Business

Get a job (and we'll help you out.)

School's almost out. Summer's almost here. You're big on plans but short on cash. So what can you do? The question for teens seeking work this summer may not be "what job should I get?" but rather "what job can I get?" Teens have faced a worsening summer job market the last few years, with teen employment hitting a 56-year low last summer. This summer promises to be little better. Even optimists like Renée Ward, a veteran recruiter and founder of a Web site for teens in Santa Ana, Calif., say teens face stiff competition for jobs, making preparation especially important this year. "Even where there are more openings, if they're not prepared they're not going to get those jobs," Ward said. Employment among all U.S. youth ages 16-19 fell to 36.3 percent last summer, down from 45 percent in 2000, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. Those figures include all teens, not just the ones seeking work. Same for Arizona: About 46 percent of the state's teens worked in summer 2000, but that dropped to 35 percent last summer, said Andrew Sum, the Northeastern professor who came up with the figures. "This summer, we'd expect things pretty much like last year - like an all-time low," Sum said. "Overall labor markets are improving, but teens aren't getting those jobs." Teens are facing increased competition as more adults seek entry-level jobs, and more employers hire immigrants for lower-level jobs, he said. Postings up for Web site

Ward, an employment consultant who runs Teens4Hire .org, was more optimistic about the summer job picture. She said job postings on her site are up 20 percent from last year, and more companies have signed up for the site's job-matching service. Government-run youth programs and vacation and recreation businesses top Teens4Hire's list of places they can get summer jobs. But even government-subsidized youth work programs are tight.

Pima County administers a summer jobs program supported by federal Workforce Investment Act funds and other government sources. The five- to eight-week program gives youth ages 14-21 jobs at the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour at city and county agencies and some local nonprofits. But the Summer Youth Program had 3,000 applicants for 1,500 available jobs last summer, and this summer's numbers look similar, said Sean Lopez, the woman who coordinates youth services at the Pima County One Stop Career Center. The deadline for applying for this summer jobs program is May 16. Subsidized work program

Another county-run program, Pledge A Job, matches young workers with local businesses that have pledged to hire job-ready teens who have completed the subsidized work program, Lopez said. Career counselors often advise youth to seek summer or part-time jobs doing something they enjoy, or something that might give them experience toward a career. Teens' motivations range from wanting extra money to seeking valuable work experience and, with a little luck, getting a jump on a longer-term job or career. While that's not always possible, teens can take valuable experience - not to mention the paychecks and references - from even the lowliest jobs, Lopez said. "If you have a summer job, make the most of it," she said. "You may not enjoy it, you may not like - in fact, nine times out of 10 you won't - but you can learn something in anything you attempt and succeed in doing." Part time to full time

Sometimes, summer and part-time jobs can lead to long-term career employment, as was the case with Lopez's own son, Joey Wamsley. In 2003, Wamsley got an internship with Universal Avionics Systems Corp., a South Side maker of aircraft instruments, through a now-defunct county program called Rewarding Youth Achievement. Wamsley, 18, who headed a computer-repair enterprise at Desert View High School, interned on an assembly line at Universal. He expressed an interest in computing and later was asked to work part time after school as a computer technician. Wamsley graduated from high school in December and was hired full time in January. "It was a huge surprise - I was planning to have to earn minimum wage like everyone else," said Wamsley, who's making about $15 an hour now. He's taking general classes at Pima Community College and plans to study network security at the University of Arizona next year. "Soft skills" are a bonus

Even if you're not lucky enough to slip into a job in your career path, it pays to develop so-called "soft skills," said Kathy Prather, department administrator for career and vocational education at Tucson Unified School District. "They want students to come to them with the basics of etiquette, customer service and how to speak to people," Prather said, adding that teens can use such skills to get into businesses that match their career goals. "They might be surprised how many businesses would be open to welcoming them in an entry-level or internship capacity."