Gift keeps on giving

A festive role can lead to much more

JESS Clarkson was looking for a way to build up savings so she could afford to go to university and have a bit of cash to travel. So this time last year she bagged herself a festive parttime job at M&S.

Not only did she save up the cash she needed, gaining loads of useful experience and picking up vital skills as a customer assistant, but she also launched a mini side career in social influencing on Instagram.

“I had no idea when I signed up for a part-time Christmas job that it would lead to so much,” says Jess, 19, who has just moved to Leeds to start a degree in fashion marketing.

Although she started out doing just a few hours a week, Jess said yes to every shift going at the Shrewsbury store near her family home. “I found I just loved helping people and chatting to customers,” she said. “It was easy in the run-up to Christmas to take on all the hours I could.”

Within her first month she spotted an advert looking for a small group of people who could use Instagram to promote M&S clothing and lifestyle.

“On a whim, I applied and got the job,” she says. “It is only four hours a week, plus I have a budget to buy M&S clothing. I’m not exactly the demographic people think of for M&S but I found so much that I love, particularly jeans.”

Also, after Christmas, Jess was put on to a weekend contract which meant she could use the year before starting university to travel to a host of European cities and the Far East with her dad.

“I then told my manager that I was planning to head off to university and within a really short time I was told I could transfer to the Leeds store.

“I couldn’t believe it. As a result I am starting my studies, have real-life work experience in the world of fashion marketing through Instagram, and I have a job to keep the money coming in.”

A SACK-LOAD OF JOBS

We’ve found 36,234 Christmas jobs up for grabs now – and the good news is there will be thousands more over the coming weeks.

To follow in Jess’s footsteps apply to M&S via careers.marksandspencer.com – it has 10,000 temporary positions.

Tesco is recruiting more than 9,000 seasonal customer assistants to work from December to January for up to 36 hours per week via tesco.careers.com/christmas.

Boots (boots.jobs/christmas) needs up to 4,000 extra sales staff to cope with demand. It offers staggered start dates from now until Christmas with a range of hours.

Car and bike specialist Halfords (halfordscareers.com) needs 650 people and garden centre chain Dobbies is looking for 500 people, including Santas and elves. See careers. dobbies.com.

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon (jdwetherspooncareers.co. uk) says most of its pubs will need extra help over the next weeks and has around 884 jobs available.

There is an urgent demand for drivers across the country and Driver Hire (driverhire.co.uk) needs more than a 1,000 extra staff, while there are also 6,783 vacancies on offer at careersinlogisticsco.uk.

You can find 2,740 Christmasrelated jobs listed at gov.uk/ jobsearch, 443 at retailchoice.com and 234 at fish4jobs.co.uk.

Argos is seeking 5,500 temporary workers to help with the busy Black Friday and Christmas period. It needs 4,700 customer advisers and stock assistants and 800 delivery drivers. Find out more at argos.careers/xmas.

John Lewis (jlpjobs.com) is on the hunt for temporary partners to work in a number of departments, as well as in stock management.

Other regular festive employers include The Perfume Shop (theperfumeshopjobs.com), Debenhams (debenhams-careers.com), Royal Mail (jobs.royalmailgroup.com) and Costa Coffee (costacareers. co.uk) and Amazon (jobsatamazon.co.uk) which took on more than 20,000 extra staff last year.

Supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s (sainsburys.jobs), should be announcing their requirements for festive staff soon.

It’s also worth popping into local shops with your CV to see if they are looking for people to help with the Christmas rush.

I loved helping out and chatting to people

PART-TIMER Jess at M&S