If you teen has/had a summer job, how did they get it?

[Ginevra]

Going to post a poll...

[bettyandbob]

dd has two jobs. 

1. substitute lifeguard for HOA. HOA staffs 20 busy pools. She did an online application and went through interviewing and swim testing. This year she is a rehire so she only did the online application. 

2. swim instructor at a community center. She was a volunteer in the adapted aquatics program for 2 years before she took the certification course. She was known to the facility before hiring. She used her volunteer experience on the HOA application and she had the reference from the aquatics director at the community center to put on the HOA application. 

Additionally she has run a pet sitting business for years and volunteers in a guinea pig rescue. So, she had other references. 

 

I think the contacts she had to put down on her applications gave her a leg up in the process compared to other teens because her references weren't neighbors, they were people who had seen her work through volunteer. This is especially true for the adapted aquatics volunteering--the world of aquatics directors is small so dd was able to give a reference relevant to the same field of work that the hiring personnel knew. 

 

My older ds is having a hard time getting hired. He has no real references. He did not build up volunteer experiences to gain work skills and develop relationships for references. The lack of experience makes for a small network, so he also doesn't hear about people who are hiring. It is a big problem. 

[unsinkable]

My son had applied online then a friend who was a steady customer put in a good word for DS with the manager. The manager called DS for an interview that day, scheduled the interview for 2 days later and hired DS during the interview.

[Guest]

Son was lifeguard for parts of 3 summers at the swim club he swam for 12 summers.  He was a known quantity.  

[Heather in Neverland]

A New Mexican restaurant opened up in our neighborhood. We went there for dinner and while we were there my ds asked the manager if they were looking for any part-time help. Ds started waiting tables there the next day!

[Guest]

This is all good to know. Dd is trying to get a job. I feel like it is such a different world from when I was a teen! (Yes, clearly!) there was no internet, no cells, no e-mail - just so different!

 

There is a new "section" opening at the mall. Opportunity should be fairly good there, as all the stores and restaurants need all staff. But I did also recommend she could ask her friend to put in a good word for her at

Panera.

[stephanier.1765]

Lots and lots of applications online. Most places won't accept them in person any more. My two older boys got their first jobs through my connections but Kyle got his out of pure perseverance. BTW, he just got hired today. I was never so happy for young person before but he had been looking long and hard for a job.

[Wheres Toto]

My oldest had multiple job offers from going into stores at the mall and putting in applications in person.  She didn't have much luck with online applications.  She ended up working at Target.

[Kareni]

My daughter (now a college grad) had done some volunteering at the local food bank after we started homeschooling when she was in seventh grade.  At one point in the late spring of her first year of high school, she heard that the food bank also operated an organic farm staffed (in the summer) by low-income and at-risk youth.  (We are a fairly low-income family.) She promptly made a phone call and then rode the bus to the farm to meet the farm manager.  She was hired her first summer (after ninth grade) to be a farm crew member.  Her second summer (after tenth grade), she was a crew leader.  Her third summer (after eleventh grade), she was a farm stand co-manager.  She could not be hired a fourth summer but has continued to volunteer from time to time on trips home from college and beyond.

 

The fact that she had volunteered at the food bank originally probably worked to her advantage.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[sassenach]

Dd is nannying over the summer for a few families. She's been actively touching base with every family we know that has kids. Babysitting pays better than any other job she could get around here.

[Colleen]

My 16 yo will likely be working at a "truck place".  (Needs no further definition among diesel truck lovers. ;-) )  It's the kind of local good ol' boy shop that is willing to hire teens for short stints.  So he both put in a application with despite no "help needed", and in a sense can work there because he knows the other guys.  

 

My college student (oldest) is doing seasonal work for a local parks department.  I saw the job listed on CL.  Anyone at any level and in any occupation should comb CL for jobs, as the listings run the gamut.  I know many professionals who learned of jobs through CL.  A young woman who got a job working at the State Department overseas, having first read about the job on CL of all places!  

 

Btw, parks & rec and public work departments are great ideas for teens.  They nearly always have the need for seasonal summer employees.

 

My teens are fortunate in that they can also do some farm work here to earn extra money.  At this point, though, we really don't have enough work for all of them.  They get to the point, too, where they want to do something different, and it benefits them to have other employers.

