had saved a fair bit up.

It's also good for their general independence and social skills.

No kids I know could get jobs at 16. They didn't even get responses to their applications! Some managed to get jobs at 18 but it's not so easy anymore.

Where I live most teens have summer jobs, my Dd did care home work, taking tea and coffee, chatting, helping around the place. Plus cafe work, and restaurant work. Her friends worked in shops, garden centres. All post GCSE, great for them and keeps them from just hanging around in the holidays. We are in a big town, may make it easier- but there is certainly work out there.

I would strongly encourage any teen to look into volunteering post GCSEs if paid work is hard to come by. Really valuable experience that will put them ahead of their peers when applying for jobs later.

Any clues as to jobs for a 15yr old... she'll be 16 end August!

My friends 15yo got a job washing pots in a pub and another friends dd got a job sweeping up hair/making tea at a hairdressers.

Summer only work doesn’t exist everywhere unless you live in a touristy place

Utter rubbish -I work for an insurance company and we have summer interns, usually 5/6 of them.
DD works at a pharmacy, 3 days a weeks - DD works on a food van, and a cleaning company, DD works in a supermarket.

Plves need holidays covers. They revert to weekend work come September:

Mine is tutoring and looking after children - she has a DBS and first aid but has offered some local parents a week of looking after their 6-8 year olds. Park etc and arts and crafts on afternoon. Tutoring on the morning. Whilst parents are at work. She looking after 4 of them- nice kids and parents are paying (3 lots of parents) are paying her £80 a day plus arts and crafts stuff and she is doing it at one of their houses. She knows them all from a local club she volunteers at, she’s doing 2 weeks of that. £800 plus two weeks looking after someone else’s small holding - dogs, donkeys etc and sleeping over etc and she’s being paid £300 a week for that and she has a friend visiting her for a holiday and staying with her on holidays on this persons house(they invited her) so she’s doing a month for £1400 aged 16 and wants to give me £1000 of it towards house bills. I’m very impressed with her. She said she will bank and save the rest.

Lidl and Aldi seem to be the only supermarkets that require them to be 18.

DS has had a weekend and holiday job since 14. It’s not essential but it’s positive, and they will want money!

You’re going to take a thousand pounds from her?!! Unless you’re financially desperate, I don’t think that’s ok!

My DD also turns 16 in June. At the moment she has a job just 2 hours a week helping at a swim school. Hoping that she will get something with more hours in the summer - thinking she might do her lifeguard qualification & hopefully pick up shifts at the leisure centre.

I am not sure they are "meant to" but it is a heck of a long time to be doing nothing.
My dc all did, as they wanted to save up for driving lessons.

It depends where you apply - that is why I am suggesting care homes and nurseries - these are the places I know of successful applications, and young people remaining on as bank staff, and continuing to work occasionally throughout sixth form, and university holidays.

In some parts of the country, retail is impossible, I agree. I know people who recruit for some of the supermarkets, and they get literally thousands of applications, and generally already have a list of a few hundred they would consider before looking at new applications. One women tells me how awful she feels about all the time and effort people put into applications that are never even opened - but there is too many, and she can't possibly read even a quarter of them

This too, it is really important that you start sixth form with SOMETHING of value on your CV

I hope your internships are paid

Despite the stigma, McDonalds is a good call. They’re very flexible and can work around college. Being food prep and a bigger company they also pay better than some (or certainly did when I worked there as a student)

Mine was a steward at a football ground in year 11, he also worked at Alton Towers over the summer.
McDonalds are good for part time jobs, they will fit around any studying.

It's good for teens to be earning their own money, and it gives them some independence.

It might depend a lot on where you live. Of the 8 people in my DC's friendship group, only one of them has managed to find a weekend job (in a shop). And I don't really see anyone their age working in our local supermarkets and cafes - those jobs are taken by adults. I imagine it might be easier in a more affluent area, or as others have said, if you live somewhere touristy.

What is the "stigma" around working for McDs?

ds's friends don't see working there any different to other low skilled PT jobs while at school/uni whether it is other fast food places, cafe, chip shops, paper rounds, shelf stacking in supermarkets etc

As you say they are flexible and a reasonable employer so ideal for students.

Working from 14 is completely normal here, kids have more luck with small independent businesses over chains.