When 17-year-old A-level student Maizy Clayton started looking for part-time jobs last spring, she hoped to be manning tills or serving coffees within a few weeks.
But after applying for more than 50 positions in local cafés, restaurants and shops, she has had just three interviews and no job offers. Even the two employers that invited her to do an unpaid trial shift failed to respond afterwards, despite giving positive feedback on the day. “Every phone call, email and message I have sent has been ignored,” she says.
Clayton, who achieved top GCSE results and has good references from her school in Kent, believes her limited availability is holding her back, as she is only able to commit to a couple of shifts per week. “One part-time job I applied for contacted me to say the minimum number of hours I would be required to do in a week was 35, which is not possible for me.”