You are half way through the school year and looking forward to a couple weeks off of school. You have finished your finals, don’t have anything else to study for and the bell is about to ring to signal the end of your last class until after the winter break. Unfortunately, winter break doesn’t just mean a break from studying and a chance to hang out with friends. It also means you have to start looking for that winter holiday retail job you need to afford all the things you want to during the break.

As that last bell rings and you and your classmates pack your books up for the last time for weeks, you start thinking about all the things you’re going to do over the break. You couldn’t be more excited about spending your weekdays hanging out with friends outside of class rather than only being able to talk to each other in the halls of your high school. You are excited about the weekend trip your family is taking to visit your grandparents and probably also thinking about the new winter clothes you’re going to buy now that you don’t have to wear that school uniform. But first you have to think about how you will afford to hang out with your friends, go on trips and buy new clothes if you don’t have a job.

Finding the right winter holiday retail job for you doesn’t have to be a stressful process if you know where to look. Most teenagers start by entering the mall. Later in life you will find that applying to a job requires a resume and cover letter specifically tailored to the company you want to work with. Enjoy these years where you can enter a store and write your personal information on a form provided by the store as your application. Set aside a day where you can walk around the mall and fill out applications to various jobs. You can start by applying at stores you prefer to shop in because you will have the appropriate clothes to wear to work, but don’t confine yourself to only the stores you frequent.

The most important part of finding the right winter retail job is to have flexibility. You need to be flexible with the company and the dates they require you to work but you also need to be flexible with job as a whole. Don’t allow yourself to only consider jobs in the best stores in the mall because then you are limiting your chance of getting hired. Turn in your application at the stores you don’t always shop in but are still familiar with to increase your chances of getting a job. When you hear back from the companies that are hiring, you can then decide which one you would feel more comfortable working for over the winter break. Just keep in mind that if you get a job in a store that you’ll be tempted to purchase unnecessary items from, you may not make much of a profit while you work there.