<p>I should have started searching for a job during school (or kept the job I had at McDonalds) in retrospect. I regret that now. I’ve applied to dozens of places and haven’t found any offering positions for temporary employment. I’ve looked into household/lawn work but there aren’t many neighbors willing to pay for that sort of thing–low income housing area, people just don’t care for that too much. I used to tutor Geometry during school but I find that most students aren’t interested in learning during the summer (I can’t blame them). I’ve sold some of my used AP Books and English Literature to incoming underclassmen but that didn’t garner much profit either. Worst case scenario, I’ll have to work extra hard in school with my w/s job and stipend work.</p>
<p>CPT,</p>
<p>trust me, I agree with you how you feel. I will go a step further and tell you that in my circle, the kids don’t even do community service. My son is the only one. It was not my son’s idea to volunteer. I made him when he was 12. He liked it, but he would have never known this, if I did not make him do that. He actually now volunteers at 3 places: tennis, children’s hospital and the zoo. This year it was all his idea, he could not decide what he wanted to do more. However, he tells me that no one, he knows, volunteers. And no one has a job. </p>
<p>I think it is all parents’ fault. If it was not for me, it would not occur for my son to volunteer or to look for a job. The only reason he attends Sunday school now, is because in one year he can work as a teacher assistant on Sundays. He knows it will be the easiest guaranteed job he will ever have, so he continues to attend Sunday school - which he hates. </p>
<p>I must admit, I don’t make him save his money, but I also don’t indulge him. The video games, parkor seminars, fancy beenie hats, etc. are all coming out of his pocket. Having earned the money however, he now thinks twice before parting with them - a stark contrast from when he used my money.</p>
<p>Forget the temporary employment. When you take a job, you tell them it’s forever. It is understood that when something better comes up (like your college year) , off you will go. Or another job offer, or a proposal from a rich prince(ss) or winning the lottery or a disaster like someone hurt or disabled. NO JOB IS PERMANENT. You limit yourself terribly when you start making stipulations about how much you can work. Wait till you are hired and on the payroll for a week before getting changes in schedules and the such. My son wouldn’t have gotten his summer job had he said up front that he is leaving before Labor Day. 90% of the staff leaves by then, but they always try to hold out and get someone who will stay and batten them hatches. You do a good job while you are there and put in your notice an stipulation as the time comes. Who knows what will happen by then? Every dime you make and stow away is money you don’t have to make (and you don’t even have an assured job at school) during the school year, and leaves a little bit more breathing room.</p>
<p>Apple, just so you know, the average college student in the US accrues about the same amount of debt that YOU will using the Staffords. These days, it’s pretty unrealistic to expect to be able to attend any 4-year institution whatsoever WITHOUT accruing that amount.</p>
<p>So you’re among good company, I’m afraid. And while I appreciate that no one wants a $350 a month for 10 years loan hanging over their heads, if you want something bad enough, you normally have to make sacrifices to get it. So please realize that in actual fact, you are getting a very good deal here, and enjoy/make the most of every minute of it.</p>
<p>Now, if you’re any good at English, surf around the web and look for freelance copyediting or copy writing jobs – there are a ton out there. A kid smart enough to get into a top 25 school is surely smart enough to write web copy 
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<p>Best wishes for an awesome year next year!</p>
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<p>As an employer, I’d be pretty PO’ed if an employee who had agreed to attend college across the country on August 15th told me they’d be available forever on July 12th. It would certainly burn any future bridge that employee would have had with me in the future, and any nice reference I might have given too.</p>
<p>I think there’s a better way than lying.</p>
<p>Not lying. Who knows what happens in the future. We are not talking about big time jobs here. The alternative is sitting around with no jobs. I have two of them who have been rehires each summer and are their 4th and 5tht years working there. The third one started this year, and would not have gotten the job if he gave all his stipulations. It’s a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situation.</p>
<p>*As an employer, I’d be pretty PO’ed if an employee who had agreed to attend college across the country on August 15th told me they’d be available forever on July 12th. It would certainly burn any future bridge that employee would have had with me in the future, and any nice reference I might have given too.</p>
<p>I think there’s a better way than lying. *</p>
<p>Completely agree, and had the same reaction.</p>
<p>*When you take a job, you tell them it’s forever. *</p>
<p>This isn’t exactly “don’t ask don’t tell.”</p>
<p>Yeah, sorry, I have to agree that it is lying, if only by omission. Sure, its <em>possible</em> that the plan to go to school in the fall somehow falls through, but not to mention it when it’s a month away and you’re applying for a job is very dishonest. And I can’t imagine that they “don’t ask” in most cases anyhow. So then they’d have to outright lie.</p>
<p>Sorry, but have to disagree. I take every job as a forever job. If something comes up, it is taken under consideration. I will not hire someone who has stipulations all over the place over someone who does not, but a good worker I would work out something to get back the next season. Maybe that’s why so many kids are not getting jobs. A lot of places know darned well that they are hiring college/high school kids–my one kid is 15, for goodness sakes and needed a work permit.</p>
