When the sun’s out and studies are over for another academic year, who doesn’t dream of a couple of months of kicking back in the sunshine, lazing around with friends, and perhaps taking the odd trip away or holiday?

Unfortunately, for many students these dreams are dashed the moment that they check their bank balance. Even for the most frugal students, it’s likely that the old account is looking pretty bare. And for those who didn’t really keep track of their spending throughout the year the numbers on the bottom line of the statement probably look pretty high; but sadly the chances are they also have a little minus sign next to them.

So, a part- or full-time summer job soon becomes a must for most students. Nothing too stressful (after all, the main objective is just to make a bit of money to then put to use on enjoying the summer, perhaps paying off some of that overdraft if possible); perhaps something involving serving customers, stacking shelves, packing things in boxes or fielding sales or customer-service calls. This sort of work is a breeze to come by, right?

Well, think again. The issue here is not that this sort of work isn’t available. Rather, it’s that taking this sort of attitude leads many students to think that all they’ll need to do is show up to the job interview and the only question they’ll get is “When can you start?”

But for pretty much any job (perhaps with the exception of payment-by-results cold calling, where the staff turnover is so high they can’t afford to be picky), the person hiring you wants to know you’re reliable, motivated, and will follow instructions. You might think they’ll assume you’re fully capable of the job simply because you get good grades at a well-known university, but the chances are they’ll probably want to see these things from you with their own eyes. So if you don’t demonstrate these things at interview, you’re not going to get the gig.

Here are some of the biggest howlers that people make when they’re going for an interview for a summer job. Avoid them at all costs!

1: Being late for an interview

If you can’t keep good time on the first occasion they’ve asked you to do so, why on earth should they think you’d be able to do it on a day-to-day basis?

2: Failure to follow instructions

If they ask you to bring a passport and national-insurance number to the interview, do it. And if they tell you the dress code for the interview will be smart, wear something formal. The message you’re giving off by not paying attention to the instructions they’ve given you is “I probably can’t be counted on to do what I’m asked to do,” something that no employer ever likes.

3: No clear idea about availability

The majority of summer jobs are in places that operate outside of standard business hours–supermarkets, bars, call centres and so on–and as a result they have big, complex staff rotas. It’s essential that they are able to fill these rotas with the names of people for each shift, and so in turn it’s crucial that they know exactly when you’d be willing to work. They don’t want a vague or noncommittal answer about whether you can work on Friday evenings due to you possibly wanting to keep it free sometimes to do stuff with your mates; they just want a definite yes or no.