Job Opportunities Abound This Summer for Teens
Teenagers out of school for the summer have job opportunities ripe for the picking. On the flip side, employers are having a tough time filling seasonal jobs due to workers having more options.
Plenty of Seasonal Jobs
Many employers, like Lifetime Fitness in Plymouth, need to hire several seasonal staffing positions. During the summer time in the Twin Cities, Lifetime will hire as many as 8,000 seasonal workers. They will work as lifeguards, staff summer camps, cafe servers and more.
“One of the best parts about Lifetime is that we do offer competitive pay along with some amazing benefits,” said Ashley Wagner, senior GM at Lifetime Fitness in Plymouth. “You get a diamond premier membership which is access not just to your home club, but to every club across the country.”
You also get discounts at the cafe, spa, and other Lifetime entities.
Those benefits help sell the job for many teens. They also make some jobs that might not have the same perks, like a spa discount, seem undesirable.
Teens Play a Vital Role
In the city of Brooklyn Park, the city depends on teenagers home on summer vacation to staff several seasonal positions. They are banking on giving students a worthwhile experience as a way to attract teens to their jobs.
“Teen workers are really important to our workforce both for the city of Brooklyn Park and a lot of other employers as well,” said Breanne Rothstein, Brooklyn Park’s Economic Development Director. “The job market is really tight right now. Unemployment is at historic lows. The teen market typically has a higher unemployment rate, so being able to draw on that pool of talent is critical.”
The city of Brooklyn Park has a program called Brooklynk which helps teach high school students skills they may need down the road. It may offer a skill set that proves to be more valuable to students on a resume.
“Often there’s a disconnect between the types of skills that employers are saying they are looking for the skills that exist out in the market,” says Rothstein. “I would say it’s at a crisis mode in terms of just not having enough workers to serve the available positions. It will affect our economy over time.”