<p>If I hire you in July and you leave in August to go away to a college you had clearly committed to before you even applied for the job without mentioning it, you better not try to use me as a reference for your next job.</p>
<p>Bad karma.</p>
<p>My kids not only got the references but have asked to come back each summer thereafter and during breaks during the school year. </p>
<p>It depends very much on the situation. If a student desperately needs a job for 6 weeks and may not even be able to make the financial stretch for college at all, and an opportunity arises, I would say go for. Out and out lie if asked, absolutely not, but I would not mention being gone in 6 weeks.</p>
<p>Last year, my one son’s friend was in that exact situation. Could not find a job for the summer to save her life. No money for college. She did finally find one by keeping her mouth shut about college in the fall. Well, it didn’t happen. The funds her non custodial father had promised did not materialize and she is now going to school locally, in part because she has this job, and can afford this option. Just altered her hours to part time–which by the way was a closed subject and if it had come up she would ot have gotten the job. But once on board, a lot of flexibility was possible.</p>
<p>If you can afford to make stipulations about jobs, go ahead and do so. If you really need, really want a job, bring up the stipulations later. I’ve yet to not have it work in the jobs I’ve had. I was 3 months pregnant when hired at one senior position, and I guarantee you, had I mentioned it or breathed one question about schedule flexibility, it would not have happened. Once hired, I was able to make the flexibility happen. And I saw the same thing over and over with mob candidates. Unless the candidate was so special, he was a must hire (very rare), anyone with stipulations, and questions even hinting at stipulation was not considered at a job where there were many candidates. If you have been lucky enough to be hired with accommodation brought up and met up front, that is wonderful, but in too many cases it will not happen. </p>
<p>And yes, my son was hired in July and he is leaving in August. He is there early before the clock and is a great worker. He has not told them that he will have to leave before the end of the summer season, and is looking for a strategic time to say something. If push comes to shove, he does have a brother to cover his shift, but I don’ t think it is necessary. 6 positions open and 76 applications. Do you think he would have gotten the job had he mentioned leaving early? Absolutely no way in the world. Not any more than his brothers would have.</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack the thread. But, having come from an early life of hard knocks and having to fight to get each job with intense competition, I will tell anyone that giving stipulations unless asked outright is a bad idea when job hunting in tough times with few jobs.</p>
<p>I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.</p>
<p>I am with you mathmomvt, and even though I struggled as a kid and have had to search for jobs many times as my husband I moved around because of his army career, I do not tell my kids to be dishonest. Fortunately, my kids don’t need the money as I did as a kid.</p>
<p>Great way to teach your kid honesty.</p>
<p>How would you feel if your kid sponged off you all summer, letting you think he was returning to college in the fall, only to find out come August that he’d been expelled the previous spring?</p>
<p>Apparently that would be okay too?</p>
<p>That would be a nightmare.^^^</p>
<p>I think there is a difference between outright telling lies and not revealing all constraints right away. Basically, if I were a kid, I would not come out right away and say that I am only looking for summer. But, if I am asked, then I would tell the truth. By the time the questions is asked, hopefully they liked you enough to consider you further.</p>
<p>My son applied for volunteering at the hospital, where they clearly state that they don’t allow any absences through out the summer. We always have a family vacation planned during summer, so we knew he will have to break that rule. He applied anyway with the intention to let them know that he will have to miss 2 weeks. By the time they asked him about his summer availability, they already were impressed with his communication skills, that they said they will work with him.</p>
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<p>Not the same. The worker is providing a valued service in exchange for a paycheck. The student worker is not “sponging” off the employer. Considering how few benefits are given from the employer to most student level jobs it seems that the (student) worker is well within their rights both morally and legally to keep private a mental future quit date. Two weeks notice is plenty.</p>
<p>I don’t know about this. I’m an employer, so I suppose I’m biased. I also know a lot of people in my industry, and would not recommend someone who demonstrated a lack of integrity. Then again, I have enough sense to surmise someone’s availability from their resume, and would ask what their plans were come fall if they were a college student. So on the other hand, I’m thinking an employer who doesn’t ask either doesn’t care or is a fool ;)</p>
<p>I’ve sorta avoided this issue the last few years by hiring my own son to cover summer vacation shifts, and he continues to work remotely during the school year. But I’ll have to deal with it again soon enough, as he graduates this year.</p>
<p>I don’t want to hijack this thread, so if anyone wants to continue the conversation, the Parent’s Cafe is always open.</p>
<p>To the OP: your parents are clearly not able or willing to help on a consistent basis to your expenses now that you are an adult. Anything they do contribute, do appreciate, but do not expect. No, they do not HAVE to contribute anything. You are an adult now, and you have to find your own way through a lot of this.</p>