[PrincessMommy]

Lots and lots of applications online. Most places won't accept them in person any more. My two older boys got their first jobs through my connections but Kyle got his out of pure perseverance. BTW, he just got hired today. I was never so happy for young person before but he had been looking long and hard for a job.

 

yup - online applications. 

 

My dd (college) has applied to about 18 jobs and no luck so far.  She did get one call back but they wanted her to work nights when she specifically stated on her app that she has classes every night :glare:   She has a connection at another job she's applied to, so she's hoping it might produce something. 

 

She's pretty discouraged. 

 

Son (college) last year got a job at the local big grocery store.  I think he just got lucky.   This year he's doing an internship. 

[The Girls' Mom]

My dd got a job because I posted on Facebook that she was looking for one! Lol. It is a nanny type position for a distant relative :)

[Jenny in Florida]

My son will be teaching some dance classes this summer. He got the job by putting in a year and a half of unpaid assisting/co-teaching to prove he is ready.

[Onceuponatime]

4 different jobs were acheived by friends/ aquaintances/ connections. Two were from walking in and applying when a sign for help wanted was posted in a window. Online applications have been extremely unproductive.

[Chris in VA]

Eldest found a movie theater job on snagajob--then applied and interviewed. Before that, he painted during the summer with a friend.

He also worked for a friend doing data entry. (That was his first "real" job.)

 

Second son found a restaurant that was advertising on Craigslist. Went in to turn in application, started training the next week.

 

I've found my last 4 jobs on CL.

[bettyandbob]

I suspect with online applications, after you complete the applications you need visit the business during a nonbusy time and find a manager to introduce yourself to--if you do not already know anyone there. The same is true at places with paper applications. You can fill out a paper application, but often if you just leave the application it gets shoved in a drawer, if you make contact with a manager when you leave it you will be more likely to get a call for an interview. If you can get an email contact for the manager and remind them who you are in the next week that helps too. It's good to return to places too in a few weeks and see if they've put out help wanted signs--if they have talk to the manager under the auspices of updating your application. When a business has an opening the manager is not likely to review the drawer full of applications or his electronic inbox. He will often start with the most recent application. I got one of my jobs by calling a business to ask about openings on a day when the managers were discussing the need for more staff. I went in to fill out the application and interview that day and was hired. I know people at the place I left for that job who had also put in applications a few weeks before. The managers never looked at their applications because I was there at just the right time. 

 

 

[Tutor]

Our daughter was just offered a summer job at our local library. She has volunteered there for two years and proven herself a good worker who gets along with the staff. When an employee left abruptly just before the summer reading program began, the branch manager asked my daughter if she would work for pay for the summer and take over the former employee's hours. My daughter is hoping the position will continue once fall comes around.

[Seasider]

Walking in with no job posted AND calling back within a week to express further interest in a job. The business owner told her that her follow up call was the deed that earned her an interview.

[plansrme]

My daughter volunteered to help "herd the sheep" at a gymnastics camp in exchange for practice time during camp breaks and lunches. (Her gym was closed this week.). The camp owner offered her $40 if she would spend the night with the campers at the gym the last night. My daughter ended up actually coaching all week, and the owner paid her for the entire week. The owner has offered her the same gig for future summers. It is just one week, though, but it was a well-paid week. She also is looking into getting her judging certification, as she is old enough to judge now. A lot of athletes we know get certified to judge or referee their sport and make decent money that way. And it is a piece of cake to pass the tests when you have been in the sport forever.

[Χά�ων]

Well, DS is 10. He networked and found an opportunity when he turns 11. But he is weird like that.

 

[Tap]

My son knew a family through Chess, homeschooling and swimming.  When one of their kids was leaving a job as a tutor (going off to college), they called him and suggested the he apply for the position.  He has now had the job for 3 years. 

[Erin]

Buck does day-work for a neighboring rancher. ...Everything from spraying weeds to haying to mechanic-ing to cowboying (his favorite, of course).

 

We've known his boss for about 10 years. Buck just asked him one day at a rodeo if he could use another hand.

He likes to hire kids because they're cheap, work like dogs, and tend to be easier to teach than adults. And, having recently sent his only boy off to college, he likes having another around the place. Everything we were looking for in our kid's first job. ;)

[LibraryLover]

Answered in poll.

