For youths who want to work this summer, the job market is strong, offering a wide range of employment opportunities. The bigger question seems to be, Who is going to take them? “
At Yellowstone, you could show up today and probably be in a dorm room and go to work tomorrow morning,” said Bill Berg, a founder of the job board Coolworks.com, which contracts with employers in the national parks and other travel destinations to promote job opportunities. “In many cases, you can write your own ticket now, particularly if you’re a cook or a chef.”
Other traditional jobs like lifeguards and hot-dog vendors at the ballpark also go wanting. “Not as many kids want to do that kind of work,” said Howard Feldstein, director for the Arlington Employment Center, which for the last 11 years has held a summer job fair for 13-to-23-year-olds in the Washington area. “I think the desire for summer jobs has changed a little bit; kids are looking not only for income, but what makes them look good for the next step in their life.”
Increasingly, students are seeking out internships, both paid and unpaid, or jobs that will provide training for a future career. In response, employers who rely on teenagers and college students are adapting their jobs to make them more attractive. Summer camps, for example, are creating internships and working with universities to allow students to earn college credits, said Ann Sheets, president of the American Camp Association.
“When you think of working at summer camp, you normally think of recreation activities,” she said. “But there are many other positions that have nothing to do with recreation.” For example, Ms. Sheets said, a student interested in nutrition could work as a dietitian with a camp.
A business major can help in purchasing and operations. “The camp directors I know have packaged opportunities so they apply to a number of types of students,” she said. Darcie Strohmaier, a 21-year-old psychology major at Ramapo College in New Jersey, will be working as a cabin counselor at Camp Echo in the Catskills, for college credits. Ms. Strohmaier wants to be a teacher after graduation.
She will be using the experience to do fieldwork with children. As part of the cooperative program offered by her college, she will live with and supervise a group of 8-year-old girls. She will write weekly journals on her experience, followed by a term paper at the end of the summer. Her focus will be conflict resolution and motivation in children. She pays the college $250 for each of four credits she will earn, but she will also be paid about $1,800 by the camp.
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