Last week, Lochlan and I were discussing the logistics of a summer job, as I cannot keep being the bank of mum! Xene has had a gap year and during that time she has been helping with the family business, but Lochlan is not so keen, so he is considering looking for a Summer Job (although I think he may reconsider when he realises how many hours he will have to work in a job to what he could earn working for us!). Luckily the lovely Laura from Shiply has some great suggestions for him.
Besides working on the high street, there are some other jobs your teenager could do that’ll work around their holiday plans, and avoid working in an office.
Cat sitting/dog walking
There are so many apps and websites now where you can register yourself as available for looking after pets. If your teenager is going to be around during the day, this is a real advantage as dogs are often required to be walked during working hours. There’s a lot of competition out there though, so make sure they know that their profile must be strong and well-written – if they’ve helped look after a family pet since they were tiny, put it on there!
Tutoring/teaching an instrument
If they’ve got some impressive qualifications already (good A-levels or a degree for example), or are studying a course at university like maths or music, why not pass the knowledge on to somebody else? It’s easy to set up a listing on Gumtree or local classifieds, and if they are around early in the summer, you could help school students just in time for their summer exams, or music grade exams.
Volunteering at a festival
Admittedly, it’s not something they’ll get paid for, but it does mean they get to go to their favourite festivals without you having to fork out for a ticket. They’ll typically have to do one shift a day but they will make lots of new friends and won’t miss out on the festival experience! They could even sign up as a group of friends and they might even get to work together.
Register as a tasker
There are loads of apps now where you can register yourself as someone able to do day-to-day tasks. These can range from doing someone’s shopping to planning an event for them – get your teen to take a look at taskrabbit and see what might be good to do.
Activity leader
Lots of companies offer summer camp jobs that students are perfect for, and is a great way to travel and work at the same time. The most well known one is Camp America, but there are many others. Some will involve an upfront cost but tend to include return flights, accommodation and a salary/spending money in a very good deal. This will also look great on their CV to give them the edge in future interviews.
Hopefully you can suggest some of these ideas and keep them out of the house and out of your wallet!
Do you have an older teen, that is looking for a job, maybe these suggestions will help.