Any medical building in your area that has multiple practices all together? The dentist’s receptionist takes vacation in May, the chiropractor’s receptionist takes vacation in June, the Ob-GYN receptionist takes vacation in July. One of my kids cobbled together a summer job working “relief” shifts, all in the same building. You only need one doc to hire her… by the time she’s learned how to function, another doctor will have a few weeks work for her upstairs!
And temp agency is a good idea. Many retailers do a seasonal inventory in June and just outsource the bodies to come in and do counts.
Last year my daughter got an application for the movie theater and they would have hired her in a second but she didn’t want it. This year she wants to babysit (really good money) but the kids are getting older so the mom doesn’t need her as much. I’m trying to talk her into doing two jobs, the day and the night one, hopefully the movie job or a restaurant. Her other issue, which could be good or bad, it that she gets home from college on May 6 but needs to get back to school Aug 12. Some seasonal jobs just don’t match up well with that schedule.
If you have a community college, see if there is a job board there. Some kids will be leaving the campus/near campus jobs for the summer. Check at the park and rec department. My brother runs a sports league and hires score keepers andD other kids to keep the fields clean, haul nets, supervise younger kids.
One thing to be careful of–at least in foresight–is if you’re “that guy” who lies about how long you will be working there and leave an employer emptied handed unexpectedly, it doesn’t serve you well when you need a good work reference for internships/co-ops and that former employer has hard feelings now. Just a thought.
My kid got a night stocking job at Walmart where they took her just for the summer. Obviously night shift is not ideal, but she made some money and had a LOT of incentive to succeed in college by the time she was done.
My DD had what she considered a dream retail job the summer after high school, and I’m pretty sure she did not volunteer her college plans during the interview / hiring process. She was happy to have that job and took her job responsibilities seriously. Toward the end of the summer she was offered a promotion and turned that down because of her college plans. So basically–if she had not been headed across the country for college, but had stuck around… they still would have had to hire and train a replacement for the position she took, just for different reasons. She left on good terms and even a promise of a good recommendation if she wanted a job in the store branch in her college city.
I think it depends on the type of job, but both retail and food service are high turnover businesses, and also the type of work where employers often use a lot of part-time workers. People quit for all sorts of reasons, often because they have found a higher paying job.
My daughter works at a restaurant that needs a lot of additional workers in the summer. This will be her third summer. She was able to work there during her breaks too. They have a lot of college kids who come back every summer. Her best friend is having a hard time finding a summer job and my daughter suggested she apply there too because she’s pretty certain they’ll hire her. Do you have places like that in your area? We like that she doesn’t have to look for a new job every summer.
“I would suggest that the OP stick with her former summer employers…who know her…and will like,y be more flexible in terms of her college departure.”
^This.
My son’s employer (min wage job - large multi national company) took him back every summer, plus breaks during school year once he started college. He did start working for them summer going into his sr. yr of high school so they knew he was a good employee and gladly took him back.
This is one of the reasons to start working summer job while still in high school. instead of waiting unti summer going off to college or summer after freshman year.
S thought about looking for a different job after his freshman year but I encouraged him to stay put since he would always be able to work breaks and summers.
The really bizarre thing is that he now works for them in corporate - he graduated last May and was accepted into their exec training program. 15 put of 3000 applicants were chosen and he was the only one who ever worked for them before. It definitely helped that he knew their business model and operations during the grueling interview process.
Yes, my HS son started in Dec so can continue his job into summer. Sister is in college and got her job last spring and worked there summer before college. She needs to find a new job this summer because they don’t have any openings.
Lifeguarding. Look into local pools, YMCA, apartment complex pools, beach.
My daughter lifeguarded at the local pool and YMCA during HS and after her first year of college. My first son lifeguarded at the local pool and at the local beach during HS summers. For college summers, he lifeguarded at the beach and they were never fully staffed. Now my second son also lifeguards at the local pool and the beach during HS summers. They have never had any difficulty being hired or leaving early/mid August for college. The kids who were still there enjoyed getting increased hours.
