schildi
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Post by schildi on May 6, 2019 11:19:36 GMT -5
High all! Looking for some input on summer jobs. Our highschooler is interested, mainly because he wants to buy a car. Besides the summer job, he also wants to take an accelerated math class online for college credit, which we are in full support of. With that in mind, he would only have about 3 weeks time for doing a summer job, which I feel will make it harder to find a position for him. Do you have a teenager in your family who is doing summer job(s)? What kind? What's your overall experience with it? Worth it overall? Also, how did you go about finding and/or comparing positions? Our DS really wants to go out and work, but is somewhat shy and very worried about the interaction with adults on his first job. Any feedback / advice is much appreciated!
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on May 6, 2019 11:32:14 GMT -5
I live in a small town, so a lot of high schooler summer jobs are word of mouth. My wife works at a bank and my nephew's friend is going to work there this summer because he is interested in banking. Lots of high schoolers around here work in the fields for the local seed companies (get up early, get done early enough they can still do summer sports). I worked at a grocery store, daycare, and in the fields while I was in high school.
Only 3 weeks seems tight. That kind of thing seems prime for something that doesn't require much training, like field work. Hard to imagine any full fledged hiring job only wanting 3 weeks of work out of someone (around here I would have said field work, or there's a little ice cream shop only open for a few months, or hopping on with a landscape company to mow lawns or something during the busy season). Seems like something seasonal is the most likely fit.
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jelloshots4all
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Post by jelloshots4all on May 6, 2019 11:38:49 GMT -5
Highly unlikely to only have a job for 3 weeks. Unless it is for a temp agency for a specific position. Can he work while taking the online class? How many hours a day is the online course? I would think he would have at least 4 hours a day to work while taking his class.
Both my teenagers will be working summer jobs. My college daughter is coming home and working at the same job she has had for 3 years. My 15 yr old son just was hired there as well. Hospitality, but not fast food.
How about a landscape company mowing grass, a golf course doing the same, grocery store/Walmart, etc stocking shelves? There would be some interaction with a boss but very little with actual customers. If he has access to a car, delivery driver for Uber Eats or Grubhub.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on May 6, 2019 11:39:25 GMT -5
why can't he work part time while taking an online class?
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on May 6, 2019 12:10:38 GMT -5
Why only 3 weeks? That is going to be the biggest hurdle. If it is because of the online class, this would be a good introduction of learning how to balance multiple responsibilities.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on May 6, 2019 12:11:06 GMT -5
""google - Detassel corn
If you wait too long, the corn plant will start to pollinate itself. The window of the growing season to detassel is usually only 16-20 days long. Detasselers must remove 99.7% of the tassels in the female rows. ... Each summer about 100,000 people, mostly students, head out to the corn fields to detassel""
This might fit his schedule - the detasseling season is usually about 3 to 4 weeks long. You have to be age 13 at the beginning of the season. It is usually all HS kids - and often a HS teacher as a Crew Chief.
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souldoubt
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Post by souldoubt on May 6, 2019 12:14:36 GMT -5
Word of mouth or have him walk into local businesses and see if they need any part time help. As mentioned the issue will be that he's only looking to work for three weeks. Most jobs involve some kind of training that would take up a chunk of those three weeks and it isn't worth it to hire then dedicate training time to someone in that situation. I second swamp's question. I'm guessing he'd have plenty of time when he's not doing the class to enjoy summer so if he wants a car or money bad enough he'll make it work.
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schildi
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Post by schildi on May 6, 2019 12:23:21 GMT -5
Thanks for all the responses. Yes, he could work part time while taking the class. That would extend his availability to maybe 7 or 8 weeks even. We recently moved to the area (small town) so don't really know that many people yet, so word of mouth is going to be unlikely. Asking in person at local businesses sounds like the best option at the moment. I will look into Phil's suggestion, but I don't think we have many corn fields in the area .....
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on May 6, 2019 12:24:16 GMT -5
""Also, how did you go about finding and/or comparing positions? Our DS really wants to go out and work, but is somewhat shy and very worried about the interaction with adults on his first job.
Any feedback / advice is much appreciated!"""
