<p>DS is finishing up his first year of college. He's on a trimester and won't be home until the end of June. He has no job, no internship, no plan that I can see, for the summer. He's working hard at school and getting good grades, and I can see that he is maturing by leaps and bounds.
But no summer job. Because he gets home so late, he wasn't eligible for many internships, and he missed a deadline for the job he'd been counting on. (an email glitch - went to wrong account that he couldn't access.)</p>
<p>Anyone else have an unemployed/ un-encumbered kid returning home? I'm feeling very anxious here.</p>
<p>I do think it gets harder the later they get back to find a job. DD didn’t have any of those things either when she came home earlier in the month. She did get her old job back from last summer about a week after she got home.</p>
<p>Maybe it depends where you live. I take applications early , if I need to fill a spot , but don’t actually hire people until right about now for our seasonal business</p>
<p>It seems as if all my kids come or came home from college like this, but things tended to work out. Here in MA we use Hire Culture or Craigslist for internships or volunteering works if jobs aren’t available. The money from a job is nice in the short-term but working for no pay at something that helps develop them is helpful in the long run (I know you know this!). It looks like your son missed an internship through that e-mail mistake but I’ll bet he can find something to do. Around here, also, if you play an instrument, there is a community band, if you act, there is a community Shakespeare company, if you like to take care of children, there is a camp, a local cable station and hospital need help etc. etc. So we may also be lucky in where we live.</p>
<p>Not a suggestion for this year but in the future don’t let his late arrival home stop him from applying for internships. My daughter is on a trimester and has worked things out with both the program and the college that allows her to take internships without sacrificing in either place.</p>
<p>Also, kids flake out and he will be available through September where most kids need to be back mid to late August so he should definitely keep looking once he gets home for people who just lost their summer help or if they need someone through Labor Day.</p>
<p>S has been home for almost 2 weeks. He has had a part-time job for the past year of about 10 hrs/week. We expected him to request more hours or find a different or additional job. So far he seems to be part of the Occupy Your Bedroom movement.</p>
<p>My D is on a quarter system. I told her last fall that her goal was to find a job during the Christmas season to which she could return in the summer. They told her she could come back in mid-June, but I’ll believe it when I see it.</p>
<p>Is your son attractive and/or very personable? I ask because - although illegal - I know that many employers hire based on looks. When my D asked for an application at the store that ended up hiring her, they were all over her and interviewed her on the spot. I know it’s because she had the “look” they were seeking. With so many companies taking online applications, it’s still nice to apply in person if the applicant has a “quality” that the employer will like. (Note that this works to my son’s disadvantage because he is overweight - he doesn’t really have the “look” that a store is going to want to promote.) </p>
<p>Here’s a suggestion. When he gets home, help him gather all the info he will need for job applications - contact info for personal references, etc. Choose a nice day after he’s a bit rested and make a day of it. Drive to every grocery store, restaurant, yogurt shop, retail store you can get to in a day. I bet that one or two of them will have a “now hiring” sign on the door. It will probably be somewhere he never dreamed of working, but it will be a job. (We were at a BBQ place last week and they had a “now hiring students” poster on the door. While we were there, the manager came up to my 16 year old and gave her an application.) Don’t send your son out on his own because it’s depressing. Just have him wear decent clothes, put a smile on his face, feed him well, and see what you can come up with.</p>
<p>xaniamom - I think you should patent the expression ‘Occupy Your Bedroom movement’! I know some parents who would sign their kids up as charter members…</p>
<p>anniezz - the camp where my sons are working this summer doesn’t fill all their counselor slots until June. I am sure that camps in your area have websites with contact info for applications; you never know - you might get lucky with a 10 minute time investment.</p>
<p>op,
"Anyone else have an unemployed/ un-encumbered kid returning home? I’m feeling very anxious here. "
-Do not be anxious, let him enjoy very well deserved free summer. He cannot do anything about it. My D. had all her UG summers like this, there are no jobs, most volunteering positions have waiting lists that took way beyond summer. You cannot be anxious about something out of your and your kid control, it simply does not help. I am very happy that D. had relaxed summers, waking up sometime in afternoon, spending time with her HS friends, traveled abroad to couple places. Boy, she is pushed to the limits right now, at least she had good free summers before.</p>
<p>Many schools, especially LACs, are pretty closed down in the summer. They may have some modest summer programs, but ones especially without any grad programs, are pretty empty in the summer.</p>
