Anonymous wrote:GREAT advice, 15:12. My son starts college in September. I will share this with him and hope he uses this as a model!

PP here. no problem. It is much better to network cold/cold-email alums that you find at companies/functions that your son is interested in via alum-lists maintained by career services, departments, or LinkedIn at that age versus at age 30. People are much more receptive to younger 'kids' reaching out.

GREAT advice, 15:12. My son starts college in September. I will share this with him and hope he uses this as a model!

what school does she go to and what is her area of focus?

i completely failed at the whole internship game when i went to college (never had an internship the whole time in undergrad) but because of my acute failure, i knew exactly how to prepare my younger three siblings so that they all landed relevant internships after ever year (freshman through junior) summer.

The moment you land on campus as a freshman, you gotta network hard through alums. Set up informational interviews, coffee/lunches, chats, hit up career services like none other, talk to professors in areas you are intersted in to perhaps lineup summer research.

My siblings majored in econ, math, and history and using this method they all secured interviews for internships/paid research during the 2nd semester.

for younger students, cold-emailing alums via linkedin is surprisingly effective in terms of getting info and getting visibility for internsihps.

One of my siblings cold contacted an alum which helped her land an interview at one of the best prop trading firms in the country only after one semester of college (it would've been for her freshman ending summer).

I know my advice might be a little too late for this summer, but just giving you the heads up for next summer. she needs to hit the internship trail hard the moment she goes back to school in the fall.

However, even now, it might not hurt to do what i prescribed for landing something this summer. at the very least she'll have built a network and gotten her name out there and learned more about various jobs/companies/areas of work.

good luck!

saw a post that http://www.comfortzonecamp.org/locations is hiring.

A bounce house/trampoline type business.

Summer Recreation through the county. It is hard to advise when we don’t know the general area - VA or MD or DC?

Hostess or waitress.We have hired hostesses on the spot, and waitresses if they are fast learners.
High turnover in restaurants is normal, so it's not a big deal if she needs to leave after 2 months or so.

"I'd avoid the malls, they don't teach her how to do the work of the future. She needs to learn entrepreneurial skills. She will do that by piecing together jobs."

While piecing together work might be important, working in an hourly job like at the mall or at a restaurant remains and important life lesson in my view for any college kid.

The summer camps at schools hire tons of kids. Also, the local gardening center!

My DD, 17, was just contacted last week by Montgomery Dept of Recreation about a camp job. She already has a job, though. Never rains but it pours. Last year she couldn't find anything. So some camps might still be hiring. It's a good gig to get since she could work there each summer she comes home.

Six Flags.

Advertise her services on neighborhood listservs. Grocery shopping for older people, dog walking -- always popular in summer vacation time -- cat feeding; mother's helper; substitute nanny (nannies go on vacation), watering gardens while people are on vacation. If she is taking math, tutoring is a natural. Most kids need help in math.

I'd avoid the malls, they don't teach her how to do the work of the future. She needs to learn entrepreneurial skills. She will do that by piecing together jobs.

Pool companies are ALWAYS looking to hire lifeguards. I teach the Red Cross course and the pre-requisites aren't too bad. She should be able to -
*Swim 300m (12 lengths) of the pool without stopping (freestyle or breast)
*Swim 20m, surface dive down to 10ft and retrieve a 10lb diving brick, bring it to the surface, and tow it back to the starting point keeping both hands on the brick in under 1min, 40 seconds
*Tread water for two minutes without using her hands.

Many companies will reimburse her for the training costs if she works a certain number of hours over the summer.

Tutor! Amazing money AND important work. She can set her own hours. Where do you live?