Wednesday 28 November 2018

My teenager had a job, not anymore!

Becky is 16 years old and when I was her age I had already had a couple of summer/weekend jobs. I worked in riding stables and a launderette. Becky was wanting to work and earn her own money. 


A good couple of months ago we heard of a weekend job going in a local shop. I am not going to name it but we know the manager and most of the staff and it would have been a good place for Becky to learn the in's and out's of having a job.

The manager of the shop she said that she wants to give young people a chance. Now a days you need experience to get a job but can't get a job without experience. It's a catch 22 situation. All she wanted Becky to do was fill in an application form and have an interview. Even if she had messed these up she would still have got the job (she did not know this).

Filling the application form went well. Becky had filled it in before I even had a chance to give her any advice. I was very proud of her. She put across the best of herself and did it all correctly. She handed it in and the manager said it was the best she had seen in months. There was people a lot older than my girl handing in forms with spelling mistakes, bad handwriting and not filling it in correctly. The application form has since been shown to the area manager who was also impressed. hehehe

Late in October she had her interview. She went off to the interview by herself. She wasn't nervous at all. I would have been. She still had no idea that she already had the job, she was just confident and good on her. She text me when she came out and all she said was "I got the job and the uniform to wear"! I was so happy for her. 

 It seems ages ago that all of this happened. She was supposed to start work a few weekends ago but the paper work did not go through in time but she had her first day at work a couple of Saturdays ago and loved it. She didn't stay the full shift because the manager had trouble putting her on to the system. She couldn't stay and work if she wasn't on it for insurance reasons. The manager couldn't do anything to sort it because head office is closed on a weekend.

We found out last week that the company does not employ people who are still at school. Ugh!

I would love to know how it got so far without it being noticed. The manager has never employed anyone as young as Becky so didn't know. She told everyone above her how old Becky was and they never asked if she was still at school. It was only when her date of birth was put into the clocking in system it flagged up. Her date of birth was on the application form which was saw by the area manager, human resources, all the admin people and goodness knows who else but they didn't notice. She had been cleared to work by people but a computer picked up that she couldn't!

I am gutted for Becky and at the moment she is fuming at being messed around. She has put her weekends on hold to take this job, missed a couple of GCSE revision classes to go to the first interview which was cancelled and the second one and had all the excitement and then nothing!

To say I am livid is an understatement. I would love to name the company but can't because my fella works for them. I am not risking his job too! The manager has been lovely and is writing an apology letter and has said she when she is old enough there will be work for her.

7 comments :

  1. Oh what a shame :( It seems that times have changed, I too had a couple of weekend jobs before I left school. It's really frustrating that they didn't find this out before she had the interviews and such. The good news is at least you know that Becky is very employable and I'm sure she'll be working her weekends away very soon xx

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  2. How unbelievably annoying. I'm not surprised Becky is upset. Hopefully there are other companies around that are looking for an enthusiastic person like Becky. Most of my teen's friends seem to work in pubs, but I'm sure that's not the only type of business that offers work to 16/17 year olds.

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  3. That's frustrating! I think all 16 and 17 year olds have to be in education so it should have been more obvious. Teens getting messed around like this in Saturday jobs is not uncommon, unfortunately. I don't think I know a single friend of my daughter who hasn't got some kind of story to tell like this, from not getting paid on time to having shifts cancelled. Or just no training. Work experience weeks are sometimes better organized. I hope she can find something better.

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  4. Really feel for Becky as what a shame she has been messed around. Having a 16 year old too, I know how hard it is to find places that take on teenagers. My son is August born, so he was desperate for a Summer job but nobody would take on a very nearly 16 year old. Sounds as if she has the right mind set, and I am sure another job will come along very soon x

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  5. Oh what a shame. It sounds like Becky was doing well and how annoying that it wasn’t picked up on that the company policy was to not employ anyone who was still at school. I would be cross about that too x

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  6. I can understand the frustration she is feeling. It should have been picked up earlier. On the positive side she has experience of filling in forms and interviews.

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  7. Ah poor Becky its so hard for young people to get work these days at the best of times. But this just is not fair xx

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