<p>I agree. Last year, my D had the foresight to realize that if she took the summer off before beginning college, it would be boring and a waste of her time. I think it’s okay to take a little bit of time off, but not the entire summer.</p>
<p>I know two young adults who graduated from prestigious colleges last May. Neither one worked, interned, or volunteered during the summer when they attended college. Both are now living at home 10 months later. Both are unemployed. Neither one has seriously started to look for employment. Their parents are at their wits end!</p>
<p>"Flipping burgers or life guarding or landscaping is a waste of valuable time in my opinion "
-Impossible to get any of these positions and many volunteering positions are not available either.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I found a way for my son to take some college courses online. He is able to do his coursework at home (under my unsuspecting watchful eye). This keeps him busy and out of trouble. He is still able to work part-time at a local Starbucks so he is busy all of the time. The online college courses can be found at Flexible Learning <a href=“http://flexible.dce.ufl.edu/[/url]”>http://flexible.dce.ufl.edu/</a>
Anyone can enroll in these courses at any time and the college credits can be transferred to the college or university of your choice. It’s a wonderful opportunity for anyone!</p>
<p>^We avoiced additional costs of taking summer classes. D. did not take a single summer class. Her tuition was covered during schools year, but only one summer which she used to get credit for her trip abroad.</p>
<p>My son has worked as a counselor at a sleepaway camp, Freshman orientation leader for his university and this summer will be taking four classes.</p>
<p>Last year D2 found a local summer job in her field through her campus placement office. They liked her so much they asked if she would work through the school year. First semester she worked 10 hrs a week, full time the month of January and now is working 15 hrs a week for 2nd semester. She will then work full time again this summer. She is very lucky that she is gaining professional experience and being paid well. Summer jobs are hard to find around here so the university network was key to being placed at a national company.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry to hear this. If you don’t mind me asking, what part of the country do you live in? We live in the Washington, DC suburbs where there are plentiful opportunities. I explained to our D that she wouldn’t have this fantastic internship if she lived in an area like rural Wyoming. I also have some twinges of guilt that she earns a very good salary at this internship when there are people who are having trouble finding work and making ends meet. I want her to realize how fortunate she is to have these opportunities. Many of her friends at college who are majoring in computer science or engineering are doing summer internships, although some lifeguard or work as camp counselors.</p>
<p>Wait to make comments like this until your kids are graduated and looking for jobs. Many employers want to see “real employment”…and particularly like the punch the clock, show up and work kind of jobs. Internships can also help if they are real, paying, work producing jobs…the summer jobs must might be the most valuable thing on the kids resume to a future employer.</p>
<p>My daughter asked me about working at McDonalds and I told here that they have a career path to six figures and there’s potential for tuition reimbursement for part-time college. She’s finishing up her AA degree this spring and she will be looking for jobs - any jobs for the summer. We have a big mall opening up in our town in June and there may be opportunities there.</p>
<p>I’ve asked our son to look for opportunities at his new place of work for June. She could move in with him in Boston and look for work too. That part of Boston seems to be doing quite well and employment might not be as difficult as other parts of the country.</p>
<p>Back when, college kids only did stuff like waitressing, lifeguarding, etc. I’ve been putting pressure on my kid to get a resume building job like a corporate internship. She’s always been a hard worker, sometimes 7 days a week at 2 jobs over the summer so she can pay her expected contribution and graduate loan-free. How important is it to have an impressive sounding internship vs traditional summer jobs? Obviously the potential to be hired post-graduation is a plus for the corporate internship. Is it okay to have a resume of camp-counselor, lifeguard, etc?</p>
<p>I think the type of internship matters a significant amount also. In my experience, those interested in software have a much easier time finding paid internships than probably those looking for internships in any other field.</p>
<p>I have periodically hire post grad interns. As a former burger flipper myself, I LIKE to see that they have humility and work ethic required in a summer burger flipping or landscaping job.
BTW, you can always tell in the interview which kids have only had “a continuation of the educational experience”. They are essentially clueless and struggle to understand what self directed work is.</p>
<p>The college student will be taking a class in the early morning and then wasting her time as a lifeguard and WSI to earn money for books, gas, and personal expenses during the school year. </p>
<p>The high school student will be playing softball and (we hope) wasting her time lifeguarding to earn her gas and person expense money for the school year.</p>
<p>No summer job is a waste of time in my opinion
Our girls have always worked for our family business as teens and the first couple of years of being in college
Even in our area of tourism inspired jobs, they are harder and harder to come by. Because of a state audit by the labor board last year , I will no longer hire anyone under 18 though ( can’t provide the needed documentation for breaks when I don’t have time clocks or electricity )</p>
<p>S was lucky to get a paid job 2 years ago at the summer camp he attended for years but they were trying to accommadate all applicants so they only gave most of the younger kids 4 weeks of employment. Which was enough for him then. Last year he was offered 4 weeks again at the same camp. I knew it would not give himm enough money to be able to save for college. So he contacted a friend of mine who manages several large apt complexes and got a job doing landscaping for the whole summer @ $10/hour, 40 hours a week. Of course, he blew through much of it, but did save enough to go off to college with some spending money. He was able to work there again during winter break and can go back again this summer. They may also be able to get him an internship in the office, but he would be happy to have last summers job back, just to be working. I am not pushing the internship thing this year, but will be after him next winter to start looking. S like the job for several reasons: the money, the fact that he was working with men who did this for a living and it made him feel like he was doing a “man’s” jobs vs the typical kids work, and he liked the feeling of being a part of a work community and being depended on. He has been lucky so many kids cannot find jobs.</p>
<p>S1 worked as a customer service clerk in a grocery store and did summer training with the Navy as required by NROTC.
S2 also worked at a gro. store but hasn’t been able to the past couple of years. Two summers ago he had major shoulder surgery that put him out of commission. Last summer he applied for twenty-five jobs in his college town where he was attending both sessions of summer sch but had no luck. He did make good grades in summer sch:)</p>
<p>My son has had two summer jobs each summer for the past 3-4 years - he basically works straight through (6 days a week, technically more than full time) for six weeks and then has the rest of August off until he has to report for sports. His jobs have been as a lifeguard for our city’s public pools and as a day camp counselor. Both of these are paid positions - in fact the lifeguard one pays quite well, more than $15 an hour! He found that once he got these jobs the first time, they contact him to reapply each spring. The trick was that he needed to KNOW about these jobs and apply very early the first time - it was early February when he applied for the lifeguard position. Kids cannot wait until May or June and then go looking. It’s tricky - there aren’t many positions for kids anymore so I’d highly recommend checking into the temp summer programs that your city may offer. These jobs have provided him with the money to buy his own car, laptop, etc. and keep him in cash for the rest of the year. They also have provided him with life experiences, learning to work with people who are very different from what he’s been used to. And, they provided fodder for his college app essays this fall! A great experience, but exhausting!</p>