Students in demand for summer jobs

Student workers are in demand over summer

Tertiary students in Rotorua over summer will find themselves cleaning houses, trimming hedges or mowing laws to make a buck as the number of home owners looking for student workers surges.

According to Student Job Search, jobs listed in the "household" category which includes gardening, labouring, painting and cleaning, are the most common placements for students over the summer period.

That is followed by "trades assistance" and "hospitality and tourism" as the second and third most popular categories for summer work.

Business development manager at Student Job Search, Shalesh Vasan, said the number of students seeking jobs was high at this time of the year.

"Traditionally, the summer period from November to February is the busiest time for Student Job Search and this year is looking to be no different.

"Students have finished or are finishing their exams and are looking for summer work so that they can help pay for their summer entertainment/recreational activities, Christmas shopping or even save for the year."

Andy's Marquee and Party Hire manager Christine Butler uses the service annually to fill temporary summer positions.

"We get students to fill a summer role in the warehouse.

"Weddings, parties and music functions all increase over summer so we need a hand in the warehouse to get through the busy period.

"We enjoy having the students because they are open minded, bright and have a wide experience of dealing with the public.

"They are people who have lived outside of Rotorua and know how the commercial environment works."

Mrs Butler said the company usually found it easy to fill those positions because of the numbers of students seeking jobs.

"We get a number of applicants, not hundreds because we have a very specific advert and the job requires people to do physical labour which some aren't keen on, but we screen these very thoroughly."