How to get teens to work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy this. My motivated to work teen has never had trouble finding work and has had 4 W-2 jobs from ages 15-18. No connections, just walking into stores or applying for jobs online completely on her own. For her first job, she walked around the mall with her resume until someone hired her on the spot. And yes, that first crappy retail job had bad hours and sucked. But she worked hard, earned a lot and now has a really good job three summers later. I think some kids don't want to take that first yuck job or put up with less than ideal conditions.

Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy this. My motivated to work teen has never had trouble finding work and has had 4 W-2 jobs from ages 15-18. No connections, just walking into stores or applying for jobs online completely on her own. For her first job, she walked around the mall with her resume until someone hired her on the spot. And yes, that first crappy retail job had bad hours and sucked. But she worked hard, earned a lot and now has a really good job three summers later. I think some kids don't want to take that first yuck job or put up with less than ideal conditions.

My kid (now in his early 20s) tried this several years ago--literally just walked into every store that had "now hiring" signs up and asked to speak with the hiring manager. Every single one told him they only accepted applications online, so he went home and applied online, and only got a response from one!

[Anonymous]

I’m sure if you criticize them on the internet some more it will help.

[Anonymous]

My kid couldn't wait to get his first job at 16. He works every summer. He's going to college in the fall and wants to work PT during the school year on campus.

[Anonymous]

OP is a troll who just wants lower paid wage slaves to exploit. Teens should work to learn, not to drive down wages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll who just wants lower paid wage slaves to exploit. Teens should work to learn, not to drive down wages.

Wow. This is so incredibly dumb. I’m sure you think you’re like really empathetic or something. And yet, you have no awareness that many teens work because THEIR FAMILY NEEDS THE MONEY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started working at the age of 16, in Giant Food.
Now there a huge work shortage and mostly because teens are at home playing video games or doing silly Dance videos.. Parents should make kids go to work. They are now paying kids $15-17 dollars an hour to work…..my first minimum wage job I was making $1.50 an hour I will have to work 10 hours to make what they are making now. There shouldn’t be a reason why there so many people not working.

And…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen is dying to work and had a lot of trouble getting a job. He submitted dozens of online applications and heard back from almost no one. Maybe this os because he had nothing to put but volunteer gigs in the “previous experience”? Anyway, I keep hearing abt all the jobs going infilled but my teen got almost no response. (And these were definitely teen appropriate jobs-he wasn’t shooting high or anything.)

Teen needs to talk to request to talk to on duty manager when applying for jobs. In person always trumps online.

[Anonymous]

We had a teen sitter that also worked at chick fil a. They would give her her schedule on Sunday for the following week. It’s not just the money, it’s the scheduling. A lot of fast food places do it like this apparently.

[Anonymous]

Our experience this summer is that employers want full flexibility and continued employment during school. That’s a no go. Kids who are prioritizing hard classes, good grades and test scores, and meaningful ECs don’t have time during the school year to work at Five Guys during the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you say when they tell you they didn’t ask to be born?

I’m burning my brain to come with an answer. This is a good topic for a new thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll who just wants lower paid wage slaves to exploit. Teens should work to learn, not to drive down wages.

Wow. This is so incredibly dumb. I’m sure you think you’re like really empathetic or something. And yet, you have no awareness that many teens work because THEIR FAMILY NEEDS THE MONEY.

What is the point of this? OP was talking about teens who choose not to work and insinuating there’s some nationwide moral failure occurring. Obviously the teens who have to work to feed their families aren’t included because they’re already working.

Moreover, I hope we can all agree that it’s better if teens don’t have to work to avoid starving. Yes, some do, but that’s not a good thing. In a better world, their families would be able to earn enough to feed everyone without the kids having to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy this. My motivated to work teen has never had trouble finding work and has had 4 W-2 jobs from ages 15-18. No connections, just walking into stores or applying for jobs online completely on her own. For her first job, she walked around the mall with her resume until someone hired her on the spot. And yes, that first crappy retail job had bad hours and sucked. But she worked hard, earned a lot and now has a really good job three summers later. I think some kids don't want to take that first yuck job or put up with less than ideal conditions.

My kid (now in his early 20s) tried this several years ago--literally just walked into every store that had "now hiring" signs up and asked to speak with the hiring manager. Every single one told him they only accepted applications online, so he went home and applied online, and only got a response from one!

+1 My son did exactly this. He got one response and schedule an interview. When he arrived for the interview, the manager wasn't there. He followed up with several texts and never heard back. That's what came of an entire day walking around with a resume and then submitting online applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our experience this summer is that employers want full flexibility and continued employment during school. That’s a no go. Kids who are prioritizing hard classes, good grades and test scores, and meaningful ECs don’t have time during the school year to work at Five Guys during the week.

The best bets are truly seasonal employment, like a camp counselor, lifeguard, or golf caddie.

[Anonymous]

For those whose teens aren’t getting called for interviews, what does their availability look like?

DS was shocked that he couldn’t find a job when he started looking the first week of June, was planning two, week-long vacations and to leave for college the second week of August. Assuming a week of training, he would have probably been able to work for three/four weeks at most.

I figure after a year of having no spending money at college he will be more motivated to get a job next summer.