<p>Thx HiMom! </p>
<p>For her, this fit the bill – personally meaningful, some nice perks, and fun. Maybe someday she’ll find full time employment that offers these aspects.</p>
<p>Then I’ll ask her if I can interview there…
:)</p>
<p>Our D goes to college in the US but we live in Canada so that makes it extra hard if they dont already have something set up. The Universities in Canada genereally finish the first or second week of April but she does not finish till the end of May so by the time she gets home all jobs are gone. She got burnt real bad this year though, she has had a great job for the past 5 years paying $18/hr for 30 hours a week as a shift supervisor. She has been able to work over all break periods and everyhting so it was great. This year though they changed bosses and he contacted her in April asking what her summer availability was and she responded. He in turn answered and said great the schedule would be posted by the end of May, she thought no more of it. When she got home she checked the schedule and he had forgotten to give her any shifts. She contacted him and his response was sorry, he had forgotten and could not change the summer schedule now. Now she is stuck trying to find something ASAP, she is applying to be everything from office staff to being a picker on a local farm. She has literally walked and driven everywhere and has handed out 75 resumes but is being told they did their hiring in April. She is mad, frustrated and very worried because we need her to take care of her own spending money. Oh well I guess we will see what happens.</p>
<p>percussiondad,
Tell your D. that many are in the same situation. She should jut relax and enjoy her free summer.
Sorry for all who have been bashing me. I do not care one way or another, but your bashing might make others feel bad and frustrated. I am happy that your kids can do all these very meanningful activities in a summer, but do not dump it on others who do not have these summer opportunities. Kuddos to your awesome kids, we are all very proud of them!</p>
<p>Percussiondad-
So sorry that happened to your daughter. The reality is that she DID have a job lined up, but due to their oversight she is now scrambling. Hard to “relax and enjoy” a “free” summer when she needs to provide for her own spending money. Can she advertise to babysit or dogwalk or petsit or housesit or something? Good luck. Hopefully something will come through for her.</p>
<p>Just one more comment on the suggestion of taking summer classes at a nearby U:</p>
<p>For two of her summers in college, my D worked odd jobs (babysitting, etc.) while taking a class at a local university. She then transferred those credits back to her U. She fulfilled two of her general core requirements this way, AND those extra credits allowed her to sit for her state’s CPA exam this summer because she now has enough college credits to do so. If she hadn’t taken those summer classes, she would either have to spend another quarter in school or take more credits while working this fall.</p>
<p>So in our case, those summer classes actually saved us money in the long run. Yes, there was some red tape in getting them transferred, but in our case it was worth it. YMMV, of course…</p>
<p>Also, I live in one of those economically depressed areas mentioned upthread, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at all the “Help Wanted” ads I’ve seen in stores around town lately. I hope it’s a harbinger of better times to come!</p>
<p>Congrats, scout59! Glad to hear things are picking up!</p>
<p>jym626 she is applying for anything at all and is getting up at 7 am to read the want ads and going from there. She is a go getter so I seriously hopes something comes up. </p>
<p>miamiDAP-- I was not trying to imply that my D’s situation is any different or worse than others. I feel sorry for any student that needed or wanted a job but could not find one. I am sorry but she cannot just relax and enjoy her summer and neither can we. She does not qualify for any finacial aid in the States or in Canada other than the scholarships she has received and thank God for those. Her working has been an integral part of her attending college in the States.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone looking for jobs, I hope it all works out</p>
<p>^One comment that could have fallen thru cracks. It is much easier to find a job at your college. This job will last for as long as kid is in college (most likely). My D. was offerred one without even applying. It is also great because it may result in great LOR’s and awards/recognitions at graduation that might have significant effect on a kid future.<br>
Being gfrustrated will not help situation. You need to get most out of nay conditions. What else can you do if kid cannot find anything (just like my own). Some go as far as creating positions for their own kids, but we never ha opportunites like that. I can only tell you that it is not a major tragedy, not as much as being unemployed parent. I have been there 9 times, and it is a much bigger deal than unemployed college kid. There is no other option, but relax and enjoy, I am sorry that you do not feel like that. And how about if you pay huge money and kid is working for free in very high risk situation. We will be there in just one week. I try to hold my horces as much as I could, frustration is not an option, I got to support her decision my best even after being $3k short. Praying…</p>
<p>MiamiDap
You are right about the jobs on campus if you can get one. My D has applied for everything on campus for 3 years now and has never received one because US residents get first shot, (I personally have no problem with that). She has been offered jobs off campus but can’t because of her student visa limitations. I have been fortunate enough to have never experienced being an unemployed parent, I cannot imagine the pressure that puts you under. My D will do the best she can this year and see what happens but to say just relax and enjoy it is also not comforting to a child that has been working, regularly, saving her own money for her own expenses and had a job that was taken away from her without even being notified. Had she at least been told about this a few weeks earlier she could have a taken a job that was not great in pay but fantastic in experience. She had said no to it because she already had a job lined up. Oh well it is water under the bridge now so we need to work with what we have.</p>
<p>^Sounds like hard working kid, she will be on top at the end, she will be just fine, please, keep her happy, whatever it takes. Long term frustration is not a good thing, just trust me, one might end up with much bigger problem. I am very scared when we go there. I always tell my D. that her well being is priority #1, if she cannot control something, than this something should not be reason for frustration because being frustrated for long time is simply dangerous. Money is very secondary to all of these. Even important exams are secondary. I have to sing this song over and over…to my own kid.
