Finding Casual Seasonal Work
Finding work to suit the time of the year. Be flexible!
The availability of season work depends a lot of course on where you live.
Town folk may find it difficult unless your locality has a Tourist trade or some other venue of some description whereas Seaside places and Cities have much to offer.
Having had quite a bit of experience over the last ten years, I would put forward these ideas and suggestions....
SPORT
In the Winter you have football and in the summer you have cricket. Depending on the Team etc. many of these these have a fair amount of casual work, everything from Stewarding to Ticket Office to Catering.
At my County Cricket Club, Stewards come and go as do many of the Catering Staff. The pay is not always attractive, but there are benefits to match which would usually include free entry to games and sign off and watch the game.
In England, there are 16 main line First Class Counties playing at some 40 Grounds. It is well worth giving them a ring around February time to see what the situation is. It would give you somewhere in the region of 60 days work.
Catering is another angle and most Cricket / Football Clubs hire their facilities out off season for Conferencing and Exhibitions etc.
Because of health and safety reasons, Football Clubs right the way down to quite a lower level require Stewards and Car Park Attendants.
Sure, it's not so much work and can often be at a weekend, but it's the pennies which make the pounds !
Don't just stop at casual work in those two Sports, there's Motor Racing Circuits, Speedway and much more.
SEASIDE WORK
A season which is often based around the School Spring Half Term and Summer Holidays, seaside jobs can be sought after; from Fun Fairs to Shop Work to Restaurants / Cafes to Beach Deckchairs!!
A good place to start looking is on the Town Council Websites where you'll find the more standard jobs. For everything else, watch the newspaper ads and / or just do the foot circuit and meet as many people as you can.
RURAL WORK
Many Farmers are now employing casual labourers to help farm and harvest their crops.
Much of this is done on the basis of 'live in', this can be in a Camp or other kinds of accommodation.
Obviously, this attracts overseas and domestic Students plus it can be associated with those with age on their side and can spend nine hours a day bending down picking Strawberries etc!
IN TOWN
The one everyone thinks about first is the Christmas Postal work and indeed this still goes on and is quite well paid, the downer being that it's only for a short period of time.
In catering, many Pubs and Restaurants employ extra people around Christmas, so again, the foot canvassing comes in - don't wait for the ads, go to them, it very often pays off, you'd be surprised.
The National Trust, English Heritage and others employ more people through their own particular seasons although much of it now is done on a voluntary basis.
GOING ABROAD
The one thing I've found really beneficial in my downshifting and frugal challenge is you should never say no and but something out of the equation because it's not the norm.
As British Farmers, Seaside places etc. need employees at different times of the year, so they do abroad. Grape harvesting is a fine example of this.
Many tourist spots around Europe welcome English employees simply because of the language.
This would mean in most cases having to leave your home though and that to many may not be an option, but if single and if adaptable - go for it.
THE STUDENT ISSUE
A lot of seasonal work is built around availability of Staff, so University Students are obviously going to be the main competition in getting work.
The answer there is to beat them to it (or if you're a Student - beat us to it).
The main thing is footwork, there is nothing better or more effective than just going into a place and asking if they have work. Be positive, have a smile on your face, assert your confident nature and it could well be your lucky day, certainly more a lucky day than simply going around putting CV's through a door when you know that a good half of them won't be read or will be forgotten.
Footwork !!!
