SUMMER STINTS

BALANCEDKIDS Summerstints

National numbers show fewer teens are taking summer jobs, but local pros say they shouldn’t discount early work experiences

By McKenna Corson A Youth Opportunities Unlimited teen hugs a girl she worked with during her 2019 summer job at Community Faith Assembly. | Photos / Youth Opportunities Unlimited

The school bell chimes for the fi nal time this year, symbolizing one thing: summer vacation. It means the end of homework and waking up with the sun.

Summer vacation is three months of nothing but time for teenage students, but how are Northeast Ohio’s teens spending that freedom?

According to a 2019 Pew Research Center national study, probably not on a paying job.

Only 34.6% of United States teens ages 16 to 19 had a paying summer job in 2018, compared to 51.7% in 2000. And while the number of teens working in the summer has been increasing since the greatest low of 29.6% during the Great Recession in 2010, it still begs the question of whether teens will spend their summers saving lives at local pools, or fi nding other, nonpaying ways to keep busy. Del Vecchio Dorn

A SHIFTING TREND

Craig Dorn, president and CEO of Youth Opportunities Unlimited in Cleveland, a nonprofi t workforce development organization that helps in-need Cleveland teens and young adults fi nd employment with programs like its Y.O.U. Summer Jobs Program, disagrees with Pew’s study – at least when it comes to Cuyahoga County teens dealing with fi nancial distress.

“With the young people we work with, we do not see less getting jobs,” Dorn says. “We see about the same or even more. Every year, teens and young adults almost exclusively from Cleveland and a lot of the inner-ring suburbs register with us for summer jobs and work experience. It’s been pretty stable between 13,000 and 15,000 registering over the last decade.”

In fact, the number of jobs the organization has available in its “best year” – about 4,000 – may not meet the demand, he says. “(Teens not getting summer jobs) might be happening with middle-class and other teens, but it does not seem to be happening based on our experience in Cuyahoga County with teens from more economically distressed communities,” he says. On the other hand, Shannon Joherl, director of human resources at Marc’s, agrees with Pew’s study, seeing a smaller number of teens applying for the regional grocery and drug store’s summer and year-round positions.

“But I don’t think it’s really impacted us as much as it may have some other companies,” Joherl says, adding many teens who work at Marc’s seek the fl exible scheduling offered, and stay through the summer.

Joe Del Vecchio, a fi nancial advisor with Landolt Securities, Inc., in Solon, attributes the drop to a change in parenting style. “The younger generation, they grew up in a different environment where there were a lot more things that gave them immediate satisfaction – internet, smartphones,” Del Vecchio says. “They were taught more to be happy than to take on responsibility, that happiness is a priority. They think, ‘If our parents can help us, we’re going to value our extracurricular activities over a job.’”

10 | BALANCEDFAMILY | SPRING 2020 balancedmag.com BENEFITS ABOUND

This national drop in teens holding jobs – both summer and year round – is of concern to Del Vecchio, Dorn and Joherl. All three grew up in the Cleveland-area working summer jobs as teens – Del Vecchio as an intern at Merrill Lynch, waiter at his uncle’s restaurant and selling suits at JCPenney at SouthPark Mall in Strongsville; Dorn at Davis Bakery’s now-closed University Heights location; and Joherl as a cashier at Marc’s when it was Bernie Shulman’s in Mentor.

“It was a wonderful experience because I learned how much I hated food service and it super motivated me to go to college,” Dorn says. “There are so many benefi ts to teens working summer jobs. Research shows that when a teen works a job, they develop a work ethic and develop basic essential skills they can carry on to be very successful with whatever their career is.” Besides the obvious benefi t of making money, through

Employment tips for teens

Finding a job – especially your first – can be tough. But these tips from the job pros may help teens on their way to employment. • On building a resume: “Find someone who can help coach you ... somebody either in your family or your school. Resume writing is an art, as well as a little bit of a science,” Dorn says. • On finding job openings: “Networking is still the No. 1 way to get a job, so think about your network: your neighbors, your family, your friends. Indeed.com and the internet are just today’s help wanted ads. Get on there and think about, ‘OK, what’s near my house, what place could I actually get to, where would I like to work?’ Then target the place very specifically – reach out to the manager and say, ‘I am very interested in working here,’” Dorn says. • On the interview: “Find a trusted adult and practice because the interview is kind of an unnatural setup. If you practice and do a mock interview with someone you know, that’s very helpful. Research the company a little bit beforehand and definitely have some questions in mind. Always answer honestly, but give a positive spin with your answers, and then the famous, good eye contact and firm handshake always helps. The key is they’re looking for a positive attitude in the interview, so figure out ways to promote that,” Dorn says. • On how to act during the first day on the job: “I would say No. 1, you should be yourself. You should be attentive. You should be courteous. It is a job, so you want to represent yourself well because you want to represent whoever you’re working for well. I would say that usually on the first day, there’s a lot of information being thrown at you, so take your time, fill everything out, make sure you have a clear understanding of the expectations of the job and ask any questions if you have any,” Joherl says. • If it’s been a few days, and you’re not liking the job: “Ask if you can try a different position, like cashier or stock or go into a different department or something like that. For the employer, with all the training and everything that we put in, it’s nice when you stay. We put a lot of work into our people, and it’s always a little disappointing from the management side when you leave, but it’s a great feeling when you stay and go on to do something different,” Joherl says.

national studies and a local one Youth Opportunities Unlimited is conducting with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, “The evidence is pretty clear that if a teen works a summer job, they’re going to do better in school, have a higher school attendance, graduate possibly at a higher rate and be less involved in the juvenile justice system,” Dorn says.

“This is because they learn even more the value of attendance in a job. They start to see the context of, ‘Oh, I better do better in math, or else I’ll be doing this not-so-pleasant job all my life.’ It makes it all the more real for the young people, and they stay out of trouble ‘cause they’re literally working instead of hanging out in the streets,” Dorn says.

Having held a job can also be a deciding factor when it’s time for graduating seniors to apply for college.

“It shows responsibility and balance,” Dorn says. “A lot of people do work-study in college, so it’s definitely something that is going to look positive to college admissions.”

A job can also help teens develop social skills and meet people out of their inner-circle, Joherl illustrates.

“It’s important they get out there to learn real-world experiences and work with the public and people from different backgrounds,” Joherl says. “Part of our training with customer services is just learning how to engage with a customer, how to deal with real life situations and how to communicate and use dialogue and follow direction.”

Igniting a job-seeking fire under nocturnal teens who want to

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spend their summers void of sunlight while they eat “breakfast” at 2 p.m. may seem like a daunting task, but Del Vecchio offers some kindling.

“The best job I ever had was waiting tables because it taught me how to talk to people about what they want and how to treat people well,” he says. “I think teens should get jobs for a responsibility factor. If parents can make them understand what it takes to keep up the lifestyle they’re used to at an early age, that alone is good enough motivation. Kids need to understand what things cost and what they need to make to live the way they want to live.” BF

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