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"About Jobs"

There are several jobs where I live that I can do, except they're all permanent or 6 month contracts, while I'm just looking for a two month one before uni starts. There is an obvious way round this; apply for the job and then quit two months in, just before I leave - has anyone done something similar before to get a job?

The other, more common jobs (retailer in Dixons, HMV, etc.) have all been taken up by other pesky students who were quicker in handing their CV in.

I've just been asked to hand in a covering letter with a CV by some of the recruitment agencies I've visited - but since covering letters are addressed and customised according to which employer you are sending it to, I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

Silly me, I thought there was a law that stopped you from doing more than one job - but if that was the case, you wouldn't hear stories of mothers running around doing cleaning in the morning, checkouts in the afternoon, etc.

No. You'd go and get a new job, nothing's stopping you.

So if that happened, technically you wouldn't be able to get another job until you got sacked?

Apparantly at my old job, if you walked away without any notice, without saying you were ill or whatever, pretty much nothing would happen. They'd "fire" you for not showing up, eventually, and you'd never be hired again, but I doubt there'd be any more action than that.

This is also the place that continued to pay somebody in my group who went "sick" for 8 weeks, despite the fact that he was off enough to warrent termination (contract wise, not Arnie wise). However... they won't terminate your contract until... you come back. How convenient.

They could take you to court for breach of contract and you'll probably lose out on a months pay (you'll be a month in hand I'm sure). The court action is unlikely but the pay thing is something to bear in mind.

What happens if you quit right away without giving the period notice? Obviously you don't get piad, but can the employer get you into court or something like that?

I'm a temp and run the Government.

Anyway, the problem with trying to quit on a short term contract is the amount of notice you'd have to give. In fact I'm sure that as soon as you started you'd have to hand in your notice on the same day (short term contracts invariable require up to two months notice). They'll fire you on the spot.

Aargh!! They're all asking for CVs, even the manufacturing companies and warehouses! Even Welsh Boxes asked for one, dammit!

You won't find work in the retail sector simple. firstly everybody has got there first, secondly those students who already worked there during the academic year will keep their jobs over the summer.

What I did was to join an agency and I also phoned every two-bit factory and warehouse in my area. These places need box monkeys over the summer and in most cases the pay is often better than the commercial sector. Plus factories don't tend to make you work over time and they often have a lot of low positions to fill when people go on holiday over the summer.
Just get down a load of numbers and ring them.

Thats the only advice I can give you. Plus its much easier to get employed in something very basic like this if you have a blank CV like I do. I mean have you seen the applications forms for places like Focus!?
They ask for a damn life story and long term experiences and responsibilities. Fun that I just want to work on the till lady!

And thats a fact.