Should I take this job offer?

[auditplease]

Hey all. Hope your exams/exam preparation have been going good so far.

I'm turning 19 shortly, and I still don't have any job/work experience under my belt. I have a family acquaintance that has urgently offered me a job working at her restaurant.

The thing is that this job is cash-in-hand and pays 13 p/h.. The manager does ask for a TFN so I guess it alleviates the dodginess a little bit. I definitely won't be getting any penalty rates, which is shit as Christmas, boxing day (and Melbourne cup) are just around the corner. Given that she requires a TFN, I'm not sure whether I will be paid superannuation or not, but I highly doubt it.

The restaurant is short-staffed as well so I'm probably going to be working a hell lot of shifts. I also have youth allowance so my payments will be reduced. It's also going to be a pain reporting the cash as income, dealing with no payslips, probably not going to get a NoA and ugh...

However, I've realised that no one is going to hire a young adult with no work experience (which is gonna be shit as I'm graduating uni relatively soon) so the thought I'm thinking is whether to tough it out at this job to at least get something on my resume (given I'm on school holidays now). I'm freaking out as, by the time I graduate, I probably won't have anything on me and will most likely struggle (at least a bit) finding some grad roles

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks all and good luck with your exams!

[K888]

Hmm, sounds like a questionable position to me. I'd be asking questions about things like super, if you're being paid by an award, etc. because to me it sounds like a recipe for worker exploitation. Yes, it's good to get experience, but IMO not at the expense of your own well-being, which is what a lot of jobs like this can do. Could you ask to do like a 2 week (paid) trial, give it a go, and then if it works, great, and if it doesn't work, at least you gave it a go? I mean, if it's a cash in hand job it's not like you're contracted anyway so if it is a poor workplace, it's not hard for you to say "sorry, I'm out".

The job market is pretty crap atm, but my personal thoughts are to keep on looking. Employers in the future will be very aware of how bad the job market has been and understanding that a lot of people have been unable to work during 2020.

Get something like an RSA (responsible service of alcohol) to make yourself a lot more attractive to employers. I've not worked in hospitality personally, but have many friends who do, and you should be able to get a position without experience (in some cases, employers prefer it because they don't have to teach you out of any habits you've picked up from other jobs).

At my most recent retail job, several of my colleagues who were hired at the same time as me were uni students with no retail background or proper job experience. Places like fast food might prefer younger workers because they can pay them a lot less, but in my experience retail and often supermarkets (esp. Aldi) want over 18s. Make no mistake, you'll have to apply to a lot of places and you'll get rejected from a lot of places straight away, but you will eventually find a place that takes you