Best wishes, do not worry too much!</p>
<p>I called the career center at son’s OOS college, and she was actually willing to work with us even though son is not on campus this summer.</p>
<p>He emailed her his resume, and they spent an hour on the phone this morning working on it. She instructed him to upload it into their website and they’ll go from there. I’m hoping son will follow up on this. It took everything for me to get him to do this.</p>
<p>Son is in a fantasy land that come July, when he’s finally bored of being at home, he’ll be able to walk into GameStop and find his dream job. </p>
<p>Son is also regretting not staying on campus this summer. Seems a good number of his friends are taking classes this summer on campus and he’s regretting his decision to come home instead.</p>
<p>I’m beginning to wonder if the fact that D is attending a school (HYPS) which doesn’t offer pre-professional degrees is hurting her job search. She is an economics major, but the majority of the business internships ask for a major in finance, accounting, marketing, journalism, or communications. Today in an interview she had to explain why she wasn’t majoring in marketing if she wanted a marketing job. Good question! Thoughts on whether this is a disadvantage?</p>
<p>My D is majoring in pyschology at a UC but has decided she wants to work in business: public relations and/or marketing. A rising senior, it’s too late for her to change majors (her UC doesn’t have either major, in any case). But after several interviews (and many dozens of applications) she has managed to get 3 public relations internships. Now that she has her foot in the door, and with some human resources experience, she says the major isn’t as important as the work experience and the alumni connections (she has mostly been hired by grads of her alma mater through the university employment website). She is now thinking of taking extension or community college classes in pr or marketing, so that’s another way to go. I think it helps that she is in Los Angeles, where there are literally hundreds of PR and marketing firms, big and small. (BTW, she went with small, and already her boss is calling her his “associate”. It’s a big step for a young lady who was selling T-shirts in the student store last summer.)
Bottom line, being from HYPS, using the alumi connections, that is supposed to be a big advantage as far as getting one’s foot in the door. Part of marketing and public relations is selling yourself. I will say my D was very, very persistent and never gave up; even though she got a lot of no’s, she got some yes’s in the end, and is now moving in the direction she wants. So she must have done a good job of selling herself despite her lack of background</p>
<p>Limiting your job search by degree is definitely limiting. Son is now looking for just office jobs, because he does, in fact, have tons of experience with Word and Excel and PowerPoint, through his engineering curriculum and research experience. There are many engineering internships he is not qualified for because he’s not far enough along in his schooling or does not have knowledge of the particular computer language the company is looking for. It is frustrating when employers ask for someone pursuing a particular degree or major, and rule you out based on your lack of a match, when you know you are very qualified for the position and would do a bang up job.</p>
<p>As for alumni connections, my son’s new resume has no mention of his high school activities and community service, and his new college only resume has very little in those categories. We just saw a posting for a local office job that he could perform, and I’m begging him to add his high school and graduation date and class standing. His high school has a strong alumni in our city, and I’m hoping it will get his foot in the door.</p>
<p>Awww! My son, a chemistry major finishing his sophomore year, just told me he wishes he could get an internship being a copy writer. Who knew? Not sure he’ll ever make up his mind, but I’m hoping he’s taking enough credits to do “whatever” once he graduates.</p>
<p>A disadvantage to going straight to university from high school is they really don’t know the wide range of majors/careers out there, r which one they need to do what they want. They know a couple of the big ones-doctor, lawyer, engineer- but have very little exposure to the many other directions their lives could go. Hopefully they figure it out by graduation, or shortly thereafter. Have you heard of the book “The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter- And How to Make the Most of Then Now”? The title pretty much summarizes the content. I bought a copy for my D. No idea if she will read it, but she took it home with her, so maybe???</p>
<p>Limabeans, they say that there is a market for scientists who can write. Simplyhired has lots of editing jobs and freelance jobs.</p>
<p>Driving around doing errands the other day, noticed a new sandwich franchise opening in the area. There was a tent and a big Now Hiring banner. We immediately went home and redid son’s resume to include his high school experience, including grades and sports and extracurriculars/volunteer work, which is no longer included in his internship resume.</p>
<p>Next day, he showed up at the tent, nice polo and khakis, resume in hand, and introduced himself, asking for a job. They gave him a mini interview, impressed with both his high school and his college. He has to fill out an online application, from which they’ll call him for an official interview. But they have his resume, his name, and will now have his online app. While he was dressed and in a job hunting mood, he asked me to let him off at a couple of other places, especially electronics stores that he frequents, and again, got his resume in the manager’s hand, with name and school recognition, and told to fill out the online apps. </p>
<p>These are both national chains, so the online app is lengthy, including a background check and questionnaire that must be similar to the MMPI. The electronics manager said it takes a week to get the results of the app before he’ll be called, and maybe sooner for the sandwich shop.</p>
<p>Wish him luck!</p>