Summer Jobs

Where career advice pros and job seekers connect

Posted by Austin Lavin on March 31, 2008 at 10:11am

This is my first post on the Secrets of the Job Hunt. I'm not sure what my audience is here, but I wanted to talk about summer jobs.

We've all had them, but over the last few years we've been hearing that less and less teens are going into the workplace.

Why do you think this happens?

There are probably a lot of reasons, but one big reasons is that employers aren't making the effort to sell themselves to teenagers. How'd you find your first job? Through a friend? a parent? randomly? It's basically the same way teens find summer jobs now, but a lot has changed since you found your summer jobs. Everybody is trying to reach online, why shouldn't employers be recruiting doing the same thing?

My 17-year-old sister and I decided that there could and should be a better way of connecting teens and employers so created myfirstpaycheck.com

What do you think?

Along with job and volunteer opportunities, Myfirstpaycheck.com provides advice and resources to help young people have a more successful job application process. Myfirstpaycheck.com is also a valuable resource for companies searching for an online outlet to hire temporary, seasonal and part-time employees.

Tags: first, jobs, part-time, summer, teens

Comment by Miriam Salpeter on March 31, 2008 at 12:42pm: Austin,
Welcome to Secrets of the Job Hunt! I reviewed your site and want to wish you a lot of luck. I think that the teen market is often overlooked when it comes to sharing information about creating resumes. Job-hunting skills aren't intuitive.

Since most career coaches are advising college grads and other adult job seekers to write skill- and accomplishment-oriented resumes instead of resumes that simply list the "things" the job seeker has done, I would suggest you consider advising your teen audience using that advice. It's never too early to start thinking about accomplishments and skills as they apply to the individual!

I'd be happy to share a blog with resume advice targeting your audience if you'd like. I invite you to review my career advice blog: www.keppiecareers.wordpress.com to learn more about me and my business, Keppie Careers.

You might also want to take a look at Dan Shawbel's personal branding blog: http://personalbrandingblog.wordpress.com/
If you read Seth Godin, maybe you are already familiar with Dan's work as well. The idea of marketing oneself as a brand for the job search may appeal to your audience.

Feel free to contact me if you're interested in some blogs with resume writing advice targeted for your audience. As a career coach with over 10 years of experience, I'm happy to help and to serve as a resource for you and myfirstpaycheck.com.

Best,
Miriam Salpeter
Keppie Careers - A Head Above the Rest
www.keppiecareers.com
miriam@keppiecareers.com

Comment by Lucilla Feliciano on March 31, 2008 at 1:55pm: I think the site is an awesome idea. I tell all of my younger friends to start looking for employment opportunities that will aid them with in their future career paths. I just posted information about your site to on one of my Facebook Groups.

As a teenager one of my first jobs was networking with older friends and letting them know I was of age to work. I worked at grocery store and said to myself," Do I want to do this as a full time job/career when I get older?" I decided to seek employment working with students at an After School/Summer Program for a local Community Center to coincide with my B.A. in Spanish/Education. I also obtained that job through networking with friends. I worked with students as a young adult and always talked to them about having a clear cut path to their dream jobs. The experience I gained at the Community Center aided me with my final project for my Masters degree. You and your sister are well on your way to being great entrepreneurs.