Prosecco pratfalls and coffee catastrophes: Neets are missing out on formative first-job experiences | Isabel Brooks

<p>Work in the hospitality industry made me who I am. Without it, young people are denied not only an income and a step on the career ladder, but important life skills</p><p>Everyone remembers their first job. More often than not, it’s in the service industry. I started at 14, pouring drinks, serving food and standing with an ice-cream tray. This is where I learned how to handle mistakes,<strong> </strong>such as dropping an entire tray of prosecco glasses, or spraying hot coffee all over a bridesmaid because I plunged the cafetiere with too much gusto. I learned how to talk to angry strangers, and what it means to have a bad manager. I learned that the customer is always right, except when you’re talking to chefs, who will throw ham at your head if you tell them that. All in all, I did 10 years of restaurant, bar, pub and cafe work, from the age of 14 to 24, and I largely attribute the formation of my character to that decade of work.</p><p>But this kind of character-building experience is under threat. Job postings for temporary work in hospitality in the UK were <a href="https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/death-of-the-great-british-summer-holiday-job/">down by 25% year-on-year</a> between 2024 and 2025, with 22,369 fewer unique postings. Hospitality leaders have <a href="https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/09/hospitality-warns-rising-employment-costs-are-shutting-young-people-out-of-work/">blamed</a> rising wage and tax costs for their inability to hire new starters, and young people are bearing the brunt: nearly <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/unemployment/bulletins/youngpeoplenotineducationemploymentortrainingneet/previousreleases">1 million young people</a> are not in education, employment or training (Neet), despite <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/18/the-guardian-view-on-youth-unemployment-too-few-jobs-in-too-many-places">84% of these</a> seeking work. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation has <a href="https://www.rec.uk.com/our-view/news/press-releases/death-great-british-summer-holiday-job">explicitly warned</a> that the industry relies heavily on 16- to 24-year-olds, so the impact will be on teenagers seeking their first job. In Manchester, Nell’s Pizza advertised 10 part-time roles for people between the ages of 14 and 18, and received <a href="https://hellolenny.co.uk/about">about 2,000 applications</a>.</p><p>Isabel Brooks is a freelance writer</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/30/neets-formative-first-job-experiences-hospitality-industry">Continue reading...</a>

SOURCE: The Guardian ↗