Top tips for bagging a Christmas temp job

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… which means you might be thinking about earning a few extra quid during your break from studies!

There’s no denying that Christmas temp jobs are basically made for students. Think flexible hours, extra money in your pocket (ideal for pressies and partying), fresh skills to add to your CV, and the chance to meet some new people.

But how do you go about bagging yourself a temp job? And what’s in store if you get one?

Where to look for a temp job

If you live in a university town or city and you’re not heading straight back home, there’ll be plenty of local businesses on the look-out for people with your talents (and availability!).

In many cases, these businesses will have already made links with your uni, which means you might well find opportunities listed on job boards around campus and online in places like jobs sites.

Then you’ve got loads of temp roles being made available in retail, bars, supermarkets and more. Look out for ads in places you visit regularly – if they need people, they’ll usually always shout about it. But don’t be afraid to ask upfront, either. Take the initiative and drop your CV while you’re there, and you might just get a call sooner than you think.

How to prep for your interview

Job interviews aren’t the most fun thing in the world, but they don’t have to be scary. You don’t have to pretend to be someone else, either. As long as you’re on time and present yourself confidently, you’ll be halfway there!

Prepping will really help calm those nerves, though. So before the interview, why not ask friends and family to give you some mock interview questions based on their own experiences? At the same time, you can research the business online to find out how things work there. If you’re unsure about anything, you can even check out employees’ experiences on sites like Glassdoor.com.

It's also a great idea to prepare some questions of your own. They don’t have to be too clever – even obvious stuff about pay dates is fine – but generally, asking them will make you seem interested. Again, you’ll find tons of examples of good questions to ask online. Not to mention tons of useful job-bagging tips on Instagram and TikTok.

Lastly, there’s what to wear. Whether you’re going smart, smart-casual, or more casual, you’re definitely going to feel your best in freshly cleaned clothes. So whatever look you go for, make sure you’ve freshened everything up at your nearest Circuit laundry room first!

Good luck! You’ll smash it.