Advise on getting a saturday job?

Lemonade1947

Lemonade1947

Lemonade1947

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I'm (finally) 16 and able to get a saturday job to earn de moneyz.
I have applied for one job at *** Please don't mention competitors *** - Will Gill as I feel I am more qualified to work there than most of their staff (seriously, I went in there and none of them knew what a network switch was, I had to look for them myself) this was 2 weeks ago, so I am starting to loose hope.

I am asking for 2 things, CV advise and the best places to look for jobs.
 
CV wise, keep it simple. The problem with the place you mentioned the job there isn't to inform people about things it's to sell them stuff they don't need nor want.
 
Doubt competitor will take you on, best thing I'd do is look at some local independents who might take you on purely for Saturday work just to train you up abit, the only problem you might find is a lot of people are offering to work for free to get some experience purely because of the job market atm.

We get a few people in weekly asking if they can do unpaid work on a Saturday with us.
 
We can't advise you on your CV unless you post it for us to look at. It would also help, in terms of advice giving, if you told us a little bit about where you live. I grew up in a town, and mainly looked for retail/service industry jobs as a result. However I went to a rural school and most of the lads I went to school did seasonal work for local farmers, helping with harvests, ploughing etc and would have had a hard time taking a job in a supermarket as the supermarket was miles from where they lived meaning they'd be relying on lifts to get to/from work.

If you live in an urban area, Why not nip round local businesses and ask if they need staff and if so if you can have an application form? If you live rurally you'll probably already know where your best prospects are, so go and ask! Although I wouldn't expect too much seasonal farm work at this time of year.

Finally expect to fill out lots of applications and to have knock backs, it's the nature of job hunting I'm afraid!

Good luck
 
The people at no competitors who work at the repair centre do know their stuff, I took a game back for a refund once and the guy there knew what error message had appeared on my screen. I googled the error before returning it and could not find any information about it. Was a pretty obscure error and not had it happen again.

Come on you knew asking one of the monkeys there wasn't going to be of any use, its the same no matter what type of shop you go to.
 
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This is going to seem quite negative but...

A lot of people are looking for work at weekends or evenings to supplement their income due to rising costs. If you a going for a position filling shelves on a Saturday in a supermarket, you are in competition with at least 100 other people, a lot of which will be over qualified but look good on paper as they have more responsibilities and therefore less likely to leave at a moments notice. I doubt this is the case with yourself but employers play the odds (I worked for a small company that wouldn't employ young women as they tend to fall pregnant or don't mention it on their application).

Retail is usually the 'go to' sector for part time work but have a look at others too, such as trades (plumbing, electricianing), Unskilled Labour (flooring fitting, cleaning, McDonaldsing, waitering).
Any family members do anything like this as a lot of the time its who you know rather than what you know.

Your current CV would help a lot, but don't give up, a lot of people spend months out of work these days, seems to have become the norm

It was so much easier 20 years ago.....
 
I always find it funny when people say how little *** Don't mention competitors! *** - Will Gill staff know about computing / networking.

They don't want techy nerdy staff, they want people who can hold a conversation and sell insurance services.

All they need to know is a bit more than the majority of their customers (so not much).

Right little rant over (I don't work for them btw just know a store manager)

As for Saturday jobs I'd say try local shops, just pop in and have a chat with the owners. You can try the usual supermarkets etc but 16 is too young for a lot of companies.
 
Lemonade1947 said:
I'm (finally) 16 and able to get a saturday job to earn de moneyz.
I have applied for one job at ****** as I feel I am more qualified to work there than most of their staff (seriously, I went in there and none of them knew what a network switch was, I had to look for them myself) this was 2 weeks ago, so I am starting to loose hope.

I am asking for 2 things, CV advise and the best places to look for jobs.
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You see, I think you come across straight away as lacking the sort of personality needed to work in a place like *** Don't mention competitors! *** - Will Gill, their job is to sell, not to know every in and out of every product, granted, the person you were dealing with might've went and asked someone else.

Any ways, what employers are looking for is personality, easy to get on with, outgoing, a good and confident speaker. willingness to work extra at a moments notice, etc, you just working Saturdays isn't ideal. Can you do any late nights or Sundays? Esp coming into Christmas employers need flexible workers.

Put in a CV with extra curricular activities, sports teams are good, as they demonstrate that you can work as part of a team.

When I'm involved in recruitment at the company I work for (similar sort've thing to *** Don't mention competitors! *** - Will Gill) we don't expect people to know everything, we teach them on the job, we look for the aforementioned.
 
Getting a job at your age with no work exp will be hard, very hard. Apply for EVERYTHING, and take ANYTHING.
 
McDonalds, it sounds gash but they used to pay pt workers well, I was on £6.50ph 12 years ago, and the job is an utter doss.

Plus free food, take that how you will.

Josh
 
J05H86UK said:
McDonalds, it sounds gash but they used to pay pt workers well, I was on £6.50ph 12 years ago, and the job is an utter doss.

Plus free food, take that how you will.

Josh
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I used to work in McDonald's. It was an awesome job and a good gateway into my current career, in which I'm doing well. I highly recommend it for kids coming out of college as a decent start point in the working world. Good management training too.
 
I remember when I used to apply for jobs at the mainstream computer shop and wondered why they never wanted to take me on. They are looking for a salesperson, not a computer expert, its a shame they do it this way, I'd be much more tempted to be greeted by a geek who knows their stuff rather than a boring salesperson who tries to sell me extended warranty. The majority who go there would probably get overwhelmed by the over detailed explanation by a knowledgeable computer person so would rather just see an average salesperson who knows just a little more than them.
 
Lemonade1947 said:
I'm (finally) 16 and able to get a Saturday job to earn de moneyz.
I have applied for one job at *** Please don't mention competitors *** - Will Gill as I feel I am more qualified to work there than most of their staff (seriously, I went in there and none of them knew what a network switch was, I had to look for them myself) this was two weeks ago, so I am starting to lose hope.

I am asking for two things, CV advice and the best places to look for jobs.
Click to expand...

Some tips :) I was probably the same at 16.

Get out the habit of text speak, it annoys most folk and hopefully there is less of a chance putting any into your CV. Some minor corrections above.
 
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local pub?

I did that during 6th form... started off as a waiter - spent some shifts in the kitchens too doing salads, side dishes etc.. when I was 18 I moved on to doing some bar work... the kitchen can be an interesting introduction to workplace politics... serving food or drinks gets you used to dealing with a wide variety of people

do some temping during the summer holidays too - reed, office angels etc... I worked at a brokerage firm for most of a summer when I was 17 - paid double the rate of the pub job... was just back office stuff but since most of the permanent staff were seemingly unable to perform basic tasks in excel its easy to make yourself a lot more useful than the average **** who will be in one of those sorts of jobs for life.
 
Something nobody has mentioned, is that it would be a big help if you have any connections. If you can go through a friend or family member, etc and get your first job through them and or perhaps one of your fathers friends could help out. So bottom line, go talk to your friends as well as dropping off a lot of CV's at the temp agencies in your area.
 
Retail or Hospitality :).

Usually easy to get to grips with, usually good hours (you're cheap labour) and you there is the ability to meet some new people as well as earning some money.
 
Apply and assume you didn't get the job, move on.

That way you don't waste time "waiting to hear back." because most of the time it doesn't happen.

Send out dozens of Cvs every week, assuming they're all rejections / forget about them. Then when one does get an interview, it's a nice suprise. and it'll happen a hell of a lot quicker than "i sent out 3 CVs, just waiting to find out now".
 
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