Teens say there is plenty of competition for summer jobs at fast food chains and elsewhere. Photo: 123RF
High school students say they are under pressure to find work over summer but there aren't enough jobs or positions for people with no prior experience.
One teenager told First Up he was rejected for an entry-level role at a fast food chain because the employer received 600 applications.
Teenagers finding it hard to get summer jobs - we have tips
Josh Hill, 17, from Auckland said he had been looking for casual work since February last year.
"There isn't enough opportunities for youth, and there's too many people competing."
Earlier this year he was shortlisted for an entry-level role at a fast food chain, but lost the job to someone more experienced.
"Even the manager told me it was an easy job for high school students and was available for anyone entry level and he had received 600 applicants, so essentially I got shortlisted and then there was like 50 people ahead of me.
"I didn't get the job, there was someone with more experience."
But Hill said that wasn't the only role with hundreds of applicants.
"For Pak n Save trolley boy, there was about 15 shortlisted applicants and I believe again, probably at least 100 to 200 people had applied for that position."
"There were queues out the door for labour outsourcing."
Hannah Cormack-Neto, 16, had also been applying for work since the beginning of the year.
"I decided to try get a job, maybe like the beginning of the year, but I couldn't find anything so I just gave up for a couple of months."
She said it took months to hear back about the outcome of her application
"So I go in and apply online and then they just leave me. They say 'thank you for your application and then like months later they come back saying 'you haven't been accepted for this job will keep your CV in hand'."
Cormack-Neto said although job ads say 'no experience needed', recruiters told her she did not get the job because she didn't have relevant work history.
"They always say they needed someone with experience, but when they post online about advertising jobs to people for part time, it says no experience needed. "
Kate Ross was the founder and chief executive of Swivel Careers - a service that helped secondary and tertiary students choose careers.
She suggested young people should meet potential employers face-to-face rather than applying online
"I think a lot of the time the teenager these days does have to get off their butts a little bit and be proactive like they really do need to go door knocking, topping into place and say, 'hey, listen is anything free here with my CV. I'd love to work if there's an opportunity to come up' because they are up against a lot of other teenagers, obviously looking and then right now because of the market, there are a lot of people looking."
Cormack-Neto said she door-knocked one potential employer, but it didn't help.
"So I printed off my CV and I walked in and we had a chat about it. They asked what days I would most likely be able to work, but they never came back to me at all because I left my details with them and everything."
Amanda Taylor is the General Manager of The Function Staff -- an Auckland-based company that provides hospitality workers and often gives secondary school students their first jobs.
"Obviously we do ask any sort of previous experience that might be relevant, so that might be as simple as you know, helping out with chores for mum and dad. It might be looking after younger siblings or what they've done at school to take on further responsibility."
And completing practical courses offered at school could help in the long run.
"A really big one that the schools do a lot of currently is barista training."
"That's a a great opportunity for them or any of those skills and qualifications that they get within their NCEA that make them valuable practically in a workplace."
Ross of Swivel Careers suggested parents could help their children find their first jobs.
"So the ideal situation is my mum and dad saying, 'listen, I maybe could help you introduce it to people or how would I come along with you while you drop off your CV?', support them initially to give them the confidence to then be able to go off and do it themselves."
Cormack-Neto said the pressure to find work during summer was proving too much.
"I'm pretty tired, to be honest. It's it's just a very frustrating process because I need to start saving for uni, but it's hard to get the jobs to be able to do it."
Meanwhile, Ross says there is still time to get a summer job and high school students shouldn't lose hope.
"There's retail and cafe work. There are some businesses that might take somebody on as like as an office junior for a while or maybe like someone at the back that can wrap up Christmas presents or help with the overflow with customer demands or something like that."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.