<p>If your s can get a job, and hopefully there will still be opportunities available (try posting amongst your facebook friends to see if there are opportunities available) it is far better to have an activity, even a volunteer opportunity, than to lounge on the sofa.</p>
<p>I still wonder about the advice to go to a Temp Agency. Maybe others have success stories there, but not me.</p>
<p>Two sons’ experiences with temp agencies while in college was that they wasted too many precious early summer weeks trying to develop a working relationship with any one agency. </p>
<p>Also some Craigslist office ads turn out to be false bait posted by Temp Agencies to enlarge their registry list. Phone calls early each morning to agencies where they were qualified and registered did prove fruitless. </p>
<p>I am not convinced there’s enough time in one summer to launch a working relationship with a Temp Agency when there are year-rounders also working that route. I’d be glad to hear success stories. COuld also be that we’re in the Rust Belt here. </p>
<p>Same sons found different college summer jobs by driving themselves around to apply in person. Generally it took a solid work-week of job hunting to land it. S-1 did restaurant work, S-2 went with a buddy and both found day work with a local moving company (small business). Those industries hire same-day or same-week, not long in advance. These industries will also fire in a moment’s notice, so mind your p’s and q’s every single day once hired.</p>
<p>I agree that “Help Wanted” signs can be the golden ticket in this situation.</p>
<p>My oldest D and I did what Missypie (post #9) suggested–I drove and D would go to various places to inquire about seasonal work. We picked a couple of places that had numerous options. It worked. D got two part-time jobs–at an art gallery in the afternoon and hostessing at a higher-end restaurant in the evening. Neither one paid a huge amount, but together they provided her with spending money for her junior year in college. Both also provided good experience in dealing with people.</p>
<p>Paying3tuitions, my S did get several weeks of work through temp agencies the one summer he tried it. He went directly to the agencies, not through those craigslist ads. We also did the “drive around and fill out applications” thing, to no avail. Since his school gets out after everyone, he was at the same disadvantage as the OP’s kid. (Actually, S’s school is STILL not out this year. They really are behind the 8th ball when it comes to seasonal work, unless they already have an established relationship, which he did not.)</p>
<p>That summer he also tried to get work as a tutor in his main foreign language, in which he had some fairly impressive credentials for a kid that age in the way of state and national awards. He emailed a letter–which I drafted for him, I admit–to a long list of area language teachers (Which I also put together for him. I really wanted him to get a job! ) before the school year ended, saying that he was available should any of their students need a tutor, and touting the advantages of a slightly-older peer tutor for HS kids. (Assuming that the teachers themselves did not want the work, of course, and there are many who need the break.) He only charged $15/hr, significantly less than teachers do. He eventually did get one short term tutoring gig via his posting on craigslist, nothing from his letter campaign, although several teachers did email him back and say they would keep him in mind.</p>
<p>I second what someone said upthread about appearance: there is an upscale inn in our area where several kids I know have worked, bussing and waiting tables. The job is highly desirable because the tips are large. A friend’s D was banking on the order of $4K in a summer working dinners only there. They only hire kids whom I would describes as good-looking and very fresh-faced. A teenager with acne need not apply. :(</p>
<p>Temp Agency is useless even for people with huge experience and all kind of degrees. I have never ever had any luck with them. I have been unemployed 9 times, filed with them every time to cover all possible ways and always have found the jobs myself.</p>
<p>“My oldest D and I did what Missypie (post #9) suggested–I drove and D would go to various places to inquire about seasonal work”</p>
<p>-completely not applicable in our city. D. has applied to about 30 positions and got not a single peep in response. She did not have time, we picked up applications and send them out and informed her way before summer, since we knew that summer time is just too late. People just do not realize how desparate it is at some places, there is simply nothing in a summer. D. had no problem obtaining great job, Research internship, volunteering, all lasted for most of her UG years at her UG. Hometown…nothing, zero.</p>
<p>My S gets home mid June and currently has no plans. He works during the school year and saves almost all of it, so I don’t mind him enjoying his time at home. He will look and probably work on a few projects he has in the works but I know there isn’t a lot available around us.</p>
) before the school year ended, saying that he was available should any of their students need a tutor, and touting the advantages of a slightly-older peer tutor for HS kids. (Assuming that the teachers themselves did not want the work, of course, and there are many who need the break.) He only charged $15/hr, significantly less than teachers do. He eventually did get one short term tutoring gig via his posting on craigslist, nothing from his letter campaign, although several teachers did email him back and say they would keep him in mind.</p>