Whatever Happened to the Saturday Job?

Last week, 18-year-old youth advocate Isaac Kamidiora asked a room full of Islington Giving supporters to think back to their first job.

Within moments, we were all remembering the jobs that earned those first few pounds, or pence, whether that involved stacking shelves, delivering newspapers or working behind a counter.

What started as a simple question quickly became a much deeper conversation about why it has become harder for young people to gain their first experience of work.

The discussion explored a troubling reality. More than one million young people nationally are out of work, while research by Impetus shows that young people in Islington are more than twice as likely as the national average to be not in education, employment or training.

To help unpack why, we were joined by Isaac, psychotherapist and Jigsaw-GC co-founder Mitchelle Greenaway, and Open CEO Tim Longfoot.

The Death of the Saturday Job

For me, the sound of a supermarket checkout beeping still takes me straight back to Saturday afternoons on the tills alongside teenage friends. The unflattering green and yellow uniform, the occasional irate customer and the awkward calls for help when I pressed the wrong button…it taught me a lot.

Those jobs may not have seemed that important at the time, but they gave many of us our first experience of the workplace. We learned how to deal with customers, arrive on time, solve problems and build the confidence needed for working life.

Isaac argued that young people today have far fewer opportunities to build those same skills. The paper round has largely been replaced by online content. Checkout clerks have been replaced by self-service machines. And many of the jobs that once gave young people their first step into work have disappeared.

Young people are now often competing with adults for jobs that were once a common first step into employment. At the same time, the application process for even entry-level roles has become more demanding. Young people can find themselves navigating CVs, online applications, virtual interviews, assessment exercises and even psychometric tests before they have had a chance to gain any meaningful experience.

For Isaac, the death of the Saturday job has removed an important first rung on the ladder into employment.

It’s about more than jobs

One thing all three panellists made clear is that young people want to work. But getting a job often depends on much more than qualifications alone. Confidence, connections, life skills and support all play an important role.

This was a theme Mitchelle Greenaway returned to throughout the evening. A psychotherapist, counsellor and coach, Mitchelle co-founded Jigsaw-GC after recognising that there was plenty of support available for young people during school hours, but much less outside them. Over the years, she has come to realise that many young people need far more than careers advice.

Mitchelle spoke about a young woman she had supported since her early teens. At the time, she was in a pupil referral unit and struggled to imagine a future for herself. She told Mitchelle that she wanted to work with children but assumed she could never achieve this.

Mitchelle introduced her to a mentor who had faced similar challenges. Later, when the young woman was invited to help at an event for primary school children, she was asked to do something very simple: pour juice. Afterwards, she admitted how frightened she had been. “Oh my God, I was so scared!” she told Mitchelle.

It sounds like a small moment, but that was exactly Mitchelle’s point. What seems straightforward to one person can feel enormous to another. With patient support, mentoring and opportunities to step outside her comfort zone, the young woman gradually began to see new possibilities for herself. She returned to mainstream school, became a mentor in her own right and has since spoken at public events.

Her story highlighted something that came up repeatedly during the evening: many young people need encouragement, practical support and trusted relationships before they are ready to take advantage of opportunities. As Mitchelle explained, the barriers are often not what people assume. Sometimes the challenge is confidence. Sometimes it’s not knowing how to fill in a form, ask a question or navigate an unfamiliar environment.

That is one reason why Islington Giving’s Young Jobs programme combines meaningful, paid work placements with wraparound support from community organisations. The opportunity itself matters, but so does the support that enables a young person to take it in the first place.

Meaningful work

Tim Longfoot spoke about this from the perspective of an employer. As CEO of Open, one of the Islington-based businesses partnering with Islington Giving’s Young Jobs programme, he has seen first-hand what can happen when young people are given responsibility and trusted to contribute. Through Open, young people can work on live creative briefs for real organisations, tackling genuine challenges and presenting their ideas to clients.

Tim shared the story of a young woman who arrived on one of Open’s internship programmes as the quietest person in the room. During the programme, the interns were invited to work on a live brief for a major national charity focused on online safety. It soon became clear that she brought something unique to the project. She was a passionate gamer and understood online communities in a way many adults did not.

As discussions developed, she grew in confidence. She challenged assumptions, offered perspectives others had missed and helped shape the team’s thinking. The project gave her an opportunity not only to develop new skills, but also to recognise strengths she already possessed. In Tim’s view, this is exactly why meaningful work experience matters. Young people often have insights and creativity to contribute, but they need opportunities where those strengths can be seen and valued.

Today, she is helping lead the next cohort of interns.

For Tim, that story illustrated an important point. Young people are often more capable than we assume. When they are trusted with meaningful work, given genuine responsibility and supported to succeed, they frequently exceed expectations.

Opening Doors

What gave me hope was that every example shared during the evening involved someone opening a door: a mentor, an employer, a youth worker or a community organisation creating an opportunity that would not otherwise have existed. Sometimes that can be the difference between a young person feeling stuck and discovering what they are capable of.

The evening was a reminder that there is also extraordinary work happening across Islington. Employers, community organisations, mentors and young people themselves are proving that, when we all work together, new pathways into work can be created.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, to our speakers Isaac Kamidiora, Mitchelle Greenaway and Tim Longfoot, and to our hosts Bolt Burdon for making the evening possible.

If you would like to discuss how you can support young people in Islington – as donor, business or community group – please get in touch.

George Pope is Director of Development & Communications at Islington Giving.

george.pope@islingtongiving.org.uk

Featured image: (left to right), George Pope, Isaac Kamidiora, Mitchelle Greenaway and Tim Longfoot