Student Discrimination

Positive Prospects Or Disgusting Discrimination
A summer job working in Industry - what kind of work do you mean? Summer jobs are one of the most sought after work opportunities in the UK at the moment. Nearly everyone still in education gets a summer holiday, and a huge percentage of you look for work during this time. Summer jobs may conjure up images of serving drinks on a beach in the med (or for some, in the Caribbean!) but in reality, most Summer Jobs are not quite as glamorous... but much easier to get, especially with www.e4s.co.uk! We have reviewed a few sectors in Industry below, which will hopefully give you some more ideas about where to look, and how to go about getting you that 'ideal' Summer Job.

Positive Prospects Or Disgusting Discrimination

A summer job working in Industry - what kind of work do you mean? Summer jobs are one of the most sought after work opportunities in the UK at the moment. Nearly everyone still in education gets a summer holiday, and a huge percentage of you look for work during this time.

Summer jobs may conjure up images of serving drinks on a beach in the med (or for some, in the Caribbean!) but in reality, most Summer Jobs are not quite as glamorous... but much easier to get, especially with www.e4s.co.uk!

We have reviewed a few sectors in Industry below, which will hopefully give you some more ideas about where to look, and how to go about getting you that 'ideal' Summer Job.

Sectors
As a student myself, I am all too aware of the challenges we face when it comes to seeking employment. It definitely seems to be the case that many employers nowadays are only interested in employees who are able to work consistently and on a long-term basis. This is understandable, however not necessarily always possible. With the structure of terms and semesters at university, we are only ever in one place for a maximum of four months at a time. With Christmas holidays often being an entire month for some universities, as well as Easter, we would need a lot of holiday time to be allowed, if we were to hold down a job for longer than one term at a time. This therefore means repeating the whole job searching process all over again! Worse still is the time when we are actually at home, we're all back at the same time so it ends up being a mad race to the local shops and employment agencies with a bundle of CV's! If you are a student trying to pay your way through university - or at the very least pay for your own nights out, you'll know that a student loan only goes so far. More often than not, a student loan won't even cover a full terms rent. So what do we do about it? Go job-hunting of course! Sounds simple right? Unfortunately not, there seems to be a slight issue between employers and students, that being that they simply don't want us. But why not? Surely we'd be just as capable and hard working as the next person. Fear not! It's not all doom and gloom. There are ways to up your chances of getting a foothold in the weird and wonderful world of employment. You definitely stand more of a chance in the line-up of prospective employees if you are willing to stay at university and work through the holidays. There are companies out there who will welcome back students such as us, companies who know a good thing when they see it. Because, after all, we will be the ones who pop-up at Christmas time when the last-minute rush is stirring up, and we'll be the ones who re-appear when other employees are disappearing off on holiday. Furthermore, as students who are constantly learning, we will quickly pick on new systems be it working behind a till or with computer programmes. You see this is what we need to do, pitch ourselves as an extremely useful service. One company that is known for its flexibility with student employees is Woolworths. As an employer, Woolworths is a students' dream! Decent wages, flexible hours, and furthermore, they'll even welcome you back with open-arms after a three-month summer holiday! As well as the few good companies such as Woolworths who will give us a chance, there are always employment agencies. These are very useful and welcoming to students, however it is always a bit hit and miss as to whether they'll have something available when you need it. Christmas is a particularly quiet time for employment agencies, so it's best not to rely solely on them to provide your Christmas spending! So basically, we may feel discriminated against, and in some cases we may well be - but at the end of the day an employer has to look out for the company's best interests. This means they will recruit those who they feel will be most beneficial to the company. For them to re-recruit each time we go home for the summer or Christmas holidays, is a waste of their time and money. So if you really want to stand a better chance of succeeding in your search for employment, you really need to make yourself as available as possible. A good cover letter and CV will give you a good head start. There are so many websites available that provide hints and tips on how to create the perfect CV. If these resources are available to you, make the most of them, after all a cover letter and CV are an employees first impression of you. Don't forget to highlight the positives of employing a student, and more to the point, the positives of employing you! You have a quality service to offer, so sell it to them! Lisa Falconer

Sectors

As a student myself, I am all too aware of the challenges we face when it comes to seeking employment.

It definitely seems to be the case that many employers nowadays are only interested in employees who are able to work consistently and on a long-term basis. This is understandable, however not necessarily always possible. With the structure of terms and semesters at university, we are only ever in one place for a maximum of four months at a time. With Christmas holidays often being an entire month for some universities, as well as Easter, we would need a lot of holiday time to be allowed, if we were to hold down a job for longer than one term at a time. This therefore means repeating the whole job searching process all over again! Worse still is the time when we are actually at home, we're all back at the same time so it ends up being a mad race to the local shops and employment agencies with a bundle of CV's!

If you are a student trying to pay your way through university - or at the very least pay for your own nights out, you'll know that a student loan only goes so far. More often than not, a student loan won't even cover a full terms rent. So what do we do about it? Go job-hunting of course! Sounds simple right? Unfortunately not, there seems to be a slight issue between employers and students, that being that they simply don't want us. But why not? Surely we'd be just as capable and hard working as the next person.

Fear not! It's not all doom and gloom. There are ways to up your chances of getting a foothold in the weird and wonderful world of employment. You definitely stand more of a chance in the line-up of prospective employees if you are willing to stay at university and work through the holidays. There are companies out there who will welcome back students such as us, companies who know a good thing when they see it. Because, after all, we will be the ones who pop-up at Christmas time when the last-minute rush is stirring up, and we'll be the ones who re-appear when other employees are disappearing off on holiday. Furthermore, as students who are constantly learning, we will quickly pick on new systems be it working behind a till or with computer programmes. You see this is what we need to do, pitch ourselves as an extremely useful service. One company that is known for its flexibility with student employees is Woolworths. As an employer, Woolworths is a students' dream! Decent wages, flexible hours, and furthermore, they'll even welcome you back with open-arms after a three-month summer holiday! As well as the few good companies such as Woolworths who will give us a chance, there are always employment agencies. These are very useful and welcoming to students, however it is always a bit hit and miss as to whether they'll have something available when you need it. Christmas is a particularly quiet time for employment agencies, so it's best not to rely solely on them to provide your Christmas spending!

So basically, we may feel discriminated against, and in some cases we may well be - but at the end of the day an employer has to look out for the company's best interests. This means they will recruit those who they feel will be most beneficial to the company. For them to re-recruit each time we go home for the summer or Christmas holidays, is a waste of their time and money. So if you really want to stand a better chance of succeeding in your search for employment, you really need to make yourself as available as possible. A good cover letter and CV will give you a good head start. There are so many websites available that provide hints and tips on how to create the perfect CV. If these resources are available to you, make the most of them, after all a cover letter and CV are an employees first impression of you. Don't forget to highlight the positives of employing a student, and more to the point, the positives of employing you! You have a quality service to offer, so sell it to them!

Lisa Falconer