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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s no secret, the three months before Christmas is the quarter within which Australia\u2019s retail sector makes its most significant revenue killing for the year. Given that it\u2019s now September, there\u2019s no better time to land a retail job for the Christmas\/holiday season, and remember – fortune favours the prepared.<\/p>\n Over the next few weeks the job boards will have a higher number of vacancies as they try to lock-in extra staff they need to cater for the \u2018silly-season\u2019 shopping frenzy. Based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ retail trade figures, Australian\u2019s spent a whopping $11 billion on Christmas presents last year.<\/p>\n Without stating the patently obvious, any job seeker looking to capitalise on this spending frenzy in the lead-up to Christmas is most likely to find greater opportunities within those retailers selling food and alcohol, dining (bars, restaurants, pubs and clubs), gifts and decorations.<\/p>\n As a result, your CV needs to \u2018job-ready\u2019, and while the vast majority of jobs these days require applying on-line, don\u2019t overlook the ads in shop fronts which might say something like, casual staff required, apply within<\/em>. Equally important. Don\u2019t forget the value of word-of-mouth. So if you\u2019re looking for a summer gig, then put your business in the street, and let family, friends and acquaintances know about it.<\/p>\n A retail gig shouldn\u2019t be a form of self-abuse<\/strong><\/p>\n But before you start applying, make sure you know what hours you\u2019re prepared to work, whether you\u2019re up for weekend work, and how you might feel about working Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year\u2019s Day or even Christmas Day itself in some cases.<\/p>\n Another trick to applying for a retail gig over the Christmas period is to try and match the type of retail environment with your own personal interests.\u00a0For example, if you\u2019re studying to become an optometrist, why not try working for one as a sales assistant. Likewise, if you\u2019re studying fashion design, maybe you should look for a sales gig at a big department store or boutique that sells high-end brands?<\/p>\n Given that there should be a plethora of casual Christmas jobs available, don\u2019t feel pressured into taking the first one you\u2019re offered. Assuming you\u2019ve applied for two or more jobs, you can start to compare how they rate across different criteria, like hourly rate, working conditions, perks \u2013 if any \u2013 and location.<\/p>\n Whatever you do, don\u2019t take a job with an employer that wants to pay you below an award rate or minimum wage, and don\u2019t let employers take advantage of you if you\u2019re an overseas student. This hoary old chestnut is one we no longer tolerate in Australia.<\/p>\n Equally important, avoid like the plague those organisations that already have a reputation for shafting their employees, and if you\u2019re in doubt, a quick Google search will reveal all you need to know.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re new to retail, why not visit a branch of the company you\u2019re applying to and just watch how things go down. Take a look at how the counter staff operate, how hard and\/or efficient they seem to be working, and equally important how customers treat them.<\/p>\n Retail can be a tough gig, so if you\u2019ve got a low threshold for dealing with a cross-section of the \u2018human condition\u2019, maybe retail isn\u2019t for you.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Line up your options for Christmas casual work now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,136,1,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-career-progression","category-news","category-to-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1756"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1760,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions\/1760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerone.com.au\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}