Best place for part time job (age 16)?

G'Meister

Rather than one of these stop-gap jobs, tell him to try and get a real job. When he really struggles, and realizes no-one's going to employ him with just his GCSE's except the supermarkets, it'll give him a real reason to do well during his A-Levels.
Course, setting him up to fail might not be such a great idea, depends how independent/confident he is in himself.

celyn90

I worked for M&S they are a good employer, got to take home lots of food at the end of the day for very little money. Staff discount if you've been there a while and plenty of opportunity for overtime. Earnt quiet a bit doing weekends and bank hols too.

I also worked in a public library for seven years part time. Excellent wage (I was earning an hourly rate about £3 an hour more than my friends working in retail at the time), unlimited and free library loans/reservations/ordering/film&Cd rental, so good for researching college work. Local goverment perks too, so pension scheme, access to gym etc etc. Less opportunity for extra hours though (although I got a few in the summer) but when I was at Uni they hired me in the library as I had experience.

simmed

Thanks for the helpful replies everyone. Not meaning to hijack the thread but I'm in the exact same situation as the OP's son - are there any opportunities apart from supermarkets? Ideally you would get a part-time job to compliment your future academic career, which is economics for me, but I can't see banks or the like taking a 16 year-old on.

Lokolo

simmed wrote: »

Thanks for the helpful replies everyone. Not meaning to hijack the thread but I'm in the exact same situation as the OP's son - are there any opportunities apart from supermarkets? Ideally you would get a part-time job to compliment your future academic career, which is economics for me, but I can't see banks or the like taking a 16 year-old on.

16 is too young for a bank yes, um one you start AS Levels (I am assuming), during summer they may employ some people to work extra hours and things but if I were you I would j ust go out and get a regular job somewhere, even if it is just a supermarket. More years you have on your CV the better.

jackwooly

Lokolo wrote: »

16 is too young for a bank yes, um one you start AS Levels (I am assuming), during summer they may employ some people to work extra hours and things but if I were you I would j ust go out and get a regular job somewhere, even if it is just a supermarket. More years you have on your CV the better.

Not strictly true about banks. One of my friends got offered a job at a bank when he had just turned 16 in October.

djjojojuice

Marks and Spencer was good for, worked there whilst I did my bachelors as did a lot of other staff members. Good discount off delicious food and they ask you to work 16 hrs a week and there tends to be lots of O/T during school holidays.

DogDave

Most of the supermarkets pay their under-18 employees the same rate as other employees, which means you can earn a lot more money than you otherwise would. Usually you just need to drop a CV off at their customer service desk.

andrewmoorcroft

Thanks 4 all the replies. Like the idea of discount on my shopping!
Not sure if some of the age restriction comments still apply though. I thought there was recent employment legislation outlawing age discrimination, (unless the law itselt dictates age - such as selling alcohol, driving etc).
I've not read the legislation but i would assume that you couldn't use age in a decision to employ or pay someone differently.

amaseal

At 16 and 17 the minimum wage is a lot less than for an 18 year old. A 21 year old gets more again so discrimination is a fact. Somewhere that sells a lot of alcohol may not take him on. My daughter rang Care Homes in the Yellow Pages at 16 and got work as a Kitchen Assistant , she needed to pass a Criminal Records Bureau check so there is another case of discrimination.
It is rough to be paid less for the same work because of your age.
She worked for the local Co-op and I miss the discount now she's left.

Cardelia

Employers can be disadvantaged by taking on younger workers though. For example, young people need permission to sell age-related items if they're under that age (e.g. under 18s can only sell alcohol with the permission of an over 18), there are lots of restrictions on how many hours a young person can work in a week (especially if they're still in full-time education) and there are restrictions on the type of work they're allowed to do. So it seems fair to me that if a young person can't carry out all the tasks that an older person could, they get paid less.