<p>H and I own two businesses in CT, and we are still willing to hire one or two more college students. My assessment: Many college kids don’t know how to apply for a job. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Don’t have your parent’s call and ask if I am hiring, how much I pay and what the hours are. If you aren’t applying for a position you shouldn’t be asking the questions.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t come in with three of your friends.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t start with asking if I’m hiring, and then letting me know you need 3 weeks off for vacation before you even score an interview.</p></li>
<li><p>You’ve made it through at least a semester of college. If you are asked to submit a resume or letter of interest, do it. (BTW - no, I don’t really NEED the resume… lack of experience doesn’t mean I won’t hire you, but lack of follow-through does…).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My son after internships and a State Dept fellowship didn’t work out (he was an alternate, sigh…) is working at Tufts. He’d planned to do exactly what he’d done last summer, but they asked him to be a supervisor. I’m glad he’s employed, they give him free housing (a perk of being a supervisor) and one free meal, so it’s not too bad, though I wish he were home, since he’s been away in Jordan all year.</p>
<p>" He is 19 and has never had a job…maybe a mistake on our part." - DS never had a grunt job in hs. Sometimes that bothers me, since DD has Walmart experience and deep empathy for service employees. But DS was a top student, and the GC told us not to worry about lack of job - “school is he job”. On top of academics, he did all sorts of great EC… so that part is good. </p>
<p>After his first year of college summer jobs were scarce and he didn’t find any open positions. Instead he got A+ computer cert. He also took some free online MIT classes.</p>
<p><a href=“He%20has%20a%20full-ride%20and%20has%20worked%20hard,%20had%20a%20great%20freshman%20year,%20doesn’t%20need%20money.”>QUOTE=atomom</a>
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<p>Work experience is likely helpful, although in his position, he can be slightly more selective about finding a job for the quality or relevance of the experience rather than taking the first offer for the money (though given how short a summer is, there is not much of a window for this).</p>