We know you’re probably looking forward to having some time away from your College work but there are plenty of reasons why getting yourself a job over the holiday periods can pay off big time.
There are immediate advantages, plus ones that will help you further down the line when you start looking for full-time employment. The holidays can be a great time to get some work experience particularly in a course related job, such as in a kitchen if you're a hospitality & catering student. If you can't find anything matching your course, any job can give you the transferrable skills you need to succeed.
Here are just four reasons why you should think about getting that all-important experience during the holidays:
There’s high demand
Over periods such as the Christmas season, and Black Friday before that, the shops are unbelievably busy. If it isn’t for last minute Christmas shopping, it will be with Christmas spending money after the big day. The same goes for tourist attractions over the summer.
With this enormous demand, stores, pubs, hotels and tourist attractions need as much help as they can get. This means they are going to be hiring many students and younger people to fill the part-time, or temporary, roles and make sure that every possible till is manned.
This demand means that getting your foot in the door, for a permanent or future job, will be so much easier. People are often put off applying for part-time jobs in shops because it’s such a popular choice, and the stores will receive a lot of applications.
Start looking early for any vacancy signs in the shops around late September-early October – that's when they'll start to recruit their staff for the Christmas season. Don't wait until December!
Think outside the box too – it's not just retail shops, pubs and restaurants that will need extra staff, but even places like the Post Office, and you may have the option to pick the shifts too.
Ideal for handling pressure in the future
The job will be hectic and busy – hence why they've had to take on additional staff! You’ll find yourself rushed off your feet which can often be a stressful experience - but it’s the perfect experience to prepare you for a world of work.
In all likelihood, you’ll be on your feet serving customers and keeping the queues from building up. Don’t let this put you off, though. You will undoubtedly have to deal with stressful situations later on in your life. Any job, no matter what sector it’s in, has its fair share of hard work, and experiencing this early on in life will help you tackle any future situations with ease.
Keeping your cool under pressure is a highly sought-after skill that employers will be looking for in their applicants. A calm nerve can help you build leadership skills and open up the job market to you.
Looks great on the CV
Customer service for a short period during the holidays can give you a fantastic advantage over the competition when you're applying for your first job, or on your UCAS application, if you're looking to go to university.
Even part-time or temporary jobs during the holidays shows commitment and dedication. When you come to apply for other jobs once you’ve left school, this experience is a great launch-pad for further employment. You never know – you may even find a job or industry that you really like that you hadn't considered before!
You'll not only make friends, but you could make useful contacts for the future. You never know when you might need a reference or future experience. They may even offer you additional work in the future.
Pay is great!
As mentioned, demand is so high, and employers want to get reliable people handling their goods during the holiday rush. For example, because Christmas is busy, the rate at which people are paid increases as a means of compensating the staff for all the extra work they will have to do.
The job might be hard, but by the end of the season, you could be sitting on a nice little pile of cash to put towards purchases or even saving for further education. If you usually get money as a gift for Christmas (there’s always one Aunty who’ll insist on giving it as a cheque) then adding your holiday wages can make saving up for something special so much easier.
So there you have it, there are plenty of reasons to give a temp job a go over the holiday season. The money you’ll get will make it worth it in short-term and the experience will help you out in the long run. You can always take up a part-time job and still have plenty to time to lounge in the sun, spend time with family or go abroad on holiday.
