Comments on: Summer Jobs for Teens are Hard to Find

By: My Interview with Bill Gates | The Wisdom Journal

My Interview with Bill Gates | The Wisdom Journal — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:14:10 +0000

[...] 4. He constantly compromised his position. His participation in the interview was not as an equal, but a subordinate. Often this is a subtle matter of perception, but it made me feel that I was interviewing a young teenager. [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:15:14 +0000

I have been working since I was 12 years old. Non-Stop. My first job was a paperboy. I went through a lot of stress and got pretty burnt out in high school trying to manage all of my activities and sports while holding down a job. I look back on it now and I missed out on a lot of vital sleep and fun as a teenager. I think I agree with you on how important it is to be young and not worry about going to work. However, I think that every kid should have a summer job while not in school.

By: Austin

Austin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:35:08 +0000

I think having summer jobs are important and while harder to find jobs now, there are places online to make it easier to land one. My 17-year-old sister and I created myfirstpaycheck.com to help our peers – I think it can help your teenager too!

By: Marci

Marci — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:18:44 +0000

Also to blame for the lack of summer jobs are child labor laws and insurance liability.

Used to be a kid could go make his summer money picking strawberries, beans, etc, or tossing hay bales around. Now you have to be 16 to do that. I think kids need to learn the work ethic long before 16, so they should have their own chores at home.

Only reprieve for kids is for those lucky enough to have a relative in business – kids can go to work for a relative with no age limitations – and can work on the family farm with no age limitations. In both cases tho, it is good to have that proper balance between work and play and school

By: Ron@TheWisdomJournal

Ron@TheWisdomJournal — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:30:33 +0000

I’ve worked all my life. When I was in 5th grade, I sold greeting cards door to door. I raked leaves in the fall, cleaned out garages in the winter, cut grass in the spring and summer. I baby sat. I cleared brush. I bought a car when I was 16 and started working in the meat market at Western Supermarkets making $3.10/hour which was 35 cents above minimum wage. Then I found out the guys sacking groceries up front were making $2.75 but were averaging another $10/hr in tips…so I transfered. I worked 3 jobs in college. I sold vacuum cleaners door to door. I cut trees and split and sold the firewood. I did everything I could to make a few bucks.

I also quit working when football rolled around, but we won our state championship that year so I haven’t regretted THAT! I was able to maintain a healthy relationship with my peers even though I worked a ton of jobs doing a vast array of different things. The good thing was, my friend’s parents knew they could call on me to shovel dirt or spread mulch in their yards. My friends would stand there and watch, then go inside and watch reruns of Happy Days.

By: squawkfox

squawkfox — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:06:20 +0000

Getting a job way back during my teenage years was eye-opening. I learned about working. I learned about saving. I learned how hard it was to earn a buck. Most importantly, I learned how important it was to seek higher education (university or college) so I wouldn’t be flipping burgers forever.

What I see in my community is many teenagers forgoing homework in favor of working to buy more iPods and cell phones. I don’t get it.

By: cory huff

cory huff — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:53:28 +0000

Having a summer labor job (roofing, book binding) reinforced the fact that if I didn’t want to spend my life in one of the lower levels of Dante’s Inferno, then I must get an education.

Some people enjoy labor jobs. I’m not one of them, so, man am I glad I finished college!

By: phil

phil — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:25:51 +0000

I am a manager at at retail store and we just had a job fair. We had many teens apply the thing we had a lot of older people apply to, and generally they got the nod, just based on experience and known work ethic

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:12:25 +0000

I recommended to my brother, who is 18 and about to start college, to work for a temp agency. It’s easier to get a job with them and they are designed for short spurts of work. I worked in one for a summer and a winter break and it was great. I earned quite a bit of extra money. It was a lot easier to get jobs and they were usually better since they were typically at an office where I could sit, rather than at a fast food restaurant where you have to stand all day.

By: budgets are sexy

budgets are sexy — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:29:48 +0000

I’m totally for part-time jobs for teens, I would even through in some sort of “internship” as another option.

A lot of my friends wouldn’t get a job just because of the money – they were pretty lazy and enjoyed “fun time” more.

BUT, depending on where you live, there are plenty of opportunities that are much more interesting to kids besides the usual. Video game software companies, art studios, or anything that really sounds interesting to them!

While the pay may be close to nothing, they may have way more fun and learn a great deal more. OR if that is out of the question, perhaps a job at a Game Stop or Best Buy… guys tend to like that