First, YOU don't find and compare positions - that's a very important learning experience that you don't want him to miss. One of our kids worked in a grocery store, the other worked in a dept store. They went to local stores and asked, one was near home, we drove the other daily.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on May 6, 2019 12:28:49 GMT -5
I should add - that HS work experience was probably more important to our kids than the money. One daughter advanced to the customer complaint desk, she got to the point where she could predict what the customer was upset about when that customer was still 20 feet away. The experience of working 'retail' is great for a youngster - a lot happens after you ask "may I help you?"
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Mrs. Dinero
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Post by Mrs. Dinero on May 6, 2019 13:08:05 GMT -5
DD (16) - works at pizzeria (answers phones and hostesses) DS (19) - 1. works at golf course at country club (retrieves member’s clubs, pulls around carts, loads carts) 2. Door Dash 3. Demo work for construction company
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on May 6, 2019 13:09:54 GMT -5
Around here most kids do the detassling corn thing (Minnesota = lots of corn fields). But that's only for a few weeks in the summer. Once they hit 16 or so and can get a more traditional job I think big employers around here are: Fast food, movie theater and retail.
DS worked for me during the summers - once he turned 18 I could put him on the road crew. During the school year he worked for an Escape Room. He prepared people to do the escape room, provided clues from the control room, re-set the room, etc. He had experience with electronics from building robots so he did help with the design of new rooms and repairs to the existing rooms.
Because of different labor laws governing kids under 18 I have quite a few friends that own business (including retail) that won't hire anyone under 18 because it's such a hassle.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 13:13:14 GMT -5
I will look into Phil's suggestion, but I don't think we have many corn fields in the area ..... I'm surrounded by corn fields and there are no detassling jobs around here. I think it's just on farms where they're producing seed corn.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on May 6, 2019 13:17:49 GMT -5
I will look into Phil's suggestion, but I don't think we have many corn fields in the area ..... I'm surrounded by corn fields and there are no detassling jobs around here. I think it's just on farms where they're producing seed corn. Yep, it's for seed corn. Same as rogueing (cutting out the corn which is taller than the rest and is not desirable). It's less about how many corn fields are around, and more about whether seed companies are growing seed corn in that particular area. The downside of any field work is that you'd basically have to hope it lines up precisely with the free time this kid has, which isn't a super reliable plan.
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jitterbug
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Post by jitterbug on May 6, 2019 14:30:49 GMT -5
Why doesn't he look for a permanent part time job that would perhaps give him more hours in the summer when they need vacation coverage - but also give him some income the rest of the year? So McDonalds, Walmart, bagging groceries, etc. My son started in 3 sports - and still worked Wednesdays and Sundays at a local restaurant for spending money. Yeah, I could afford to cover his gas and toss him a $20 here or there - but I wanted him to experience the pride you feel when you buy things with your own money! And yeah, I was the mean mom at that time - but now that he's a working adult, hiring those kids - he thanks me for teaching him how to work!
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jelloshots4all
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Post by jelloshots4all on May 6, 2019 15:04:53 GMT -5
Good idea on the movie theatre as well. Taking tickets/scanning tix. If his class is during the day he could work there in the evenings
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oped
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Post by oped on May 6, 2019 15:11:51 GMT -5
Daughter works at the movie theater. Her friends work at the greenhouse, children’s museum, restaurants and stores...
I second looking for permanent part time, a place that generally employs teens.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on May 6, 2019 15:12:33 GMT -5
I will look into Phil's suggestion, but I don't think we have many corn fields in the area ..... I'm surrounded by corn fields and there are no detassling jobs around here. I think it's just on farms where they're producing seed corn. I have never heard of that and I'm also surrounded by corn. All of the corn grown here is for cows. The farmers here just use a chopper to cut it down and chop it up. It then goes into a silo.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 15:14:42 GMT -5
Around here the grocery store hires a lot of teens to bag groceries. Another good summer job is lifeguard, but you have to pony up the $300-$400 to get certified first, so for a short term job that wouldn't be a good one.
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TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on May 6, 2019 18:54:14 GMT -5
Your local grocery store : bagged / cashier / clerks / sticker.
Also good for flexibility/availability but yeah do permanent part time : more hours when he can... less when he cannot.
We also have college kids that started in high school and come back for winter/summer break to earn some extra cash or transfer (if they are lucky) to sister stores that are close to the college they are attending.
