“Served as a wife for an hour”: where Russians worked for the November holidays

On the eve of the November holidays, employment service analysts predicted that a quarter of Russians would use extended weekends not for relaxation, but for part-time work. In terms of the number of compatriots who entered according to the principle “The best rest is another job,” the HR specialists’ forecast came true. But the area of ​​self-application chosen by fellow citizens on holidays surprised even specialists.

A study released on the eve of the holidays said that the most common reason for Russians to work part-time instead of relaxing is the need to pay off loans and mortgages. And the most popular vacancies on sites where you can both find and offer temporary work are tutor, taxi driver and accountant.

“True, our specialists, when advising those looking for part-time work,” says Sergei Voronkov, a psychologist at a temporary employment site, “did not advise focusing on part-time work as a tutor and taxi driver.” The November holidays fall during the school holidays, and parents with school-age children are more likely to travel away. And taxi drivers have too much competition on holidays. We advised you to sign up for the position of a courier; during the holidays they have the greatest chance of being in demand. Or as a nanny, since adults may want to have fun while leaving the child at home.

When looking for a job using specialized resources, you can usually call and send your resume right away if we are talking about a permanent job. And if it’s about a part-time job, then you sign up for the position you’re looking for or several at once, fill out a form and wait for someone to contact you—if they do. Since the need may not arise, then no one will respond to the applicant, and precious time for searching for part-time work will be lost. So the experts tried to give useful advice on what it is better to sign up for so as not to make a mistake. And now they are surprised to note that completely different jobs were at the top during the holidays.

Using a site for direct search for part-time work without intermediaries (after execution, the “case” for this employment on the site is closed, but other customers can write to the contractor if they wish), we were able to discover and call for a conversation a resident of New Moscow, who served as… a wife for an hour on holidays. Moreover, together with his minor daughter.

“It certainly sounds intriguing,” agrees the cheerful Marina, 36 years old. – But in fact, nothing spicy. I am an accountant. I’m raising my 13-year-old daughter alone, my salary is not enough, so I’m completely in debt. A friend suggested that I strengthen my rear a little with a part-time job for November, and she suggested a website with a part-time job. She worked part-time as an auditer through him. But I had no luck with this – apparently no one bothers with this during the holidays. Then I signed up for the position of “call center scriptwriter,” although I didn’t understand who he was. But it sounds decent.

According to Marina, those looking for a “scriptologist,” despite the weekend, quickly contacted her.

“The woman first talked about knowledge of psychology, creativity, and the ability to improvise,” says Marina. – And when I got to the point, I immediately realized what kind of “scriptwriter” he was! Come up with new approaches for calling scammers. For them, the holidays are the worst time, people are not in offices, relax, take their time, answer all calls and get caught much more often. My aunt told me this later herself when she revealed the essence of the vacancy. Well, I immediately refused, of course. And she would have called the police, but her number was unidentified. After being so stressed, I signed up for a “wife for an hour.” This is similar to a “husband for an hour” – an on-call worker who is called home to do all the women’s chores. I first clarified what exactly was needed there. And then I took Dashka, my daughter, with me. It will definitely be able to wipe down the books in the owner’s library without falling apart.

– Was there an owner of the house?!

– For some reason everyone asks exactly that! But she was – she was sitting at the computer and didn’t have much control. At the end I even gave her some tea and paid in cash, I’m happy. Why can’t she clean up herself?! Who knows? Maybe she also works on holidays, writes a dissertation or a book. Or maybe it’s just that the hands don’t grow from there, but for people like me, this only makes it better.

“Surfing” the site that Marina used shows that in November, Russians also worked as “sandwiches” (a human billboard), characters in Russian folk tales (for photos in tourist places) and as order pickers (assorting goods that arrived on delivery ). But almost no one managed to become the nannies and couriers promised by the specialists for November: there were even more couriers to work, and no one wanted to trust the “temporary” nanny with children. The highest paid position was Baba Yaga’s photo position, standing near a themed restaurant in Moscow. Together with tips from foreign tourists, the hedgehog grandmother (during working hours, an assistant to a major manager, Lyudmila) earned almost 20 thousand rubles on just one holiday.