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The Sun
a day ago
- Business
- The Sun
Full list of summer jobs that pay up to £20 an hour and you don't need a degree
SUMMER might almost be gone, but there are still plenty of opportunities to make some extra cash. New data from Adzuna has revealed the top-paying seasonal roles where you can earn as much as £20 an hour. 1 Most require minimal training too, so you can start bagging cash without delay. Lee Biggins, chief executive officer of CV-Library, said: "Seasonal jobs are a smart move in a shaky job market - whether you're a graduate, topping up your income, between roles, keeping your skills fresh, or testing out a new industry. "With some big earners in the mix, summer work can help you build contacts, boost your experience and prove to bosses you're proactive. "It's also a great way to stay busy before something more permanent comes along in autumn - usually the busiest time for hiring." Adzuna has compiled a list of 36 temporary and seasonal roles and their advertised salaries in July. Coming out on top of its list is sommelier, paying as much as £20.27 an hour. Sommeliers are wine experts who work in fine dining restaurants or vineyards, pairing wines with certain meals or offering tasting sessions. You may need to do some training to become one though, such as a paid-for course. The UK Sommelier Association runs seven-day courses for around £750. Next on the list is watersports coach - someone who instructs individuals or groups how to do water-based activities like sailing, windsurfing and kayaking - it pays around £19.03 an hour. I quit my job and sold everything to live in a storm-damaged £6k boat - I just wanted to do what I want, when I want You can become one through a paid-for course - just bear in mind they can be expensive. However, if you're already trained as one, it could be worth trying to get some work before the summer is over. Next on the list is another water-based job - swimming teacher. You can get £18.38 an hour in this role. There are two routes into becoming a swimming teacher - via an apprenticeship or by training with a professional body. You can apply to do a Leisure Team Member Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship, for example. Next on the list is landscape gardener, which pays £18.27 an hour - ideal if you're looking to top up your tan and bank balance. You can get a job as a landscape gardener via a college course or apprenticeship. Top-paying summer jobs where you don't need qualifications While some of the best-paying summer jobs do require you to have some form of qualification, even if its minimal, others don't. For example, you could get paid as much as £16.47 per hour this summer to work as a window cleaner. Meanwhile, you can earn £15.79 an hour getting work as a post room clerk. Receptionists can bag £15.46 an hour, shop assistants £15.12 and concierges £16.62. Just remember, when looking for any type of role to do your research. There are types jobs that draw on similar skills but pay much more than others. For example, pension administrators can earn more than arts administrators and basic admin assistants. If you're looking for a summer job, it's worth trawling through jobs boards like Indeed, Reed and LinkedIn to find one that pays best. You can try contacting recruitment agencies who will be able to signpost you to roles suited to your skills too. How to smash an interview LEE Biggins, from CV-Library, gives his top tips for nailing that all-important job interview. "To smash any job interview, start by doing your homework - research the company, prepare solid answers, and think about how your past experience links to the new role. "Whatever your age or background, employers want to see a willingness to learn, passion for the role and industry and an adaptability to thrive. "This matters even more when switching careers. "Show the employer you're eager, driven, and ready to get stuck in. "Make sure your CV is well tailored to the role and highlights your transferrable skills and proves why your experience makes you a great fit. "Remember, you're up against people already in the industry, so come prepared with industry knowledge and a fresh perspective may set you apart." Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@
Times
02-08-2025
- Business
- Times
I barely have a GCSE to my name — now I'm enjoying a £60m payday
It is a story that may help calm the nerves of the 700,000 anxious teenagers and their jittery parents in the run-up to GCSE results day later this month. The entrepreneur Lee Biggins, who left school with only a hotchpotch of Es, Fs and Gs after his exams, has enjoyed a £60 million payday from his online recruitment business. Woeful grades and later dropping out of college at 17 did not stop the former carpet-fitter from setting up a business that enabled jobseekers to upload their CVs for prospective employers to vet. The hefty payment from CV-Library, based in Fleet, Hampshire, is one of the largest dividends received by an individual business owner in recent years and represents a more than decent return on his start-up costs. He began CV-Library with little in the way of computer skills after spending £899 on a PC and a few pounds more on a book called The Internet Start-up Bible. Biggins, 47, stressed that poor exam results did not rule out success in life, adding that the education system could do better to nurture budding business stars. He said: 'Entrepreneurialism is all about mindset. You've got to be driven, always looking forward, hustling, not taking no for an answer, and having belief in an idea. 'You can 100 per cent have that and not be great academically, and that is where our existing school system is too narrowly focused. It often doesn't equip young people with that mindset, or the idea that hard work and determination is how you get ahead. I see too many people who come out of school or college and feel they are owed a living — the real world just doesn't work like that.' • Richard Branson: I was a school dropout and we're still killing creativity and risk The idea for CV-Library emerged a few years after Biggins had left school and grown frustrated with life at Surefit Carpets, which his father Clive had been running in his local village of Crookham since 1971. He had submitted a succession of applications to job agencies when he had the idea for a website where those looking for work could post their résumés, which would save time for both applicants and businesses. Biggins did a computer literacy course, teamed up with a schoolfriend who had already built a website for car enthusiasts and landed a £9,000 bank loan from NatWest. CV-Library was no overnight success but annual profits have now climbed to £27.6 million. Rolls-Royce, Barclays and the Metropolitan Police are among more than 10,000 employers currently using the website. Businesses pay to advertise jobs or access 21.7 million CVs submitted by people hunting for work. More than 136,200 roles are currently being advertised on the site. Biggins's sizeable dividend — £60.6 million in the year to the end of June 2024 — and the ongoing success of CV-Library will push the entrepreneur (who is the sole shareholder in the company) higher up next year's Sunday Times Tax List. He appeared in this year's rankings with an estimated contribution to the UK's public finances of £14.4 million. His company now employs 280 people and paid £7.5 million in corporation tax last year. • Gary Neville hits out at Labour over taxes despite earlier support Biggins's unimpressive academic record is not uncommon among successful entrepreneurs. Chris Dawson, the billionaire retailer reviving Wilko, left school without any qualifications and struggled to read or write. Theo Paphitis, the chairman of stationery retailer Ryman and a former panellist on the BBC's Dragons' Den, passed a single O-level, the forerunner of GCSEs. Higher payroll taxes and Labour's plan to make firing harder for employers is hitting the jobs market, Biggins said. 'We've certainly seen a big impact from the national insurance tax increases in the budget and uncertainty over the new employment bill. 'All the recruiters and businesses we talk to are concerned over the higher cost and risks around hiring, and that's having a big impact on the number of vacancies being advertised. Some sectors are doing well but the overall outlook is still gloomy, and business confidence remains very low.'
