Why was it so difficult for my son to find a job this summer?

Virginia has a lot of laws restricting workers under 18, supposedly for the kids safety. But ice cream stores with walk-in freezers can’t hire kids under 18. Nothing remotely dangerous. Checkout clerks have to be 18 to ID patrons.

It’s a terrible system in this state.

My 19yo kid got a supermarket job in mid-May after attending their job fair and showing up three times for help on online forms. He’s worked every weekend and major holiday since then, never late or sick. Overall the store seems happy with him since he’s so reliable. Last year we got nowhere, he just volunteered at the Restore second hand furniture shop.

Ah yes, my kid isn’t 18 yet.

Good point. Yeah, she was a FT day camp counselor last year, and that taught her a lot. $2/hr. 10 hour days.

She is babysitting as much as possible.

Here are some ideas based on personal experiences and experiences of people I know.

One idea is to talk to friends, relatives and see if they have any odd jobs that need doing. Or if they need anyone to pet sit, babysit, or be a nanny for their kids. Or do they have a business where they might need some extra help? I have a co-worker whose high school kid is doing filing and other office tasks in his uncle’s insurance office this summer. D did a lot of babysitting and pet sitting during summers in addition to her part time job. D also nannied for a family one summer, she took and picked the kids up from day camp, cooked them dinner, etc. Her cousin worked one summer in the church office: she answered phones, helped prepare for events and services, ran errands to pick up supplies, etc. My stepbrother has a farm, and he’s often hired people for the summer to help with stuff, it’s pretty strenuous, but it’s a way to earn money. His nephew worked for him one summer to help pay for car repairs when he got in an accident that was his fault…

You got to ask around.

We have a large swimming lake near us that always needs seasonal employees to work at the snack bar and boat rental counters.
And it’s always worth having him check out the local YMCA, Churches, schools, Parks & Recs dept to see if they have summer camps/programs where they need help.

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I don’t have teens or college kids and so am way past the summer job thing.

However, lately, when I go to my supermarket, which has about 20 check out lanes (city), only 2 at most are open, and the lines to check out are long and it is very frustrating to spend that length of time to check out (add on they make you pack your bags yourself). This has been the case for a while, including last night and when I asked, an employee said they cannot get help. I’m having trouble understanding this as there are lots of people that are low income in this area (though mix of incomes) who I would think would want the job…both students and others.

Come to think of it…I food shop at two stores back to back each time I go grocery shopping. One is to a Trader Joes in the city next to mine and one is at a supermarket chain in my city within a mile from me. My vignette above was from the supermarket chain. On the very same night, for example, at Trader Joe’s, which is a much smaller store than the chain market with just two registers open, there were lots of check out registers open, no line.

I would assume that there is a pay difference there. Our local groceries don’t pay nearly as much as Costco and (I think) Trader Joe’s. The people who are paying are getting the employees.

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I’m also curious about the hours they offer — are these unfilled grocery jobs for full-time or part-time work? And are they union jobs still?

People seeking part-time jobs there may not earn enough to justify the union dues (my cousin worked as a bagger in high school and paid a lot to the union back then — not a diss on the union at all but it’s not ideal for a student job).

People seeking full-time may not be able to get 40hrs + benefits at these stores. The company I work for would rather hire 2 people to work in our warehouse 20 hours a week than 1 person to work 36-40 hrs so that they don’t have to offer benefits.

These companies aren’t hiring students the way they used to, but they’re also not offering full-time hours so adults can support themselves.

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At our local grocery store chain, you have to be 18 and they want you to basically be available to work any shift, any day of the week. That doesn’t exactly work for even a college student who wants to work part time.

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At my Trader Joe’s they often have every check out register open…but then again, my Trader Joe’s is always pretty busy. Same with Whole Foods and Costco. The other grocery stores only have one or two check out lanes open even when it’s super busy and it takes forever. I’ve seen that in other stores such as Home Depot, Kohl’s, Lowes, etc…

One idea, for a good summer job…does your town have a proprietary frozen yogurt shop? Our town does and they’re always looking for teenagers and are happy to have seasonal and part time work…obviously you wouldn’t find that in every area, but always worth looking at.

He actually applied to both of the local frozen yogurt shops. One of them called him and left a message which he returned and they never called back. He called again and left a message and nothing. So weird. It wasn’t the only place where this happened.

Don’t know for sure, but I think Trader Joe’s pays well and I think they might even have some benefits. In our area, it’s the same as you described. Except for TJ’s where there are lots of open lines and people are in a better mood and happy. I often chat with folks at TJ’s. Many work because they are semi-retired or want to keep busy etc.