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What part-time jobs have you had (and would you recommend them to other people)?

Lots of people get a part-time job when they're at school, college or uni. What was yours, and would you recommend it to other people?



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(edited 10 years ago)

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Reply 1
The best job I ever did whilst waiting to get started in my proper career was aircraft catering at Gatwick. Huge fun driving small trucks out to the airport, going onboard and putting the catering on. I went on Concorde once for a look :wink:. Lot of part time work in the summer if you are near Heathrow or Gatwick.
Working in a off-licence when I was 16 / 17. All I did was lug large volumes of beer around. I quite enjoyed that and the pay was pretty decent back then. Also, I didn't have to deal with customers, so winner!
Right now working in Clarks! Im 17 btw (18 nxt month :tongue:) but yh love.my job
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Reply 4
McDonald's.... yeah, once you've been on that side of customer service in an industry where it's seemingly acceptable to treat the people serving you with zero respect, you find yourself becoming a lot more tolerant. The pay was awful but the free food was great.
Reply 5
Lifeguard - Excellent pay, stay healthy, looks good on CV and really fun when we had the big events in the centre

Bar work - Cool sounding job. Short bursts of being very busy. Pay and hours usually bad

Telesales - Dont do it
Reply 6
I've had a fair few myself, listed below in order of when I got them

1. Paper Round
2. Valeting cars at a dealership (cleaning, polishing, hoovering etc)
3. Sales Assistant at a local shop
4. Website Coordinator for a local charity

Here are my suggestions/comments based on the above

1. was about 13 at the time so very few other jobs available, and I didn't have any pocket money or anything like that so this was certainly better than nothing, only got me about 10 pounds a week or something like that but I mean at 13 that's a fair amount of money I guess

The main thing I liked about this job was you had to walk long distances daily, carrying a fairly hefty bag of papers, so this gave some fairly alright exercise, the downside being if it was poor weather conditions, you had the same trek but got cold/soaked in the process :tongue:

Bottom Line: If you are young (under 16) and have no other choice, Its better than nothing, a fairly easy job and gets you some exercise

2. I actually really enjoyed valeting cars, I'm a bit of a neat freak and find cleaning therapeutic, on top of that the atmosphere at the garage was very social which I liked, help me come out of my shell a lot.

Was my first job after school and actually came as a result of doing my work experience there, paid minimum wage and they always had plenty of hours for me during the summer, which paid for my first car :smile:

Bottom Line: It can be hard at times but is generally straight forward once you know what to do, if you like cars, don't really have much experience in anything, like the social workplace and are not afraid to do a bit of physical work it can be a good earner for your post school/college years.

3. I hated working in a shop :tongue:, but thats just me, although I'm an extrovert I hated standing at a till most of my time. Don't get me wrong I liked putting stock out and similar active tasks, but the shop was generally busy despite being small, and I usually had to stay on till duty.

Bottom Line: Despite my own experiences, It wasn't a bad job and was very easy, to top it off I got to choose the music and got to meet new people daily, and all for a wage that is acceptable for someone with little experience in much else.

If you are very social and have an interest in the product/store your place focus' on, you will probably like this job.

4. My first IT job, after I finished my HND I became a website coordinator for a local charity in my area, basically I revamped their website, kept it up to date and generally stayed on top of their web presence (website, newsletters, Facebook page etc) in addition to this I got to do some IT tech work as the company had few employees and being a charity couldn't really afford separate staff for this

Bottom Line: Being a general "IT" person for a charity or small business is something that can be available to young people, assuming they have the right skills, that said I think any enthusiastic I.T. A-level or BTEC student could have done this job easily.

It paid better than minimum wage and was for less hours in a very relaxed, friendly atmosphere, if you can do this or something similar while in school/college then I'd highly recommend it, its what got me the experience I needed to get the job I have now :smile:


Apologies for the lengthy post I just wanted to post my experience in the hope it would help others :smile:


I've also done some work for friends, family and local people here and there mostly in physical labor type jobs/tasks (unskilled etc) but didn't add these as they were not "proper" or paid jobs, if you want to know anything about those PM or quote me and I'll give you a run down, they included:

-Assistant to an Engineer (simple tasks such as drilling, cutting, grinding, bodywork and painting etc)
-Painting and decorating
-Gardening
-Cleaning

Hope this helps anyone!
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 7
Working at Cadbury world. I ate soooo much chocolate. Would definitely recommend it.
Reply 8
Personal Assistant to the Mayor of London.
Reply 9
Original post by redferry
Working at Cadbury world. I ate soooo much chocolate. Would definitely recommend it.


I think that would be my dream job :lol:.

My first paid work was mystery shopping and exit surveying. Once you find the better jobs it's surprisingly good and some of the perks are great. One of those is the graphics card on the computer I'm using now that I had to purchase for a mystery shop. I've had a few proper jobs since then but still do mystery shops occasionally. It's great to do alongside other commitments as it's so flexible though if you want some of the better tasks you do need to put a reasonable amount of time into it.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 10
Original post by curtis871
I think that would be my dream job :lol:.

