Tips on getting casual and part time work for 16 year old

[scrumbrum12]

My 16 year old would like to do casual work over the summer (she has the odd week free) and a Sunday job from October. Any tips on how to find? We don’t really know many people locally and her friends seems to get work through their parents’ local connections. In Surrey but close to London. Have never settled here - people seem v competative and generally unfriendly. Our life is work at home or central London. She will be doing a bit of work experience at my work as her school doesn’t do it.

Thanks so much.

I'm not sure that having 'the odd week free' will be enough, OP.

Businesses offering p/t work to students want someone regular. No one just has work for the odd occasion when your teen is free. From October, if she's after Sunday work I would suggest that the best thing is to see if any local pubs/restaurants who do Sunday lunches are looking for either waitresses or washer uppers. She'll need to drop in and ask them.

For the odd shift - pub work. Just ask around the local pubs.

The teenagers I know ( also in Surrey) do regular work for M&S and a chain restaurant ( both are 16 / 17 years old). They also babysit which is how I know them both ( I have a 12 year old so it’s more braiding hair and Netflix than nappies and bottles). I also use them to cat sit for me when we’re away. They come in twice a day to feed the cat and change the litter. It’s not the most taxing work for them and they’re both lovely girls. I found them through my “mums network”

Thank you. Cat sitting is great idea for casual work over the summer:) Have tried offering her babysitting but people only want to use friend’s teens understandably. Pub work is not an option for us. I think retail will be best, is it all advertised on Indeed these days or company websites?! Or do you have to go in and hand cv?!! how?!? Been a long time!!!

I’d avoid fast food. My very capable DD dropped out of school while working too many shifts at a pizza chain - I tried everything I could think of to stop her.

Anywhere tourists go or that is seasonal. Garden centres, Thorpe Park, National Trust places, plus any big town centre. Next always seems to need staff, and supermarkets often do.

Write a short CV with her. Assuming she is doing GCSEs this summer, put on predicted grades if they are reasonable, plus what and where she will be studying from September. Include 2 or 3 sentences about her current interests and what her future career plans are.

Also include a couple of sentences at the top as a profile. E.g. "A reliable, sensible, and hard-working student looking for a part-time role alongside full-time A-level study to start gaining experience of the workplace."

Then go round to different places and ask whether they have any part-time weekend or evening work available (e.g. pubs, shopping centre, local garden centre, coffee shops, etc.). DD scored 2 out of 2 when she was looking for jobs after GCSEs.

If she has a hobby or interest she could build on that to work. Both my sister and I got basic gymnastics coaching qualifications at 15 (funded by our club as well if I remember rightly!) and then earnt a decent hourly rate coaching recreation classes a couple of times a week. Super easy to fit in around school and sports etc. my cousins did similar with their swimming club and got life guard qualifications.

Support your daughter but make sure she is the one to approach businesses etc to enquire about work or to hand in her cv. All the places I've ever worked didn't take any queries forward if they came from the parents rather than the young person themselves.

Yes, this. Your daughter must be the one to approach them. You can go with her, but make sure she does the talking.

Can she swim? Life guarding is apparently very well paying and seasonal. Many council pools will run the training (which you pay for) but may offer work afterwards which quickly covers it.

Look up any business in travel distance and apply, basically. The choose a day / hours jobs don’t seem to exist anymore.

Businesses like to have people on rotation to cover every second or third Sunday as well as their other shifts.

I presume because there’s so much paperwork involved in a new hire they won’t bother if someone isn’t available for randomised shift patterns every week.

When we lived in a village, my then 14yo got a job washing up in a pub kitchen on a Saturday morning. It worked really well till we moved to a nearby city so she had to leave the job. She's now 16 but has really struggled to get any part time work beyond babysitting - it seems a lot of places will only employ you post-GCSE exams and we are in a university city so there is lots of competition for jobs.

She takes her exams this summer so I'm hoping after that, she'll find it easier.

Lifeguarding is great for them. You have to stump up about 300 quid initially for the course, but I know 17 year olds earning just shy of a grand a month from it.

Another good one is to get her in volunteering somewhere locally for the odd weeks she has, like a charity. They may well offer her paid shifts after seeing her in action.

At this age my DS advertised his services as general light labouring work, gardening, weeding, lifting and shifting, basically said he was prepared to do most things around the house/garden. He asked for £6 an hour and was often paid more, in cash. Once word got around he was pretty busy, I did end up driving him to jobs a lot though!

Around here seems to be supermarkets - apply for those jobs online. Also, holiday clubs - my daughter has done this since she was 16 and it’s been helpful for when she away at uni to come back & submit hours she can do.

Big chains will want reliable hours (not just the odd week free). And they are likely to want more hours than just Sunday.
Her best bet is to ask around smaller businesses and for seasonal work.

if she's only got the odd week free over the summer, she might be better focusing on volunteering to get something on a CV (e.g. library scheme will take her) and then getting a regular hours job from September.

our nearest town is University too

My DC made a list of all the local pubs, restaurants and cafes telephone numbers and worked their way through it.

Retail are going to require more hours Yvan ‘the odd week in the holidays and Sunday from October ‘ . I know you said pub work was out of the question but are you near any stadiums / event places for stewarding or wedding places for waiting staff .

Garden centres are a good bet, especially if probably owned. My 17 year old got a job by walking around with a cv and asking. She works there now every weekend and holiday.

Edited to say: helps if you have a bit of horticultural knowledge or at least are enthusiastic about plants!

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