Summer ground jobs at Heathrow/Gatwick

[benwizz]

I'm looking for a summer job and wondered if getting a ground job at an airport would be possible for just a couple of months. I live relatively close to heathrow and gatwick, and I'm not too fussed what I do - baggage handling, passenger service assistant, de-icing, security - anything really. I imagine airlines or ground handlers would need extra staff in the busy summer months but if theres a week or so training, would hiring someone like me for a 6-8 week job be feasable or a drain on resources for them?

I've done some research including servisair, menzies, aviance, swissport and british airways, but there dont seem to be any vacancies advertised.

Many thanks

[Jen_Jen]

You will start seeing vacancies appearing around March time for the summer season.

[tigger2k8]

all ground handlers should be taking on temporary staff this summer.. but if flights dont increase much this summer with the "credit crunch" then they might not..

i originally started on a 3 month contract over summer, most of them give you the option to either work 2 months (july / august) if ur going to uni, or if ur not then they will let you stay for september as students heading off to uni usually keeps the flight numbers high.

training for ground handling will usually be 1 or 2 weeks and will include classroom sessions about security, triple A, manual handling, dangerous goods and a few other things, to be honest... thats the most boring part but its important.. since ur summer staff dont expect to be trained up... u'll be doing all the basic stuff

make sure you have a contacts from school/college, former employees that you can get a reference from so that u can get security clearance, as u will be on a temporary pass and will need to be escorted everywhere u go.. :ugh:, so the faster u can get the references the better (will still take 2-3 weeks though..)

its a great job though, but expect to go home sore for a couple of weeks :ouch:

[Final Call]

For LHR ... try Face 2 Face Recruitment - Heathrow Jobs (http://www.face2facerecruitment.co.uk/) you will get something for sure...

[benwizz]

Thanks for the replies. There are quite a few jobs around on the job agency websites, but it seem most of them are contracts until the end of October. With uni restarting mid september, what would employers think if you stop work early? Is the contract just to guarantee the employee a minimum length of work or would you be expected to stay they whole length of time?

Many thanks