The Saturday Job Is Disappearing. How to Get Work Experience When First Jobs Dry Up
For generations, the first line on most people's CV was a Saturday job. A shop, a café, a pub kitchen. It paid a little, taught you how work works, and gave the next employer something to go on.
That first rung is getting harder to reach. Here is what has changed, and how to build experience anyway.
Why is it harder to get a first job right now?
Because the sectors that traditionally give young people their start are shrinking. Retail and hospitality have lost around 150,000 payroll jobs over the past year, according to the Learning and Work Institute's analysis of the latest official figures (Learning and Work Institute).
Youth unemployment remains high too. Between May and July 2026, 14.1% of 16 to 24-year-olds who were not in full-time education were unemployed (ONS, via Youth Employment UK), and around one million young people are not in education, employment or training.
Fewer first jobs means more competition for each one, and more young people reaching 18 or 21 with little on their CV. If that is you, you are far from alone, and there are still ways in.
What counts as work experience on a CV?
Far more than most people think. Employers want evidence that you can turn up, work with others, handle responsibility and learn. All of these count:
- Part-time, seasonal or casual work, however short
- Work experience placements and insight days
- Volunteering, from charity shops to sports coaching
- Helping out in a family business
- Caring for a relative
- School, college or university projects with a real output
- Clubs, societies, sports teams and Duke of Edinburgh awards
- Things you have built or run yourself, such as a small online shop, a channel or a coding project
If you did it regularly and it involved other people, deadlines or responsibility, it belongs on your CV.
Where can you still find experience?
Structured work experience schemes. Many large employers run short placements for school and college students. In September 2026, HSBC announced 500 one-week work experience placements for secondary school pupils as part of a wider early-careers programme (Personnel Today). Ask your school or college careers adviser what is available locally, and check the careers pages of big employers near you.
Apprenticeships. You earn a wage, train on the job and finish with a recognised qualification. You can search live vacancies on the government's Find an apprenticeship service. Apprentices also come out ahead on confidence: in City & Guilds' latest research, they were the most confident group of young people when it came to communicating at work (City & Guilds).
Volunteering. Charities need people every week, and volunteering gives you responsibility, references and real examples to talk about. A regular commitment of a few hours a week looks stronger than a handful of one-off days.
Seasonal work. Christmas and summer still bring temporary roles in retail, delivery, warehousing and events. They are short, but they show an employer you have done the job before.
Growing sectors. Some parts of the economy are still adding roles, including teaching, trades and construction, and manufacturing (Adzuna). Support roles in these sectors, such as teaching assistant or site administrator, can be a way in.
How do you write a CV with little experience?
Put what you can do at the top, then prove it. A simple structure for a first CV:
- Personal statement: three or four lines on the kind of work you want and the strengths you would bring, backed by one example.
- Skills: the skills the job advert asks for, in the advert's own words.
- Experience: everything from the list above, most relevant first, showing what you did and what happened.
- Education: qualifications, with grades if they help you.
The key is describing small experiences properly:
| Experience | Weak | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteering | "Volunteered at a charity shop." | "Volunteered every Saturday for eight months at a charity shop, serving customers, pricing stock and training two new volunteers." |
| Sport | "Member of the football team." | "Coached an under-10s football team every week, planning sessions and keeping parents updated for a squad of 16." |
| Caring | Left off entirely | "Helped care for a family member alongside my studies, managing appointments, medication schedules and household bills." |
Each strong version shows reliability, responsibility and skills an employer can use. Our guide to quantifying your CV shows how to find numbers in experience that doesn't seem to have any, and our guide to transferable skills shows how to describe them in an employer's language.
Should you do an apprenticeship instead of looking for a job?
It depends on how clear you are about the career you want. An apprenticeship suits you if you know the field and want to earn while you learn. If you are not sure yet, a mix of part-time work, volunteering and study can keep more doors open. We weigh up university, apprenticeships and going straight into work in is university still worth it in 2026.
What support is coming for young people?
There is growing pressure to fix the first rung. In September 2026, the CIPD called on the government to create an apprenticeship guarantee for 16 and 17-year-olds (Personnel Today), and the government said its Jobs Guarantee will expand to young disabled people from April 2027 (Personnel Today). None of this changes things overnight, so ask your careers adviser or local Jobcentre which schemes apply to you now.
The bottom line
The Saturday job isn't gone, but there are fewer of them, which makes every other kind of experience more valuable. Collect it deliberately, describe it properly and apply with confidence. If you are starting from a blank page, MyPathfinder's CV Builder helps you build a first CV from scratch and tailor it to each job. And if you are not sure yet what you are best at, Know Yourself gives you a clearer picture of your strengths.