Entrepreneur
09-06-2025
- Health
- Entrepreneur
5 Ways We Can Improve Men's Mental Health in Business
There are subtle ways businesses can improve the well-being of men who face the highest risk of poor mental health. Here's what you need to know. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Men's mental health is in crisis worldwide. Statistics show that men account for 70% of suicides worldwide, as described in an article by Rob Whitley, a professor in psychiatry from McGill University in Canada. Despite this alarming fact, men are less likely than women to seek help when experiencing poor mental health. This is due to the fact that there is still a social stigma that makes many men believe that being perceived as vulnerable or seeking help goes against the norms of societal constructions of masculinity. Interestingly, research by Mind, a UK mental health charity, found that work life is the main source of men's mental health issues. The charity found that one in three men attribute work stress to the ill effects on their mental wellbeing, which is twice as many as women who report this. According to another study conducted by CV Library in 2019, 61% of men surveyed wanted to quit their work as it affected their mental health, compared to only 48.5% of women who said so. Moreover, the pressure to perform well in business has meant that CEOs and entrepreneurs are disproportionately affected by mental health issues, too, compared to the wider public, according to an article published in Small Business Economics. Related: Taking Care of Mental Health Is Powerful, Not Weak When the Priory Group, a mental healthcare facilities provider in the UK, interviewed 1,000 men for a survey on men's mental health, they discovered that although 60% of men have talked about their mental health with someone at some point in their lives, 40% of men still haven't discussed their mental health issues with close friends, family or even a medical professional. Among these men who have never opened up about their mental health, the majority reported that the underlying reason for it is that they'd learned to deal with it themselves, with the second and third most popular reasons being, "I don't wish to be a burden to anyone" and "I'm too embarrassed." These findings tell me that there is a way forward, but it requires out-of-the-box thinking. To tackle men's mental health in business, we need to craft solutions that will make men more likely to seek help in their workspaces, without feeling embarrassed about it. Here are five ways we can do this: 1. Bringing awareness to the workplace One of the first steps to destigmatizing the shame many men face with regard to mental health issues is to normalize the discourse around mental health issues. According to an independent workplace mental health review by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer conducted in 2017, "the correct way to view mental health is that we all have it and we fluctuate between thriving, struggling and being ill and possibly off work." Bringing the realization that even a seemingly healthy and productive employee or business leader can have underlying mental health issues will lessen the pressures many men face around seeking help. Through normalizing these discussions via newsletters, group projects and even casual training sessions, a workplace can be an easier space for men to discuss their mental health challenges if the subject matter is actively framed as something that everyone collectively could go through. Related: 6 Common Barriers to Happiness and Productivity for Men 2. Reduce the usage of the term "mental health" To ensure that mental health services in the workplace are utilized by men, it is vital that we change the language we use to describe the problem in the first place. Using the term "mental health" can be distressing or off-putting for men, according to research, and instead, more specific terms such as "stress" or "burnout" should be used to describe mental health problems. Men prefer focusing on and talking about problems that are more solvable, so avoiding broader terms when discussing mental health issues can make them open up more. Asking men specific questions relating to work performance could be easier for them to tackle instead of asking more general questions like, "Are you okay?" 3. Encourage lifestyle-based solutions Men can often feel isolated if they are identified as having a personal problem in their workplace. Instead, greater benefits could be achieved in men's mental health when mental health solutions are tied to wider lifestyle solutions, creating workplace activities that carry out themes such as sportsmanship, camaraderie and teamwork. Making mental health something that a company can work together to improve will make men's participation more likely, since the focus is not entirely on them as individuals. Well-being outings, group mentorships and friendly sporting events could be promoted as activities that could improve the collective well-being of a workplace and help colleagues work together collaboratively. According to the mental health charity Mind's "Get It Off Your Chest" study, men have a high preference for physical activities when it comes to tackling their mental health. 4. Provide access to online therapy Research has found that men are more likely to seek help when they can consult a mental health professional, especially when this can be done online, where anonymity can be guaranteed. This approach would also ensure that men would be confident to discuss their mental health struggles without feeling like they're putting their job or position at the company at risk. Related: We Need a Real Commitment to Mental Health at Work. Here's How (and Why). 5. Create good senior role models Men are more likely to be empowered to take care of themselves and others when other men in leadership positions are seen to be doing the same. It can be very powerful, for instance, for a male CEO or senior executive to talk to their employees about their own mental health struggles and explain how they work towards their mental well-being. The same could be said about the CEO and entrepreneurial communities, where businesses can work together to ensure that their leaders can work collaboratively and share personal experiences to improve their mental health and well-being together.
