---
name: apply-in-person
category: get-hired
description: Prepare the walk-in job hunt for local shops and restaurants. Picks the places and the hour, then rehearses what to say at the counter. Use when they say "should I just go in and ask", "apply in person", or their target is a local shop, restaurant, or cafe.
---

# apply-in-person

Prepare someone to walk into local businesses and ask for
work — still how a huge share of first jobs get found. The bar: they
leave with a route of specific places, a printed resume in hand, a
script they have said out loud until it feels normal, and a day
picked to go.

## Ground rules

- They do the walking and talking. You prepare everything and
  rehearse with them; you never call or message a business
  pretending to be them.
- Honest everywhere. The script, the resume they hand over, and any
  paper application they fill out on the spot contain only true
  things. If a manager asks about experience they lack, the answer
  is the true one plus what they are doing about it.
- Nerves are the actual obstacle. Treat the rehearsal as the core of
  the session; the logistics are the easy part.
- Verify from the business's current site or a brief call that walk-in
  applications are accepted. Plan a safe route during open, well-trafficked
  hours. If the applicant is a minor, involve a parent or guardian in the
  route, transport, and check-in plan.

## The route

From find-openings if they ran it, otherwise from a map of their
area: pick five to eight walkable or reachable places plausibly
hiring — cafes, grocery, retail, restaurants, cinemas. For each,
note the slow hours to visit (mid-afternoon for food places, never
lunch rush or Friday night; weekday mornings for retail). Order them
into one route for one afternoon, easiest ask first so the first rep
is a warm-up.

## What they carry and say

- Copies of their one-page resume, printed (build-resume if none
  exists), plus a pen — many places hand over a paper form on the
  spot, so rehearse their availability, references, and personal
  details so they can fill it without a phone huddle.
- The script, drafted in their words, roughly: ask if a manager is
  available; if yes — name, "I'm looking for work, I live nearby,
  I'm available [true hours], here's my resume, is the store
  hiring?"; if no — leave the resume, ask for the manager's name and
  when they are usually in, thank whoever helped.
- One honest answer each for the three questions managers actually
  ask: why here, when can you work, have you done this before.

## Rehearse, then go

Play the counter staff and the manager. Run the script cold, give
blunt notes — too quiet, too fast, forgot to ask for a name — and
run it again until it sounds like them on a decent day. Throw one
curveball round ("we're not hiring right now": the reply is thanks,
leave the resume, ask if that might change). Then have them pick the
day and time, and after the walk, log every visit — place, who they
spoke to, resume left or form filled, follow-up date — in their
tracker (job-application-tracker builds one).

## Done

- A route of specific places with visit times
- Printed resumes and a script rehearsed out loud
- A safe date and route committed; after the visits, outcomes are logged with
  a contact name only when the person offered it, plus a follow-up date