OPINION: The struggles of finding a summer job

“Where are you planning on working this summer?”

It’s the last question you want to hear from your mom while you’re trying to study for exams. On top of finals, you’re trying to make sure you get good grades, you’re worried about the process of moving out and getting a summer job is just not your top priority at the moment.

Your mom meant to ask a simple question but accidentally sent you into a full-fledged mental breakdown. We’ve all been there. It’s hard enough deciding where you want to apply to work over the summer but getting hired? That’s a whole other ball game.

Last summer, I finally decided that the place I wanted to work was a pizza place at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia, because I planned on spending most of my summer there. I filled out a job application and was told to come in at a later date to meet the manager.

A week later, I stepped into the pizza place, making an effort to stand up straight, make good eye contact and speak clearly. Nevertheless, as I shook the manager’s hand, he looked at me with an obvious (and rather rude) skepticism in his eyes.

He told me that my previous experience as a server at a different restaurant two summers before “didn’t count” because I didn’t physically take orders. Then he sent me out of his restaurant telling me he would be in touch. He never contacted me after that.

It’s not just me. Other college students struggle when it comes to finding summer jobs because competition is fierce, and employers are reluctant to hire people with limited experience. According to a survey by JPMorgan Chase last summer, “Only about four out of 10 teens and young adults who [were] looking for summer jobs were able to find work.” This statistic presents a problem for many of us who need a job to help pay for college.

The price of attending college is increasing at a steady rate. According to College Board, “In the past 10 years, tuition has increased 3.5 percent per year at all public universities and 2.4 percent at all private universities.” As far as NC State goes, College Factual’s research indicates that prices have been increasing, but more so for out-of-state students than in-state students.

This stress of increased tuition makes the stress of finding a summer job more profound than ever because most of us don’t want to be paying off student loans until we’re 40. We know if we find summer jobs and start making money now, we can pay off debts sooner. However, with so many college students looking for jobs at the same time, the students with more experience will be the first ones picked for the job. This leaves those of us with limited experience with no opportunities to gain more experience.

It’s a vicious cycle.

So how do we break this cycle? It’s hard to know for sure if we can. While employers are sometimes reluctant to hire teens and young adults because of the stigma that we have a poor work ethic, that’s not always the reason we aren’t hired. Fox Business interviewed Brian Levine, co-owner of Tropical Smoothie Café, and he explained that a big reason teens aren’t hired is because they aren’t as available as adults are, and adults are typically easier to train. 

Levine also takes into consideration that adults and recent college graduates have more of a need for a job than teenagers do. Many adults need full-time jobs to help support their families, so an employer like Levine would be more likely to hire an adult because they have greater need for the cash and can work full-time. Whereas a student most likely would only be working part-time, even over the summer.

The sad truth of it is teenagers and young adults just aren’t as likely to get a summer job. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Ask around, be persistent and don’t lose hope.

I’ll be right there with you.