male barista making coffee

Seasonal jobs

Although it's only temporary, a seasonal job will give you skills you can use all year round. Any job you do means experience for you CV, money and meeting new people who could help you in the future. Temporary jobs also show that you're keen to work and if you impress your employer, it could turn into something permanent. 

Where to look for seasonal jobs

Looking for winter jobs

Looking for a job over Christmas? Recruitment can start as early as September, so do not wait too long. 

Use  our Getting a job search and try adding the words the following words in the search to improve your results: 

  • Christmas 
  • festive 
  • temporary 
  • seasonal 

You can follow the Job Centre Plus account on Twitter for vacancies too. 

Retail, delivery and hospitality businesses are all busy from November to January. You might be dealing with shoppers, serving Christmas dinners or delivering presents. 

 

Hospitality jobs 

​​​​​​​As more people start to go out around Christmas time, it's the perfect time to secure a job in hospitality.   

Whether you're a waitress, a barman or working in facilities - these sites can point you towards the perfect seasonal job.  

There's also a huge intake of retail employees around Christmas time, so you could secure a part or full-time job that'd earn you extra pennies and important work experience.  

If you're interested, there are plenty of vacancies on: 

 

Delivery jobs 

Large courier companies often start Christmas recruitment early as they’re busy right through the festive period.  

Looking for summer jobs

Depending on what you want to do during the summer, deadlines can fall early. Make sure you do not wait until July before you apply. 

Think about what you want to get out of it. You can use a summer job to top up your bank balance, explore a career or travel somewhere new. 

Use  our Getting a Job search to find vacancies – try adding ‘summer’ or ‘seasonal’ in your search.  

You can also ask local businesses or check your local paper. Look up companies on Twitter and Facebook to see if they're posting about vacancies.  

 

Jobs at home and abroad 

We’ve pulled together some resources and employers who may be hiring: 

  • The British Au Pair Agencies Association has links to agencies which place au pairs with families in the UK and abroad. 
  • European Youth Portal has information and advice about working in other EU countries. 
  • Employment 4 Students has summer job vacancies. 
  • Picking Jobs has vacancies for seasonal and harvest jobs around the world. 
  • Season Workers has vacancies in the UK and abroad and you can chat to other workers on the message boards. 
  • Smaller Earth places people with work, gap year and volunteering opportunities abroad. 
  • TUI Travel Jobs has resort, airline and camp jobs with First Choice and Thompson. You can sign up for their alerts so that you don't miss recruitment dates. 

 

Festivals for free 

​Want to see your favourite bands or get in to shows for free? Work or volunteer at a festival. Check in with local events to see if they need a hand and keep an eye out on these sites for some of the bigger opportunities: 

  • Festaff has voluntary and paid roles at summer music festivals 
  • Flair has opportunities at large events across Scotland 
  • Creative Scotland often has ads from venues looking for staff during the Edinburgh festival 
  • Edinburgh Festival city advertises jobs during the festivals - you should also keep an eye on individual venues, bars and restaurants in the city 

Top tip: big charities often recruit volunteers for festivals like Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds. Check their websites to find out how to apply.