<p>DD, a junior in high school, is looking for a summer job. So far, she applied to a grocery store, pets store and a cinema. The pet's store, for once, had an application 89 questions long. She haven't heard back from anybody yet. I am wondering, is it really that tough to get a job of this sort, or is she doing something wrong? And if it's really that tough, perhaps, she should not be applying at all and leave these jobs to people who need them for survival?</p>
<p>For her, it's just a way to earn some spending money and maybe gain some real life experience along the way. She is 16 and hasn't hold a real job yet, but worked as an 'intern' (read, junior counselor working for almost no money) at a camp. She did not want to go back this year, because of pay.</p>
<p>We live in an area that traditionally has countless jobs for teens ( tourism mostly ) The last couple of summers have been tough for teens because so many adults are out of work. I am inundated with requests but have more than enough…I really need non-students and non-teachers at this point, but that can be hard to find too since it isn’t a year round thing</p>
<p>My daughters have always gotten their summer jobs by word-of-mouth. Do have any relatives or friends of the family whose business may need some help this summer? Even an unpaid internship could be a great learning experience. Or an exchange of some sort? My daughter is working at an unpaid internship at a dance venue this summer, but gets to take all the dance classes she wants. I’m just grateful for not having to shell out for the classes.</p>
<p>I’ve tried in my area before and never got anything.</p>
<p>Nowdays my job is to assist my family with household tasks that need doing (redoing a bathroom, seeding the lawn, etc) that they cannot physically do on their own. I do this ontop of my weekly chores.</p>
<p>If anybody is looking for a job as a YMCA camp counselor in the PNW, they are still looking very hard. But only for people 18 and older, only for guys. They have an overabundance of female counselors. The pay is pretty bad, so people generally do it for the experience and joy of the job. I know it’s got to be tough as a teen looking for a job, but there still are some opportunities out there. People may just not want them.</p>
<p>It can be very difficult depending on the area, but I would have your D persist-- are there any more places she can apply? The more applications she puts out the better chance she’ll have.</p>
<p>I remember a couple of summers ago I applied to over thirty places and didn’t hear back from a single one. It was hard because I thought I was really well qualified as far as high school students go. I had much better luck in later years getting jobs through connections and word of mouth. It’s brutal out there right now, especially for teens with little or no work experience.</p>
<p>It’s still a pretty tough market out there. My S applied to countless places as a HS senior and got nothing. My D applied to 3 places as a HS junior and was hired right away</p>
<p>My S is out there looking again but it’s hard when he goes to school 400 miles away. He will probably end up doing some complex household chores. Last summer he painted all the doors in the house and assisted my H in laying vinyl in the bathroom and laundry room. If he doesnt find a job, we have some cabinet refinishing, more painting, etc.</p>
<p>115,000 net jobs were created in April. The BLS employment report stated that there are 14.9 million people that want to work (12.5 million official unemployed, 2.4 million that want to work but hadn’t looked for work in the last four weeks). </p>
<p>A July 8, 2011 New York Times article stated that we need 150,000 jobs per month to keep up with population growth.</p>
<p>So I think that it’s pretty clear that the average person looking for work is competing with a lot of other people looking for work.</p>
<p>Last year S went to pretty much every business nearby which might hire students in the summer and asked if they were hiring, whether they had signs out or not. Many of them let him fill out applications. A month later he got a call and started washing dishes part time at a restaurant. He worked there all year, since he is in school locally. </p>
<p>One of the problems is that your D is only 16, which limits the number of places which would hire her. Have her ask everywhere how old you need to be to work there and if she is old enough ask if she can fill out an application. </p>
<p>Depends on your area. I agree that seasonal jobs are the easiest for teens to get. Do you have any summer camp programs, park and rec programs, amusement parks, etc. in your area. Those are good places to work. In our experience for teens and retail type jobs is that the retail managers don’t hire you unless you get recommended by someone that works there already so have her ask her friends if the places they work are hiring.</p>
<p>Just filling out an application and then waiting for a call isn’t going to cut it - and I don’t know that it really ever has. Of the kids I know who have jobs around here, they either got them via connections, or followed up with the employer (more than once sometimes) to reiterate their interest and to see if anything opened up.</p>
<p>Our local grocery stores hire a lot of teens and college students. There seems to be a lot of turnover. But yes, the easiest way to find work is through connections. My older son got his by job shadowing for a few weeks one summer and making such a good impression they gave him a gift certificate for the work he’d done and hired him to do piece meal work during the school year, and when he excelled at that he got a full time job the following summer.</p>
<p>Teens have had a hard time getting jobs in CO in recent years. There are many adults competing for the jobs.</p>
<p>You D actually has an advantage over older kids if she is willing to commit to working part time during senior year. Employers prefer longer commitment after investing in training.</p>
<p>Agree that a commitment is needed.
DS luckily has a job, though I admit he got it through pure nepotism (DH works in the same location and all summer help are children of school district), but he also put applications in at a lot of other places. One thing we noticed was that if he just applied online, he received no phone call. If he went in, spoke to manager even if he had to follow up with online application, he got a call back for an interview. </p>
<p>I noticed the jobs you mentioned are all desirable teen locations. It may do well to apply for the yucky jobs; car wash locations, uncool places in the mall (tux shops), fast food, busing at restaurants.</p>
<p>One local HS sr. sent out an email to every adult he knew (H was his rec basketball coach) looking for work. We gave him work cleaing up our yard and working on 12yo D’s baskbetball skills. He finally got a FT summer job a few weeks later. I think that is one avenue worth trying. Other way to go is to talk to friends who have jobs and tell them they are looking and to please let them know when there is an opening where they work. I know our local businesses will hire a recommended friend before they hire from an online app list. Last look on craigslist for summer nanny/babysitting jobs. Good luck.</p>