What is casual employment?
If you are employed on a casual basis, it means you have no guarantee of ongoing work from your employer and your work hours and days can be varied from week to week. Basically, you are offered work when the employer needs extra staff, and you can decide on the hours/days you’re available to be rostered on to work. This could be as little as 3 hours a week or significantly more. There are no age restrictions on casual employment.
As a casual worker, your employer may roster you for a set number of hours each week, but those hours can still be varied subject to the employer’s needs and your availability. Also, your employment can end at any time by your choice or your employer’s, without giving notice.
By comparison, if you are employed on a full-time or part-time basis, you and your employer will have agreed on an ongoing commitment of a set number of hours or days work every week, and a certain amount of notice must be given, or received, for your employment to end.
More information about the differences between casual, part-time, and full-time employment is available from the Fair Work Ombudsman.
What jobs are available?
Any business can employ casual workers, with hospitality, retail, and tourism businesses providing the biggest range of job opportunities. Other types of jobs include warehousing and logistics, photography, delivery driving and of course dressing as a Christmas character. Online job board SEEK reported in September 2021, they had job listings for 20,000 casual jobs across Australia.
Some businesses start recruiting their Christmas casuals as early as July, with casual job advertisements usually peaking in October each year, so it’s not too late! Visit your favourite businesses to see if they have a ‘Vacancy Available’ sign in the window. Drop your resume off at all your local shops, or just search “Christmas Casual Jobs Adelaide” and let the hunt begin.
What’s are the benefits?
Besides providing you with some extra money for Christmas presents, a summer holiday or let’s be real, your next tank of fuel and textbooks for next year, casual employment can provide a number of benefits including:
- valuable work experience to boost your resume
- referees for future job applications
- allows you to test out a new career path
- meeting new people
- potential future employment opportunities.
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