Teens face a tough summer job market when unemployed adults snap up every pizza delivery and bookstore clerk job around. But a combination job-hunt workshop and job fair organized by San Jose District 10 Councilwoman Nancy Pyle may give teens an edge.
Pyle's office launched a summer job fair program that was scheduled to begin on May 3 at Gunderson High School. The program was designed to teach high school students how to land a job and to bring employers to them. The fair will be repeated at Leland and Pioneer high schools in the coming weeks.
During the two-day workshops--held over the lunch hour on campus--employees from Silicon Valley Workforce Investment Network are to teach Gunderson students how to interview, write résumés, and "dress for success."
Frank Perez, assistant principal of activities at Gunderson, said high school students often hesitate to look for work. "They don't know where to start looking, first of all, or how old you have to be, how to make a résumé, how to dress for an interview," he said.
Perez said his first job was as a lifeguard. "If [employers] hadn't approached the students I probably never would have applied," he said.
At the end of the workshop each teen will receive a graduation certificate from Pyle's office that they will have to show when applying for work at the job fair, held on another day.
Teens are a bit harder to spot in local name-brand stores. EB Games, for instance, doesn't hire teens because of the limited hours they can work and a lack of cars, according to store managers. And why invest in training a worker who'll be going back to school in three months?
Grocery stores and fast-food joints used to be reliable sources of summer employment, but managers of the McDonald's in Old Almaden Plaza and the Trader Joe's near Costco don't hire teens, preferring adult workers that will stick around longer.
Some businesses are willing to take a chance, though. Local Albertsons and Safeway stores, along with 14 stores from Westfield Oakridge Shoppingtown, sent representatives to Gunderson to interview prospective employees. Costco will send a representative to Pioneer High School for its May 16 job fair.
"We usually hire quite a few kids from Almaden," said Costco manager Tony Brown. "But we have a different hiring program now. The applications were overflowing and the paperwork was killing us."
Brown explained that the Costco hiring process now goes through a central office. Many applications do come from older people, he said, although the fast-paced store may be better suited to younger employees.
Summer job prospects are looking up on the city end as well. Budget cuts stripped 20 positions from San Jose's Youth Employment Service last year. But this year, those slots were recovered, and the total returned to 110.
"We had a budget reduction, but we managed to save in other areas so we could offer more jobs this summer," said Felipa Driscoll, who coordinates the city's summer work program.
To qualify for a city job, teens must be between 14 and 16 years old and have little or no paid work experience.
Pyle's job fair travels to Leland High School on May 6. Career counselor Joan Albers said 30 students signed up for the workshops, which were held last week. |