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plugginaway22
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Post by plugginaway22 on May 6, 2019 18:59:37 GMT -5
Our son worked at the local bagel store for 2 years and mowed lawns for about $20 each. Our daughters waitressed at the little Greek family restaurant down the road.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on May 6, 2019 19:13:33 GMT -5
I’m not sure the 3 week thing would be way to find, unless it is something specific. Taking 1 college class should not take up much time. When you get to college you have 4 or 5.
Working a job in high school teaches so much. Dealing with customers (depending on the job), dealing with adults, learning the value of work and time management.
All my kids worked in high school. We owned a retail copy business, so they worked there. During school year, it was sometimes only on Saturday, only after school when no activities. Worked a lot in summer. They were lucky to have built in job (they may not agree with that though).
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on May 6, 2019 19:19:05 GMT -5
Small town area here. My niece and nephews all worked at Dairy Queen. For 3 of the 4, it was the only high school job they had and they also worked it during the summer and breaks in college.
4th one went from DQ to Walmart. Then he decided Walmart wasn't kind to it's employees or he could have done the same thing through college. After working nights driving a backhoe in an unairconditioned factory, he realized his mistake with Walmart.
Grocery stores seem to have lots of high school kids working there and they continue in the summer and breaks.
There is always lawn mowing.
Here, detassling is a job, as is working the produce stands when the vegetables are ready.
I don't understand the idea of taking one online course and not being able to work some hours.
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chapeau
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Post by chapeau on May 6, 2019 19:36:53 GMT -5
I worked at McD. Some days I’d go back in a heartbeat. We have a berry farm nearby where a lot of younger high school kids work picking or packing. My nephew worked there from basically 14 until he graduated from college, gradually worked his way up to serving in the tasting room (supposedly their own berries go in the wine, but I’m cynical). They’re pretty casual about whether or not you show up. But they pay by the pound if you’re a picker.
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on May 6, 2019 19:48:51 GMT -5
DD worked at the concession stand at the local little league field. The job was just the length of the ball season and was around school hours. They had a lot of volunteer parents but they also needed someone with a food handlers card so they hired a couple of teenagers to manage that.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on May 7, 2019 1:00:00 GMT -5
DS1 had some problems finding summer jobs since we lived in Singapore at the time and they had very strict regulations what (foreign) HS kids were allowed to do. He had to provide a certificate from his school that he was enrolled and get a government permit to work. He ended up as a bellboy for a few summers. There was and is a lot of tourism and business travel there and there were many high end hotels that needed the help.
DS2 went to HS in the US and managed to translate a volunteer job into a real after school job. As a volunteer he and several of his friends set up a computer network in a local senior center. They stayed on for the rest of the schoolyear helping out. During this work he made a connection with some people in a startup company and he worked the last two years of HS as the system administrator for this startup.
Neither of their experiences seem very useful for someone looking for a few weeks of work in a smaller town though. But who knows --- all I am saying is look outside the "traditional" fast food/grocery store area
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on May 7, 2019 7:25:32 GMT -5
There are a lot of wineries around here, too. Forgot about them.
The big produce stand has several locations in the area. They run a big organic operation and hire kids to work in the fields, pick corn and tomatoes by hand, get it ready for the stands, get it to the stands, sell it at the stands, etc.
No idea of what they pay and I'm sure working outside in the heat is hard, but it's a job.
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Bluerobin
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Post by Bluerobin on May 7, 2019 8:49:13 GMT -5
If he is going to only work 3 weeks, it is NOT worth the time to even fill our the paperwork. Tell him to get realistic.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 7, 2019 8:58:32 GMT -5
Maybe a contractor needs periodic help to do the worst parts of the job.
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on May 7, 2019 8:59:44 GMT -5
All my kids worked in high school. We owned a retail copy business, so they worked there. During school year, it was sometimes only on Saturday, only after school when no activities. Worked a lot in summer. They were lucky to have built in job (they may not agree with that though). That was my son. I made him work in the office of my family's construction company during the school year and on days off from school. He'd come in when he could. Once summer hit we threw him out on the road crew and he worked 60 plus hour weeks. He grumbled some about it. But now he's pretty grateful for it. His professors are impressed with his dedication and work ethic and it's opened a lot of doors for him. It's rare to find an 18 year old willing to give up his entire summer vacation before college to work that much. He enjoyed his time working at the Escape Room way more- it had air conditioning and no expectations that he be at a jobsite 90 miles away by 7am.
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