[Ivey]

Ds19 applied to two summer camps through their websites, which is the only way they accept applications. 

 

Ds15 is a regular at an indoor skatepark, and the owner recently approached him about helping out with their summer skateboarding camps. This will only be 25 hours/week for 4 weeks, but Ds is hoping that it leads to some more part-time work at the skatepark or one of the other businesses that this guy owns. 

 

All three of my teens have done some work for my brother-in-law's landscaping company. 

[Isabella]

All my dd's worked at the same Chinese restaurant (at different times).  We initially just asked the owner if he was needing any help, and the oldest dd started there.  He was very impressed with her, and when the oldest left when school/commitments became too much, he asked if the middle dd would like to work.  Same happened with youngest.  Now they have all gone on to other things

[Melissa in Australia]

other,- made themself known to a local farmer and asked for work.

[kewb]

Ds lifeguards at our town pool. He has been swimming on the summer swim team for years. Once he got his certification he handed in an application. the fact that he was already known to the senior people gave him a leg up. Once you have been hired if you did your job well you are automatically given first dibs for the next season.

[freeindeed]

My oldest had two jobs as a teen. I voted for walked in to a business with "now hiring" on the door-that is how he got his job at our local Mexican restaurant. His second job was gotten through family/friend-working at a plant nursery.

[Jenny in Florida]

I didn't mention my daughter's jobs, because I forget she's a teen. However, she chose to do an unpaid "internship" at a dance school for one academic year in order to get some job experience. She chose a dance studio because she realized she needed dance training in order to be viable as a professional performer, and we couldn't afford to pay for the training she needed. So, she e-mailed every dance studio within a 15-mile radius and offered to work the front desk in exchange for dance classes. She ended up with offers from two studios, accepted one and did that for one school year/season. She worked the desk three or four afternoons a week and, in exchange, was allowed to take as many dance classes as she wished. 

 

After a few months of pretty serious dance training, she auditioned for and got a job in the entertainment department of a large resort hotel near the theme parks. She kept that job for 18 months and quit only because she is getting ready to move out of town. 

 

Meanwhile, after her year at the first dance studio ended, she was offered a similar job for pay at my son's dance studio. For the past year, she has worked the front desk there two afternoons a week and also taught a kids' acting class one day a week. Again, she is leaving only because she's moving.

 

In her case, that unpaid "internship" was the first domino. The free dance classes she took there got her ready to audition successfully for the entertainment job. And the front desk experience got her the paid job at the second dance studio. 

[Colleen]

I suspect with online applications, after you complete the applications you need visit the business during a nonbusy time and find a manager to introduce yourself to--if you do not already know anyone there. The same is true at places with paper applications. 

 

Absolutely.  This is an important point for teens/young people to learn.  Their application may very well be one of many.  Personal contact is still of prime importance, even in this day and age.

[EKS]

The first year, my son wrote to the owner (whom he knew previously) and asked if he wanted an intern for free for the summer.  The next summer they offered him a paying job that he has had ever since.

[Miss Peregrine]

Local coffee shop posted on their Facebook page that they were hiring. Dd started training today.

[unsinkable]

I didn't mention my daughter's jobs, because I forget she's a teen. However, she chose to do an unpaid "internship" at a dance school for one academic year in order to get some job experience. She chose a dance studio because she realized she needed dance training in order to be viable as a professional performer, and we couldn't afford to pay for the training she needed. So, she e-mailed every dance studio within a 15-mile radius and offered to work the front desk in exchange for dance classes. She ended up with offers from two studios, accepted one and did that for one school year/season. She worked the desk three or four afternoons a week and, in exchange, was allowed to take as many dance classes as she wished.

 

After a few months of pretty serious dance training, she auditioned for and got a job in the entertainment department of a large resort hotel near the theme parks. She kept that job for 18 months and quit only because she is getting ready to move out of town.

 

Meanwhile, after her year at the first dance studio ended, she was offered a similar job for pay at my son's dance studio. For the past year, she has worked the front desk there two afternoons a week and also taught a kids' acting class one day a week. Again, she is leaving only because she's moving.

