Temporary Christmas Jobs and How To Get Seasonal Work

Temporary Christmas Jobs and How To Get Seasonal Work

Temporary Christmas jobs are frequently advertised from late summer/early autumn onwards. How do you get your hands on that extra seasonal cash? Read on!

Want a temporary seasonal job this Christmas? If you want to feel full of festive cheer some cash and valuable work experience, read on. There’s no time like the present!

When do employers look for Christmas workers?

It might surprise you to learn that many employers actually start putting up Christmas vacancies earlier in the year. Early autumn is the peak time they look for staff, from September onwards, but you can start looking as early as August and start finding vacancies! Search online for Christmas jobs or “seasonal temp jobs” and you’ll see some stores like Debenhams, Boots and The Toy Shop advertise as early as August. If you go in and speak to the retail stores on your high street, you’ll learn exactly when they start looking for seasonal temp workers and what their application process is.

What types of Christmas jobs are there?

  • Sales assistant jobs
  • Warehouse assistant jobs
  • Delivery jobs
  • Call centre jobs
  • Postal jobs
  • Head office roles (e.g. IT development, eCommerce, PR and more)
  • Christmas elf (yes. Really. Think of it as performance art or live roleplay.)

Get temporary Christmas jobs with these employers:

Lush Christmas Jobs – Seasonal work that’s heaven-scent

The Lush cosmetics company is a joy to work for if you’re looking for seasonal shop assistant work. They have a very inclusive hiring policy, great for all genders and backgrounds. You’ll be surrounded by luscious scents and glitter all day long, with fabulous staff discounts to get beautiful gifts for yourself and friends. What’s not to love? Lush hire their seasonal staff relatively early in the year but if you may still find Christmas vacancies around October, and you can always head into your local high street store and ask about opportunities.

Deliver Christmas cards with the Royal Mail

The Royal Mail normally starts recruiting for its temp Christmas staff in September each year, so visit their website and keep checking their ‘Christmas Casuals’ job section from early autumn onwards to make sure you seize the opportunity. As a seasonal temporary postal worker you’d be sorting mail to deal with the millions of Christmas cards being sent all over the world. If have a driving licence, you could also get driving work. Seasonal part time and temporary jobs with the Royal Mail are usually between early November and mid-January, with peak busy periods in – pretend you’re surprised – December.

ASDA Christmas jobs

Asda is one of the UK’s fastest growing retailers, so they are bound to have a store near you offering temp work. When Christmas comes around they look for stock room elves to help sprinkle a little Christmas magic on customer shopping. Seasonal temping at Asda is handy work for students on a study break – and you’ll get 10% off your shopping too.

WAITROSE CHRISTMAS JOBS – Make every day feel like 25th Dec for turkey-fanciers

Waitrose has over 300 stores in the UK and takes on lots of extra staff for Christmas (in fact, in 2013 they hired 5,000 extra staff for the Christmas rush). You could be a temporary supermarket assistant or warehouse operative, for example, but in 2014 John Lewis (a Waitrose partner) also recruited for 140 temporary call centre staff, so there will be a good variety of opportunities available.

What skills/experience do you need for seasonal work?

In general, most employers don’t need you to have huge amounts of work experience when you apply for Christmas jobs. In fact, they know these part-time and temporary roles are popular with students looking to earn some cash and build up their CV over the holidays.

Previous work experience in retail – either serving customers with a smile or working in the stock room – will definitely impress employers, especially if you’ve had a position of responsibility handling money on the tills (although till-work experience is in not a must-have, so don’t hold back from applying if it’s not on your CV).

If you’ve ever served customers in restaurants, cafes or the like that will be great experience too – after all, it shows you are able to help customers, keep things neat and tidy and turn up to work on time! Personality is very important in a customer-facing Christmas job. Employers want to know you will keep calm when customers are feeling a bit rushed in their Christmas shopping, or annoyed that the turkeys have run out. They are looking for staff who can show they’re polite, friendly, willing to go the extra mile to help, take time-keeping at work seriously and have a neat and presentable appearance.

If you have no work experience, don’t worry – everyone starts somewhere. Employers are looking for a good attitude more than experience for many of these roles. A temporary seasonal job on your local high street could be your perfect chance to shine!

Christmas temp jobs – the benefits

You may be wondering why you should be working while your friends are having fun and/or studying.

Here’s why landing a temporary or part-time job at Christmas is so useful:

  • Earn some cash – for yourself or for Christmas presents
  • Gain valuable experience in an industry – good for your CV, and good for your confidence
  • Get your foot in the door – lots of Christmas staff who do their best end up taking on full-time roles, or being asked back after their studies. It really helps their chances of that employer taking them on for a graduate scheme place, too.
  • Christmas work is often flexible with shift work or part-time hours, so you can fit it into what’s happening in your life right now.

Think a Christmas job with all the trimmings sounds like a feast you’re ready for? Then start checking for vacancies from late summer/early autumn onwards, and ask your local and high street shops about seasonal opportunities!


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