Getting myself noticed

Mrs Garth Brooks

So i am starting college this year and i will need a job anywhere. Not to fussy where but what is the best way to get myself noticed.
Go into a place and ask for the manager? That's all great, but when the shop assistant asks what its about, and you say looking for work, and then they say we'll take your cv and then it gets left into a pile/dumped.

How do i push myself and not give up until i speak with the manager?

pog it

Well if that's happening you could just ask them what time will the manager actually be there, and then call back at that time. Or ring.

basil83

It depends on the shop. As someone who's worked in retail for a good while, if there's no jobs going then shop assistants tend to be fairly honest about that in which case looking for the manager - unless you have some overwhelming specific skill/experience related to that type of shop which'll put you top of the pile next time a position is available - is frequently a waste of their time so they'll be reluctant to engage in it and if you push too much, they'll really avoid you. Being eager is fine but you have to unfortunately accept you're in a rather large potential hiring pool at the moment and you want them on your side.

I'd target shops that you've researched a bit first rather then just handing in my cv everywhere unless you don't have much retail experience, in which case obviously you are better off widening the net. Working in a mid-size shop without significant traffic we'd still easily get at least 20-40 CVs a day despite there being no positions available or advertised. Due to the sheer number, they'd be skimmed by management and the standout ones filed but in order not to get binned you do need to try offer more then the average applicant. That's why specialising your CV to a specific type of shop could work in your favour.

Each shop has a different busy period but they're usually common sense; e.g. bookshops specialising in school books are having their 'christmas' right now whereas other shops are in a summer lull and trade is slow, so know your market and apply 4-8 weeks before you know they'll be busy. Most hire at christmas (obviously - this usually equates to mid November for interviews) but these are nearly always temporary contracts. Many students who work part-time during term move to full-time during the summer which means it's invariably one of the harder times to find work (along with more competition from other students) but sometimes you can pick up hours at the start of autumn when they're busy again if you're reliable and flexible. If you find out somewhere's hiring, definitely talk to managers and staff and find out what they're looking for so you can scrub up your CV if necessary and make an impression. Oh and if you don't have work experience in retail i'd try do a few shifts in Oxfam or something. Easy as it is, I've known a lot of managers who get very hung up on someone having till experience prior to employing them. Best of luck!