 

In her case, that unpaid "internship" was the first domino. The free dance classes she took there got her ready to audition successfully for the entertainment job. And the front desk experience got her the paid job at the second dance studio.

This sounds more like bartering than an unpaid internship. She was compensated, just not with money.

[Jenny in Florida]

This sounds more like bartering than an unpaid internship. She was compensated, just not with money.

 

She did have a lot of opportunities to learn about the business, too. She got familiar with the business software many dance studios use, for example. So, the actual work was educational for her, too. But, yes, it was not a typical internship, which is why I put it in quotation marks.

[Seasider]

She did have a lot of opportunities to learn about the business, too. She got familiar with the business software many dance studios use, for example. So, the actual work was educational for her, too. But, yes, it was not a typical internship, which is why I put it in quotation marks.

 

Whatever you call it, I think it was pretty darn smart of her to create and pursue the opportunity!

[Lady Florida.]

Other - Persistence. Ds has been trying for a year to find a job, not just a summer job. He started his first job yesterday. He put in numerous applications around town and went back weekly or every other week to "check in" with the manager at each place. 

 

He got a job at an ice cream place and was told it would be only for the summer. The manager had been stringing him along for months saying she wanted to hire him (at one point she hired someone over 18 so she didn't have to worry about child labor laws). Anyway, she finally did hire him but told him he'll be laid off at the end of the summer when business slows down. 

 

He's glad to have finally found something, but will be spending the summer looking for something else; something more permanent.

[unsinkable]

Whatever you call it, I think it was pretty darn smart of her to create and pursue the opportunity!

Jenny can call it whatever but bartering is a taxable situation. You are supposed to report the value of what you received as income.

 

To be clear, I don't care what people do. I'm not the IRS.

[mom2scouts]

My teen got a summer job by joining the military, but that's probably not what you had in mind.

[Jean in Newcastle]

What we're finding around here this year is that places that just last year would take teens over 15 now won't accept any applications from anyone younger than 18 (which I realize is still technically a teen . . .)

[gardenmom5]

various ways.

2 got jobs in high school because they knew someone, and they really didn't even have to interview - they just "got it". 

[Lady Florida.]

 

I think the contacts she had to put down on her applications gave her a leg up in the process compared to other teens because her references weren't neighbors, they were people who had seen her work through volunteer. 

 

 

 

It can be especially tough for homeschooled teens because they don't have teachers and counselors (and while some have coaches, many don't) to choose from as possible references. Ds used his Camp Fire USA leader because she's seen him in both leadership and  "following orders" type of situations. His other 2 references were homeschool parents, but they both taught him in co-ops or classes.

 

 

 

Btw, parks & rec and public work departments are great ideas for teens.  They nearly always have the need for seasonal summer employees.

 

 

 

I had forgotten about Parks & Rec. Those were coveted summer jobs back in my day. I'm not sure if our local one hires teens anymore though. 

 

I suspect with online applications, after you complete the applications you need visit the business during a nonbusy time and find a manager to introduce yourself to--if you do not already know anyone there. The same is true at places with paper applications. You can fill out a paper application, but often if you just leave the application it gets shoved in a drawer, if you make contact with a manager when you leave it you will be more likely to get a call for an interview.

 

Ds went regularly to each place he applied. I told him without a face, he's just a name on a piece of paper and no different from the many other applicants. He did get 3 other interviews and I think his personal contact with each of those managers is what got him called in. In the end, they too went with someone over 18 though.

 

 

 

 

Age 16 was a tough age.  All of my boys' friends who had a job were working for a relative or themselves.  The fast food places won't hire unless they are 17, and the mall wants 18+.  Didn't hear a word back from any of the online applications from age 16 to 19, even in the cases where he knew someone who was working at the business and had talked to the manager, and in this year's case they were looking for seasonal college student summer help. A friend had given the best advice: go line up work several months ahead with a small business owner, letting them know your skillls and asking if they have any temp or seasonal work that you could do.

 

This was a big problem for ds, and still is for his friends who are job hunting. The jobs that used to be thought of as typical teen jobs are often filled by adults these days. Either there are out of work adults willing to take what they can get, even minimum wage jobs, or employers don't want to have to worry about child labor laws. It's really tough to be a teenager in 2014 looking for a job, even just a summer job