Again, thanks for all the suggestions. She started looking for a job a few days after she came home from college, so she has been looking almost a month. Yes, I agree going in is more helpful. She has returned to several places she applied to, said she had applied and was wondering if the manager was available so she could ask if her app has been looked over yet. No luck. So many places now have online apps, and you never see a human. She applied online to two Starbucks, went in to follow up at about 2:45 when she though it wouldnât be too busy. She just gets âweâll take your name and number and call you,â but they donât. She is going to fill out surveys for cash and does have a lead on someone looking for a motherâs helper. Hopefully that works out. She also got a check for $50 today for a story she wrote, so thatâs something. She filled out more apps today and will follow up with phone calls and going in.
She doesnât want to leave off the college she attends because she feels she wonât be able to use that as a reference if she gets hired and then has to quit. I will have her read all the latest suggestions. Getting some kind of certification is a good idea too. Thanks again.
Some history and ideas that may help next summer:
D went to boarding school as well as currently attending an out of state college.
1st job, age 16, we did have a friend of a friend connection, worked at a chain motel, housekeeping. Really horrible but I helped her strategize how to deal with difficult situations and she ended the season feeling proud of herself.
2nd job, folding & packaging linens at a commercial laundry. Turnover is high because it is mind numbing so they are always hiring. Temp agency sent her for interview & instead they put her right to work. She made it through the summer (mind numbing!).
3rd summer job, dishwasher/busser in a local cafe and 2nd job at pizza joint. Not too bad.
Currently she is housekeeping in a local historic hotel. Night & day compared to previous work at low end chain motel. And she can listen to podcasts on her phone as she worksânirvana!
They love her everywhere she works.
I used to work at the day care center on the local community college campus. We always hired summer help because some of the students who did work-study there were not available in the summer. You had to be a student for some bureaucratic reason that I donât remember, but it could be at any college or HS. Summer workers often left in mid August, no problem.
This year D also applied for banquet work through an agency but by the time they began to offer her gigs, her work at the hotel had expanded to fulltime and 7 days a week. Besides having bussed tables one summer, she had some experience in the dining hall at BS.
My D2 had that problem summer after high school. She night stocked st Walmart starting in June when she couldnât get anything else. I know someoneâs kid who made money SAT tutoring summer after frosh year. Can she offer to walk dogs or pet sit for people? Do reasonably close resort areas need live in waitresses or maids? I was a hotel maid on Mackinac Island one summer â it was good and awful at the same time â didnât make much money, either. But it was memorable.
DD had the same problem last year. So, she signed up for a tutoring company and earned a couple of dollars doing that. She applied to about 15 places this year. Finally got hired by the zoo. I was going to call in some favors from friends, but she got hired.
Finding a summer job has little to do with the eliteness of schools students attend, correct? I noticed two girls who go to a tippy top univ advertised to tutor for $30/hr. Donât know if they got any clients. Another boy at a top 15 school got a job from his freshman roommateâs dad. Should a student start preparing how to find a job in high school or earlier?
Can she use that to tutor younger kids on writing? If someone (a published author) can help my son become or how to become a paid writer (in person not online) Iâd pay. I donât remember seeing any feedbacks on my sonâs writing in school . So the need must be there for lots of public school kids.
If the student applies over winter or spring break, mention that youâd be willing to do any needed training or reading before actually beginning employment. As an independent pet store, we required an online training program. While I wouldnât pay for a pre-employee to train while they were a pre-employee, theyâd get the same completion bonus when they actually joined the store team. (I paid $100 for an 8 hour online course, plus a permanent hourly raise to $1 over starting pay.) That ensured that I had trained and knowledgable sales staff on the floor from day one.
If youâve been in the store and are familiar with the merchandise and subject matter â if you visit at a busy time, start helping out. It could be as simple as noticing a customer with a 30 lb bag of food and offering to do a carry out. Just be helpful. It will be noticed.
I donât think employers of teens in jobs we are talking about here care one iota where a kid goes to college. I live in NY and tons of kids attend SUNY schools and have jobs. We are talking about unskilled work. I think she needs to push out beyond the usual retail and restaurants. She already has had at leat three businesses say they donât hire just for summer, one was an independent toy sotre, the other a local independent restaurant.
I donât antipciate this kind of issue next year. She knows she needs to apply for internships and the like by late fall. But she didnât think (neither did we) there was any point applying to Target and similar before she was even home from college. Usually these places want people who can start very soon, not in another three months. She really should have applied to a summer camp in the winter, as many of her friends did. She didnât particularly want to work at a summer camp then. She might have to apply to Burger King. Lesson learned.
Even if they donât hire âjust for summerâ â and I certainly didnât want to hire just for the summer â if I had a good solid worker bee that was fun to be around, thereâd be weekend and holiday hours. I desperately needed December workers but if âjust summerâ was a no-go, then âholiday onlyâ was a no-go also. But â a bright sharp ambitious kid that I could count on to show up all summer and back for the holiday â theyâd get considered.