My first paid work was mystery shopping and exit surveying. Once you find the better jobs it's surprisingly good and some of the perks are great. One of those is the graphics card on the computer I'm using now that I had to purchase for a mystery shop. I've had a few proper jobs since then but still do mystery shops occasionally. It's great to do alongside other commitments as it's so flexible though if you want some of the better tasks you do need to put a reasonable amount of time into it.


Damn you mystery shoppers!

Made my life hell :tongue:
Had 2 jobs since turning 16 2 years back , worked in a well known card shop and a super market.

Currently still at the super market alongside my A2s

Pay is pretty good for what i'm doing , which is relatively easy work .

But the job itself is soul destroying , I can never understand how some poor people have to do this full time to support their families . It takes such a toll on you , I find .

Most of the time i'm on tills so im there constricted to a tiny space , scanning away hundreds of pounds worth of shopping , customer after customer for hour after hour . I work in a really busy store so I don't even have time to think half the time and by the time im done I'm mentally exhausted and can barely put my mind to work.

I'd recommend to a student trying to get a bit of money on the side and to gain a perspective on how **** entry level jobs are,
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by redferry
Damn you mystery shoppers!

Made my life hell :tongue:


:colondollar: I like to think I'm a nice mystery shopper. I'm probably not though :ninja:
I teach sailing and as a part time job the pay is really good, I wouldn't want to live off it though. Meet awesome people and get to sail some pretty cool boats, as well as getting the satisfaction that goes with teaching people new skills.
Reply 14
Original post by redferry
Working at Cadbury world. I ate soooo much chocolate. Would definitely recommend it.


:drool:
Reply 15
Labouring.

Backbreaking work. You'll wake in the morning in pain, and go to bed in the evening in pain.
Reply 16
I had a part time job at my mams hair dressers. She sacked me after half a day! Mothers eh?!
I worked as a student assistant in a hospital and am still working as a sales advisor for h&m. both in germany though. :-)
Bar staff and cafes are quite good. Relaxing but the pay isn't good.
Reply 19
I've worked in Debenhams, Next, Waitrose and at the moment I work for Dune shoes.

In retail, your responsibilities vary on your job role. In all of them you can expect to talk to customers, which gets easier with time and practice. You can also expect to work on the tills, clean, tidy up displays and get things from the stock room for customers. Also expect to stand on fitting rooms for hours on end listening to the same music on repeat.

It's not all bad though, and I would certainly reccomend getting a job!

This is because -

1. You get money! That means you can save up for things you want, or just have a little cash on the side.

2. It gives you more independence. Not only in a monetary aspect, but also just in the way you can get up in the morning, go out to work and do something that you're not necessarily used to doing, away from the people who make you feel in your comfort zone. It challenges you and helps you grow as a person.

3. You can learn a lot about life, yourself and other humans by working. It also gives you a chance to learn new skills.

4. When it comes to getting a job in the future, or places on a course, it shows you are proactive and that you have a good work ethic. When I first started working it look me a long time to find a job because I had no previous experience.

...Don't let this put you off though! You'll get there eventually. All you need to do in interview in that case is put across that you're a nice, friendly person. You don't even have to be very outgoing because many companies won't expect everybody to be extroverted and chatty. One thing that helped me with interviews was to go online and find sample interview questions, and write down my potential answers to try and prepare. On the about.com website they actually tell you the sort of answers employers are looking for and it's very helpful. There's also another website called glassdoor and people put their interview experiences on there for major companies so you know what to expect.

Another thing - if you are going to an interview, always dress smartly and make yourself presentable. The amount of people I've seen going into an interview wearing jeans is ridiculous. In some places it's okay, but you can never make a bad impression (visually) if you do put in the effort to look nice. You have more chances of making a bad visual impression if you don't make yourself presentable.

Body language, especially eye contact, open postures and smiling is very important. Try not to babble too much, they tend to prefer answers that aren't too short or too long.

Make sure you are polite and respectful, and think of it more as an opportunity to learn something, and put it in your mind that you already have the job. This will give you tons more confidence when you go in.

Even if you are rejected, don't think of it as negative because it means you can ask the interviewers for tips on how they think you could improve for your next interview. If they don't give you any tips, you can try and think about what you said and how you acted, and how to improve. Look at it as a way to narrow down your choices to get a better job. Every time you go in, just think - I have nothing to lose! Even if you don't think it's true, it tends to help. At least it did with me.

One more thing - get volunteer work whilst you're job searching. It's worthwhile but also gives you something more to talk about in the interview, and gives a good impression in that you are proactive.

If you are searching for work, then make sure you have a look online and in papers as often as you can. Also keep an eye out for signs in shop windows. It's surprising how many you can miss if you don't actively look for them when you're out and about. It can take courage, but if you particularly like a shop or place that you're in, feel free to ask if they're looking for anybody to hire. At worst they can say no. This doesn't mean that they don't want to hire you specifically of course. You could even ask if there's a website you can keep looking at in case any jobs do come up. It makes you feel more productive that way, even if there isn't a job on the horizon with them very soon.

If anyone needs anymore help, then feel free to message me. I have loads of information on this sort of thing so maybe I could give you advice on interviews and CVs etc :smile: x
(edited 10 years ago)

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