The benefits of a summer job

[00:00.65] Have you ever had a summer job? For many young people, summer is a heady period where education stops and fun begins.

[00:11.54] That said, holidays, festivals and time spent with friends cost money.

[00:17.92] And the very group who have the time to capitalise on the fun summer has to offer may not have the funds to do so.

[00:27.48] The solution? A summer job.

[00:31.46] The concept of cash-strapped students and younger members of society being gainfully employed over the summer period is not a new one.

[00:41.56] And there are opportunities out there for those who want to earn.

[00:46.07] For me it was tending bar at a bowling alley.

[00:50.59] Vacancies can range from roles as mundane as fry cook, to seasonal work at a theme park, or a cushy job with comfortable conditions.

[01:00.68] In many cases, the jobs only pay minimum wage, which may only tide you over.

[01:07.06] But the money is not the only thing that's gained.

[01:12.37] "Summer and Saturday jobs prepare young people for successful careers in later life, teaching vital 'soft skills'," says UK Work and Pensions secretary Ester McVey in the Daily Mail.

[01:25.65] Indeed, when talking about their experiences of summer jobs, people asked for a BBC News article said they got "invaluable training" and learnt skills such as punctuality, tolerance, and the importance of hard graft.

[01:41.59] These opportunities are thought to be so important that the UK government has placed 20,000 summer job vacancies on a dedicated portal on its Find a Job website.

[01:55.67] This move comes at a time of apparent need.

[01:59.39] The percentage of young people working while studying has more than halved since 1997, falling from 42% to 18% in 2014.

[02:11.34] Those are the findings of a UK government report on the death of the Saturday job.

[02:17.18] Ester McVey believes this is because young people are choosing to focus more on education rather than earning extra money.

[02:26.21] But that isn't the only problem.

[02:29.13] It isn't always easy to get a job, as 20-year-old Liberty O'Hagan, a student from Worthing, found.

[02:37.10] She told the BBC employers see summer workers as a waste of training resources since they inevitably return to university.

[02:46.13] Not to mention, by working all summer, you may feel you have missed out on the experiences and opportunities your friends have had – travelling and having fun.

[02:58.35] While a summer job may not be a dream job, it can teach you things for "a successful future," says Ester McVey in a piece for the Telegraph.

[03:08.45] What students may consider a means to an end, can, in fact, become a worthwhile career-making endeavour.