Hungry Jacks is a franchise of the Burger King Corporation and one of the largest fast-food franchises in Australia. It is wholly owned by Competitive Foods Australia, with a sub-license from Burger King / Hungry Jack’s franchise in Australia.
Hungry Jacks has over 400 locations across the country, making it the second-largest franchises of Burger King in the world. That’s one of the leading reasons why it’s just about every teen’s first place of employment. Not only is there lots of work to do like waiting tables, and helping out in the kitchen, but Hungry Jacks is always looking for people who can help out with balancing the books, working at the cash register and even in the marketing department. However, as someone in their teens, you might not qualify for most of these positions.
Whether you are a parent or a teen that aspires to work at Hungry Jacks, it is essential to be familiar with their minimum hiring age. The company’s minimum age varies depending on several factors as we’ll get into in this article.
How Old Do You Need to Be to Find Work In Australia?
Now before we dive into how old you need to be to find work at Hungry Jacks, we need to first outline the age limit for working in Australia. Australia, like many other first world countries around the world, has strict anti-child labour laws. The laws don’t allow for employers to hire minors to perform hard labour regardless of the price. “Hard labour”, is also referred to physical labour like scrubbing the deck of a ship or the floor of a restaurant. However, the laws do vary slightly from one Australian state to the next.
In general, an individual will need to be at least 13-years of age to be hired for any type of light work, regardless of the industry. Most industries don’t hire a person who is under 15-years of age, especially if the job requires long hours. Individuals under 15 years of age can only be hired to perform light duties like that of an assistant, paper delivery person or some other position. Employment that’s restricted for most individuals under 18 in many states includes working in a factory’s assembly line, door-to-door salesperson, working in the fishing industry etc.
Even though the minimum age is 13, many employers aren’t going to employ anyone under 15 years of age, with 18 being pretty much the standard. Again, this choice and discrimination is based on the industry of the business and the position that needs to be filled.
The Working Age Requirements Varies with Workplaces
Now we touched on this a little bit in the previous section and will go into a bit more detail here. The minimum age tends to vary greatly depending on the industry you want to work in and the state laws. However, all industries regardless of if it is the restaurant industry like Hungry Jacks or any other are governed by state and federal laws, both of which mandate that kids shouldn’t be involved in hard labour.
Then you might also need to consider that there are some jobs that individuals under 18 aren’t qualified to handle like signing cheques on behalf of the company. Plus, individuals under 18 aren’t allowed to work in industries which mandate that only adults handle those matters like the adult movie industry and the alcohol industry.
Interestingly workplaces in Australia can’t restrict who they employ based on just their age. Age discrimination, as it is called, is against the law. That’s why if Hungry Jacks declines a candidate it can’t be on the basis of their age alone, there has to be a legal justification for it.
How Old Should You Be To Get a Job at Hungry Jack?
Now Hungry Jacks does not have a particular age limit specified on their website, and it isn’t stated in their policies. After having taken a look at a few dozen recent job ads posted by Hungry Jacks and also at their hiring practices we can safely say that the decision of age is based on the position they want to fill. Many roles at Hungry Jacks require that the person applying to be around 18-years of age.
Since Hungry Jacks does not sell any items like video games and adult content that requires adults only, they will employ younger people to fill certain positions. Work in the kitchen can primary be done by teens who are under 18, but the work will have to be easy. For instance, they can be the chef’s assistant. Generally, when Hungry Jacks posts a job ad that’s geared towards youngsters, there is an age limit mentioned. However, if there is no age limit mentioned and you think it’s a job you can do call up Hungry Jacks to find out if you are eligible for it.
Like many other franchises in the restaurant industry, Hungry Jacks will not employ anyone under 18 to handle cash. However, there might be exceptions to this rule. They (Hungry Jacks) will also not employ youngsters as inventory managers but may employ them as assistants who help stack and categorize everything in stock.
Hungry Jack’s Workplace Age Restrictions Aren’t Anything New
Hungry Jack’s age restrictions aren’t unique to the franchise. The age restrictions are the same across the restaurant industry. For instance, Burger King will also not employ a person under 18 to handle financial matters, and the same may go for MacDonalds too. So, if you’re 15 and got a job offer working at Hungry Jacks, there is a good chance that you can get that same job at MacDonald’s too.
Improve Your Odds of Getting Employment in Hungry Jacks
Well, there are a few things you can do to improve the chances of getting employed. For instance, be well dressed, have a well-drafted resume and be forthcoming. Employers always like to hire people they can trust, and so bill yourself as a trustworthy person to improve your chances of getting employed at any age.
