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Getting the best out of your Christmas job
By Helen Beckett
A Christmas job is a chance to learn new skills, try out new directions and even convert to a permanent position.
And there are lots to choose from, whether you’re knee-deep in mail in a sorting room or meeting ‘n’ greeting on the shop floor. The Royal Mail hires 20,000 Christmas staff every year and the retail industry expects to employ a further 150,000 staff to deal with the shopping boom.
Christmas spirit
Marinela Harichi, sales adviser for Marks & Spencer, stormed her way up from working the tills on Christmas shifts to a permanent role. “You have to feel the Christmas spirit,” she says. Her "aura of calm" was noticed by her employers and she moved on to coaching new Christmas temps.
Season of mayhem
No one is saying that a Christmas job is easy, though. “The closer it got to Christmas, the more of a frenzy people were in,” says one record shop assistant. He lost his voice coping with the volume of customers, who milled at the entrance before opening and clung to CD racks as the store closed.
Permanent gifts
The plus side is that if you are liked by your employer, you are likely to be asked back.
Beware of mystery shoppers
It’s worth expressing any longer term ambition early on to your manager, but make sure it sounds like an interest in retail, rather than an ultimatum. Many stores employ mystery shoppers who turn up at the store incognito to asses how the temps are doing. Make sure your standards are high all the time, not just when the manager’s around.
Follow your star
For other temps, Christmas is a time to try out new roles and think of the future. “Watching what other people put in their trolley developed my fascination with consumer behaviour and why people choose what they do,” says Angela Northern. Her Christmas job at Sainsbury’s led to a career in market research.
Cold Christmas
Be aware of any agenda an employer may have. Not every experience is positive and this can be a learning curve in itself. Elizabeth Rongved was thrilled to be offered a temporary contract until the end of January with a high street store. “A few days before Christmas my manager told me, completely casually: ‘Oh, we probably won’t need you after Christmas’, and hung up.”
Handy hints
Here are some tips from the grocers’ think-tank, IGD, to make your Christmas job a fruitful experience:
- Choose a retailer with a good reputation for training.
- Learn as much as you can about the company from the rest of the staff and your manager, attending any training courses available.
- Use the contacts you make at the retailer to see if you can get a day’s work experience at company head office or at a distribution centre.
- Pick up as much free information as you can from your employer, such as staff handbooks, newsletters or training manuals.
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