Christmas jobs are on offer if you look for them. Despite the recession and all the thousands of redundancies there is, at least, some work on offer among the big retail companies.
I know from my own days as a student, how glad I was to get a job delivering the extra Christmas post. The money went straight into my bank account and helped fund me through my university course. Without it, I would have struggled.
OK, I wasn’t supporting a family or trying to keep a roof over anyone’s head, but there was work and it did pay. It’s also true that I didn’t want a full-time job, however I’ve got three things to say on the subject:
- Any work is better than no work. Money is money - even if it is not much, unreliable or short-lived. Grab it while you can and don’t dream of what might or should be.
- A good percentage (often 30% plus) of the seasonal workers get offered full-time, permanent jobs at the end of the period.
- Being able to show on your CV that you have worked makes you far more attractive a proposition to other employers.
So, in summary, it’s a win-win-win situation. I won’t accept excuses for not giving it a go. My civil engineering degree didn’t help me with delivering mail but, if I’d come to the end of my course and there was no engineering work on offer, I would have been only too happy to shove letters through letterboxes in return for a reliable monthly pay packet.
Anyway, without any more preamble, let’s have a look at the Christmas jobs we know about so far:
Marks and Spencer – 15,000 Christmas jobs
Debenhams have got 6,500 Christmas jobs on offer. About a quarter got permanent jobs at the end of the period last year.
Debenhams at Hanley in Staffordshire have 40 Christmas job vacancies – Do you live near Hanley?
Merry Hill Shopping Centre Christmas Jobs Fair – if you’re in Dudley or can get there …
Glasgow Silverburn Shopping Centre Christmas Jobs Fair – not to be outdone are the Glaswegians with 300 Christmas job vacancies on offer.
Royal Mail Christmas Jobs, Stoke-on-Trent – 400 job vacancies delivering the Christmas post around Stoke.
Royal Mail Christmas Jobs, UK-Wide – Do what I did by getting one of the 18,000 Christmas postie jobs.
Toys ‘R’ Us Pop-Up Store, Chelmsford – 20 Christmas Job Vacancies
Matalan Christmas Jobs – 2,300 job vacancies – fancy doling out bargains to Xmas shoppers?
Sainsbury’s have 15,000 Christmas job vacancies across the UK
Argos have 12,000 Christmas jobs on offer
Argos are offering 30 Christmas jobs in Blackpool
Asda are looking to fill 7,000 Christmas jobs
Amazon, Peterborough Fulfilment Centre, 1,000 jobs – pick and pack Christmas prezzies for Amazon customers
According to my reckoning, that’s about 85,000 Christmas job vacancies for the taking. Assuming a 25% conversion rate to permanent jobs, that means 21,000 full-time, permanent vacancies. Any company offering that these days would be headline news.
I hope you found this guide to Christmas jobs helpful and that you will let me know of any other Christmas jobs.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Huh, don’t talk to me about Christmas jobs with these huge retail stores. I am SICK TO DEATH of sending off application after application and getting either knocked back or no reply at all. I have applied to ALL the major department stores on Merseyside, but it is the same old depressing story. What the hell do these HR Managers want? And why do they force us job applicants to to do these ridiculously lengthy online behavioural tests just to work as a sales assistant?? This country has gone barmy with such ludicrous methods of recruiting. I am currently stuck at home, feeling extremely depressed, angry and bitter about the way these employers are treating us job applicants. The problem is, they can pick and choose from the huge amount of people on the dole. Oh for a return to the good old days of full employment, when bosses could not afford to be so choosey. Unfortunately, given today’s depressing news about the UK economy, it doesn’t bode well for a return to such better days.
Now we aren’t going to agree there, Alan. I’m a real advocate of aptitude tests and I have used them extensively to screen out unsuitable employees. If you read some of my editorials, you will see just how truly unemployable some people are. The aptitude test allows employers to ask questions in a way that circumvents the numerous unworkable PC rules which only serve to cripple businesses. PC’ism is the real disease.
While I completely sympathise with you regarding work, I can’t wholeheartedly agree with your stance on employers. I think you are lashing out at the big chains who are largely looking for Minimum Wage drones and that is understandable. Thinking of ordinary businesses (like the one I used to run), it was difficult enough to make ends meet through having to comply with the ludicrous legislation that is churned out by bureaucrats who’ve never worked a day in their lives. Being compelled to take on anyone who walked in off the street would have been the icing on the cake.
No, full employment without a fully-employable workforce is not the answer. Nor is having PC garbage rammed down an employer’s throat so far that they’re terrified of getting rid of a rotten apple as that only means the rest of the workforce suffers through low profits or even eventual redundancy.
It’s a complicated problem only exacerbated by self-serving politicians who’ve milked the cow dry for far too long.