I’ve heard that some national stores hire college (and to-be college) students for the summer if they will be able to continue working part time in their new college town. I know someone that did that for Victoria Secret and another at a grocery store. It was a win-win. The kids learned the job, kept their skills up in college and earned spending money and the stores got help without having to re-train.
It’s tough finding a job here. The year before college my son ended up volunteering at local hospital. Fortunately he was ok without the money. Later he was able to work at local movie theather during summers. He’s also delivered pizza and we were excited when he got the job. Having the Dominos on resume has actual impressed some interviewers.
One of my son’s started a tech support business and was able to earn a tidy sum over a couple of summers and through the school year. He did everything from help with social media to cleaning up viruses, setting up tv streaming systems, recommending computers/tablets/phones, etc. . If you have that skill, there is always work! Lucky us, he still works remotely from the other side of the country!
@walkinghome, this is true. Two of older D’s friends worked for national chains in the summer and in their college towns when in school. Of course, this only works if the management at both places are open to it AND there’s a store in the college town, but it worked well for them.
I’d also look at restaurants-not fast food. My older D is in management at a national chain and the amount of turnover at some of these places is huge. They’re always looking for replacements.
I remember posting this before on a similar thread but both of mine worked for the local Kumon tutoring center for their entire Junior and Senior years of high school including summers. They were graders which entailed grading the homework packets the kids brought in or worked on at the center so the tutors would know what level the kids were at, if they were progressing, needed extra help, etc. They worked 10-12 hours a week, usually from 3-6 or 7 and always during the week, very occasionally on Saturdays. I know Mathnasium in our area, hires high school kids as well. My S paired that job with a second job scooping ice cream at Coldstones while D had a regular babysitting gig on the weekends. Just food for thought…
I would never advise my kids to lie, either overtly or by omission, about their availability for a permanent position. We should be doing our best to raise ethical children, and I’m appalled that any parent would wink at that sort of behavior. As the owner of a retail establishment, it would infuriate me to find out someone I hired for a permanent position in May knew at the time that he or she was flying the coop at the end of the summer, and we certainly wouldn’t be parting on good terms. It takes time and effort to advertise, interview candidates and then train a new employee. Granted, no one on either side of an employment relationship makes a commitment for any fixed amount of time, and employees leave for a variety of reasons, such as a better opportunity, but it’s unethical to take a permanent position with no intention of staying beyond the summer. How would any of these kids feel if they got hired for a summer job by an employer that didn’t disclose that the employee would be terminated at the end of July because business gets slow in August? If you want a summer job, find a summer job. Mow lawns, babysit, housesit, whatever. If you have a hard time finding something, well, that’s a shame, but not a reason to start your employment history with deception.
Seasonal jobs like lifeguarding, teaching swimming lessons, working at a golf course, babysitting, pet-sitting for people on vacations, lawn work, selling fireworks, working at an amusement park if one is near your home are all possibilities. My cousin’s son developed a clientele who paid him to pick up dog poo from their yards once a week $10 a yard)! One of my daughters cobbled together nearly full time work one summer via 3 part-time jobs: babysitter, swim instructor, and helping someone who was flipping a house (mainly painting and gopher). One daughter worked at an amusement park that was a 3 hour drive from here. Housing was provided. Long hours though-between 50 and 60 hours a week.
So she’s going to tell them that she’s going to CC next year to get the job and then have to continue “lying” about it all summer long when she’s working? People are going to talk with her at work - adults or other kids and they are going to ask her questions about herself, her plans, etc. - she’s going to lie all summer - how awkward! What if someone comes by her place of work who knows she is going to school out of state and starts chatting about that?
Why not be honest but also say, “I’m hoping that if the job goes well this summer (if she gets it) that I could return to be on your team again next summer”. Something like that.