Ideas for gap year employment?

sbjdorlo
Fri, 02 Oct 2015 22:19:07 +0000

My son is on a gap year, and right after he finished his summer job (cellist in a local theater production and a cello teacher) in August, he began to apply for part/full time work. He was trying to focus on QA Game Tester jobs since he’s very interested in working in game design in the future. I helped make his resume and he sent it out to probably a dozen places. I modeled the resume on my oldest son’s resume (he is a senior at MIT).

He has no paid experience as a QA Tester, having only had two Beta Test experiences. Most places ask for 6 months experience. (So he’s not sure how to get experience if they require experience)

He also sent out his music resume to various local theater companies since his paid work during high school was as a cellist and cello teacher.

Lastly, he’s sent out applications for assembler jobs, fast food, Target, and will send out more for places like Petsmart and Dollar Store.

He’s gotten exactly one interview, and that was for a Game Tester with a well known Gaming company, but they didn’t say anything about when he would know if he got the job, so it’s likely he didn’t get it.

Was it this hard for your kids to get a job?

We wonder if it’s his unusual educational background. He was homeschooled in my private homeschool, so we list that school by name. (And he was issued a diploma) He also passed the CHSPE, so he has that certificate. He was also dual-enrolled at the local community college for two years, and is taking a Game Design class this semester for personal development, (The Ivy where he will be attending allows that) so we list that, as well.

Or could it be that he says he can’t work Sundays? (church and orchestra on Sundays)

Can we just expect that, because of his lack of experience, no one will hire him? Can we expect that instead of dozens of jobs to which he’s applied, he’ll have to apply to 50 before he’s hired for one?

I guess I didn’t think it would be this hard for him to find work.

Thanks for ideas.