<p>"With roughly a hundred people crammed into Marcello Assante's small Manhattan restaurant, you would think business was going well for the family-run cafe. However, on a spring afternoon, the crowded dining area of Ciao West was full of people looking to make money rather than spend it.</p>
<p>After posting an ad for a summer job on Craigslist, Assante received an astounding 100 responses for a mere two available positions. A large percentage of these applicants had been students at nearby New York University on the hunt for summer employment.</p>
<p>Paula Lee, the director of career development at NYU's Career Center, affirmed the discouraging trend.</p>
<p>"Every year is competitive for summer jobs, but because of the economy it has definitely gotten worse," she said.</p>
<p>Not a lot of competition here because there aren’t even any fast food places taking applications. There were exactly 9 jobs listed in our local classifieds today, and three of them were for paper routes!</p>
<p>There are plenty of jobs in our local paper… for surrogate mothers and long-distance truck drivers, lol.</p>
<p>D had no trouble finding a summer job - but she’s a certified lifeguard. S will be very underemployed this summer, just working at special events at the nearby sports stadium.</p>
<p>Our company has been posting internship positions at 4 local colleges for months now. We’re flexible with hours and pay a good rate. Very few resumes even come in and the applicants don’t meet the simple requirements. </p>
<p>S applied for an internship at a local company - along with 300+ other applicants for three positions… that’s a lower admit rate than Harvard! ha ha</p>
<p>D has almost given up on getting a retail job or any of the typical jobs available to students. We live near Chicago, and I noticed on Craigslist that there were a good number of very short term jobs listed under the “events” category, and the “talent” category. They are looking for people who might pass out samples at trade shows, or for street crews downtown to hand out brochures or samples. The talent category has jobs for extras in movies. I just started helping her look last week, and she has her first job today as an extra in a commercial. </p>
<p>The pay is $125 for the day plus lunch. We figure if she can do this 10 times this summer, that is over $1000 that she would not have had. It’s something, and there is the extra fun of looking for her in the crowd when the commerical comes out.</p>
<p>If you live near a big city, this might be something to look at.</p>
<p>Vderon, If I had seen an add on Craigslist for such a job ie: “talent” I would have thought that it was perhaps someone trying to enroll someone in a acting school, or selling “headshots” for modeling. In other words, I would have thought that it was a scam.</p>
<p>My 17 y/o landed a paid job as a camp counselor. I cannot tell you how competitive this job was! I know some very responsible nice teens that are the same age that were turned down. There were just more applicants than slots. Last summer my son could not find a job (age 16). </p>
<p>So I assume that colleges expect their students to contribute financially to their college educations by earning 2,000 over the summer. Where will they find these jobs? In many areas of our country, few employers are hiring. There are many middle aged laid off people with families to feed who need these jobs too!</p>
<p>Northeastmom, I’m sure many of these ads are scams. Also, many of the jobs are unpaid. </p>
<p>In Chicago there are legit agencies for extras. The agency that my daughter signed up with was responsible for casting the movie “Public Enemies” with Johnny Dep which comes out soon. </p>
<p>The event jobs are for the huge trade shows that they have downtown. They had a bunch of jobs for the candy show that is in town, but my other D graduated last weekend so D could not apply for those. </p>
<p>One of those jobs paid $250 a day plus a 10 pound bar of ghiradelli chocolate. :-)</p>
<p>I am surprised that companies are hiring outside people for event shows. My BIL had to run these for a company that worked for (salaried salesperson). It was at one of those event shows that another company spotted my my BIL working his tail off, and they took him aside and told him that they wanted him to come and work for their company. My BIL did take them up on the offer. The company who stole him away said that whatever his salary was, they’d top it. They did. My BIL has remained with that company for over 25 years and he has worked his way up the ladder. Bottom line is that working those trade shows was great for his career!</p>
<p>Working is always good for the career. D could not find paid employment last summer, but she asked the place where she most wanted to work if there was a way she could “volunteer.” They said, “sure.” This year THEY got in touch with her and hired her in the winter for a summer job. She was thrilled.</p>
<p>Poetgrl, that is awesome. Northeast, D is a hospitality and tourism major, so working a trade show would be educational as well as fun. </p>
<p>I like that she is trying. She has an audition at Six Flags tomorrow to be a character and she is busily trying to get these short term jobs. To be honest, I did not expect her to be so tenacious. I thought she would just give up, because she applied for a bunch of jobs at spring break time and never heard from any of them.</p>
<p>I feel bad for all of our kids. I agree with you that trying to make the $2000 or $3000 that colleges assume you can make is so difficult this year.</p>
<p>All that working to work this summer will get her a job for next year. Obviously she has a fantastic work ethic. This is rarer and more highly valued than we usually think!</p>
<p>You bet. Today she has an interview for a market research discussion about hair products which will be on Friday. It pays $75.00. No stone left unturned. :-)</p>
<p>The only problem is that as a hospitality/ tourism major she is required to do 3 semesters or summers of work in the industry. She is doing the Disney college program this fall and plans to do it again, but that leaves 1 summer or semester that she will need a job, and not just any job. It has to be in the industry.</p>
<p>I hope her school plans on being flexible with this requirement. Who knew?</p>