Last week I wrote about Teens at Work and how they expect to be funded for everything as they couldn’t get jobs until they were 16 and school leavers.
I now have a 16 year old and this week I decided enough is enough……he needs to find a job. We have had tantrums about how he isn’t old enough to work in supermarkets etc – he forgets I worked in one for years and did recruitment myself.
Times have changed though – there is no more filling out application forms and taking in CV’s, it is all online and I thought this would make it easier.
Apparently not!
Lets start with Sainsbury’s.
Firstly we had to create a log-in. Easy enough I thought, Callan had already done this but it would not let him sign in with it so we ended up starting again.
Once we had managed to navigate the very user unfriendly page we created a log-in. I expected to have to input all his details straight after but instead we had to wait up to three hours for a validation email……..very frustrating!
Thankfully the email came through after about 20 minutes and we input his details which took at least 5 attempts to submit – even I was getting frustrated by this point but finally we could start looking at jobs.
We were searching for something he could fit in around college – evenings and weekends but very few of these hours seem to exist. Looking through the vacancy list was a real eye opener – no more than three shifts per week and every vacancy had day / evening work as well as at least one weekend day. No wonder people are struggling to find jobs that fit with childcare. Anyway I digress…..
We found a vacancy in the customer restaurant that would fit in with college and set about applying. Next came the aptitude test and 20 minutes of painful questioning – “Mum – what would you do if…….”
I have to admit that I told him to use his common sense and walked away as he is going to have to learn how to complete these types of forms, but it did leave me wondering why they didn’t teach them or at least prepare them for answering these at school.
The really really frustrating thing is – he hit submit and got an error page………everything lost! He tried a couple more times and it happened again and again. We have sent an email to Sainsbury’s but a company of this size really should have an easy to navigate recruitment page that at least WORKS!!
He also tried Tesco and Asda – both whom are advertising jobs, yet according to the website have no vacancies. Because the website is showing no vacancies he cannot even submit a CV. Please can someone tell me how on earth they recruit if you cannot even apply through the method they have asked you to?????
With many teens expecting work to fall into their lap they would certainly have given up by this point. I know Callan would have (and tried to) if I hadn’t been standing over his shoulder making sure he completed it. Surely it would also have been easier to fill in a chart with what hours he could do – that way you match the application to the vacancy.
My next job will be marching him around town with a folder full of CV’s – he will get a job if it kills me.
I know once he is working he will love it as he’ll make a whole new set of friends, have his own money to spend on what he wants and enjoy some responsibility. Please wish him luck, it’s interview practice next!
Good luck! Sounds like a lot of pay applying via websites, they are indeed sometimes too complicated
So irritating! At 16, I found it so hard to get a job. At 17, I got a job at Poundstretcher (to be fair, the interview was very informal and the easiest thing EVER). I stayed until I was 20 and managed to get myself to supervisor/keyholder level. I find that it’s easier to get jobs in ‘money saving’ stores x
Good luck! That sounds horribly painful. I remember just going into each shop in town and asking for an application form, it got me 3 years of Saturdays working in Argos which was good money too 🙂
Well done to you for making him stick at it, but how frustrating that it’s made so difficult! Good luck with the search!
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