@Lindagaf, I think the hard part is dealing with the emotional ride of not having a job. My daughter was very easily employed when she lived at her university. Now, at home, itâs been very tough. She was very discouraged and kept saying, âWhy doesnât anyone want me?â, âWhat am I doing wrong?â
(I contacted a HS classmate, who boasted at a get-together, âWhen your daughter needs a job, call me, I run the place.â So I did, this summer, and asked her if she could use my daughter. The response: âwell I donât have anything to do with hiring.â)
Itâs hard to deal with the emotional toll when your daughter begins to feel rejected. Just keep encouraging her in a different direction. Volunteering? Itâs better than not working at all and it will give her a sense of appreciation.
^Itâs frustrating when people make offers they canât follow through on. My daughter had the same thing happen with a possible photography internship. I guess the guy meant well, but it turned out he didnât have any say in hiring interns at all.
I do think a lot depends on the area you are in - when my kids were looking, our area was quite depressed economically and local employers didnât want to hire a temporary worker who theyâd need to train and replace when they could hire someone who wouldnât have to leave in a couple of months.
Just food for thought:
At least in our area there is LOTS of turnover in low end jobs, so some employers are happy to have that âworker beeâ they can count on for 3 months vs. the âpermanentâ hire who is always late, canât make it cuz their car wonât start, etc., and quits or gets fired in 2 or 3 months anyway.
Starbucks, Target, Burger King are some names you have mentioned - I think she is focusing on the wrong businesses. Think seasonal, think local. Tell her to focus on locally owned, independent businesses. No online applications. Based on family experience, much better hit ratio.
Who in your area sees an uptick in the summer? Local CSA garden, garden shops, ice cream stands, local day camp providers, places that might run summer programs like the local pottery painting place or local museum. She needs to brainstorm along the lines of who would add people just for the summer months.
My son is in the exact same situation. He will be pet sitting this summer for a few weeks . Heâs applied at ice cream places, the movie theatre, tutoring services, grocery stores , set up for retail, book stores and everyone wants someone that will be available after the summer is over .
I recently dealt with this issue as well, and feel lucky to have found a solution that works for me personally (although it may not be available in your area).
-Consider applying to do direct door-to-door sales with a pesticide company or something similar. Most of these types of companies really ramp up for the summer, and a resilient, energetic salesman can make great money on commission.
-Uber/Lyft driver?
-if she plays a musical instrument, then ask around to see if anyone needs/wants summer lessons. Music instructors are always in demand, and these gigs typically pay very well, especially in the suburbs.
@Lindagaf, there are sometimes jobs available on campus â next summer she might want to do that. Admissions, or research positions with profs. My D2 spent every summer on campus. Even for non-STEM students, there may be opportunities. She should ask profs in her major. After room charges, my D2 netted about $2500. (I supplemented her food bill some, since sheâd have raised my grocery bill if she had come home.)
For my D1 & her boyfriend who wanted summer internships, they started applying as early as Thanksgiving for the next summer, and hit it hard over winter break. He found paid jobs with a couple different govât agencies in DC (Agriculture one year, canât recall the other) before landing one with Deloitte after jr year (where he still works 4 years later). But he was an Econ major.
I think this is a good reason for kids to try to work a little in HS and definitely the summer after graduating. I know a lot of kids who are able to go back to those same jobs after freshman year. D1 did that. But I think that can turn into a bit of a trap, too. My nephew happily worked every summer at a camp during college where he started after senior year of HS. But when he graduated from college, he struggled to find work because he was competing with kids with more relevant work experience. For sure after junior year, it is important to try to find something to build your resume.
Summer job opportunities now bear no resemblance to what they were when we were in college. The landscape has totally changed. There are enough students commuting to local universities and community colleges that most retail and restaurants refuse to train those who will not be around in the Fall. Unless you are looking in a beach community where the jobs are strictly seasonal, you are going to have a very hard time. Also in our area the students who want to lifeguard and have the certification have no problem getting jobs at the local pools and clubs.
The summer after her freshman year my D worked around the lack of local opportunity by getting a job at her university. Most colleges do offer employment opportunities during the summer months and some even provide housing. It was a great resume builder and paid enough to get her through the summer with a little left over for the following semesters pocket money. After that freshman summer most college students are looking for internships that will build their resume for the all important junior summer internships.
S who just graduated high school did actually find a local opportunity, but they never asked nor did he offer that he would be leaving in the Fall.
When my D was going to apply to fast food chain, she got help from a friend who worked there. He told her what day and time to come by, when a hiring manager was in the store. Got to speak face to face with that person to turn in application. Friend made sure Dâs app stayed at the top of the pile, along with the fact she was a friend of a current, reliable hardworking employee.
Use the connection of your Dâs friends to get that foot in the door and get a manager to actually see her application.
How about she writes a short ad stating " need a nudge with AP summer HW? Want to to prep for August SAT? Tutoring and âprep packagesâ by student from âelite collegeâ, 1450 Sat".
Then she walks into every church, synagogue, mosque, or temple within driving distance, meets with someone, introduces herself, asks if any family may need her services, etc.
