How to get a part-time job without even handing in your CV

It’s the start of the second term of university, student loans are in and many of us are balling again. For the rest of us who are still in the red, the realisation is starting to hit home that perhaps it’s time to get yourself a part-time job.

Especially with no experience, finding a part-time job in hospitality can be a long and demeaning process. But if you’re as stubborn and stuck-up as I am and don’t want to go round dozens of places handing out CVs only for them to be put on the bottom of a huge pile of other CVs, then you’re going to need a new strategy.

That’s why I decided I would just turn up to a bar on a Friday or Saturday evening and pretend I was there for a trial. My assumption was that if I turned up wearing the right colour shirt and acted like I was supposed to be there, why would anyone question it?

Over a fortnight I visited four restaurants in Trinity Square and, to my astonishment, it worked every time. The following week I went round to these places to come clean to get their reaction. Curious Manor, Red Hot World Buffet and Turtle Bay were willing to speak to me.

I first spoke to Becky from Curious Manor. She told me they were taking on a lot of new staff so they didn’t really keep track of who was supposed to be coming in and when.

Becky said: “Not everyone gets a trial from handing in CVs, some are through friends of employees for instance. If you’re good enough at the trial then we don’t really care, I don’t think that what you did was dishonest or effects our judgement of you so long as your performance is good enough.”

Secondly I visited Red Hot. One of the managers Rory told me about a girl who once turned up on a random Wednesday night saying that she was there for an interview when Red Hot weren’t even doing interviews.

Because she was confident and well-presented and, more importantly, didn’t strictly lie about having been called in for an interview (instead saying: “I’m here for an interview” which was true), she was given a chance and got the job.

Last I went to Turtle Bay. It occurred to me to try this place because I heard a girl on the phone in Sainsbury’s saying that she had just been offered a trial there. I knew they wore red and I just so happened to be wearing a red t-shirt, so I paid for my shopping and headed straight there.

When I got there they asked me: “Who called you?” to which I replied that I didn’t remember. They asked if it was a man or a woman and I said: “A man?”

I was then taken up to the manager, Morgan, at this point feeling a little nervous. The first thing he said upon meeting me was that he didn’t remember me and that I wasn’t on the system, but they conceded to my claim, gave me some papers to sign and I got to work. Their selection process is normally very vigorous, including a cover letter and CV sent by email, a personality test and an interview – and that’s before you even get to trial.

So, the strategy of turning up to places at their busiest times and pretending I had been asked in for a trial shift had a 100% success rate. Most places didn’t even seem to care whether the trial was legitimate or not once I confessed. It certainly doesn’t guarantee a job, however it saves handing out CVs like any other common mug.