The Great Job Hunt!

Holy Cow.  I never thought going on a 2 hour job search with teens could be so entertaining.  I'd been planning to do this field trip for a few weeks-- ever since one of the teens expressed her eagerness to find a job but not having any luck.  It was like a little light bulb went on in my head and I thought, *ding*... I'll take them out and help them learn the routine of applying for jobs!

A few days ago I drove a big square route near many of the teens' neighborhoods in West Jordan.  Ideally I'd want to help them find a job where they don't need to ask their parents to give them a ride.  As I drove I took note of any place that seemed "teen friendly" as far as applying for jobs go. I jotted down about 20 places and typed them up in an organized fashion, according to location.  Before we left today I had each teen mark their top 3 places they'd want to apply, and then I compiled all their responses, made a "master list," and we were on our way!

The best part about these field trips is how cool I feel when I drive the bus.  HAHA.

I glory in opportunities to embarrass the teens or honk at them enthusiastically or be sure to "reverse" at just the right time when lots of people are around and the very noticeable *beep beep beep* is sounding as we back up.  They just roll with it and it's all part of being a member at the Boys & Girls Club.

I had 6 teens-- 5 girls and 1 boy.  Most were over age 16, some were not, and I had no idea what kind of success they were going to have.  I thought I would have to go in each place with them and show them how to do it.  But upon arriving to our first location (Leatherby's ice cream parlor), the one girl jumped out of her seat and said, "Okay, I'm going in!"  I asked if she needed me to come with her and she said, "Nope!"  Awesome.  This was even better than I thought it would be!  And that's basically how the next 2 hours went down.  They filed out of the bus in little groups and went in the stores that they found an interest in.  Sometimes as we were driving along, we would notice more places or a whole bunch in one little cluster so they'd all branch out and go in to different places at once.  

We were SUPER excited when one girl FINALLY came out carrying an application in hand. YEAH!!  Success!!  Granted, an application really doesn't mean much, considering the chances of actually getting a job there... but it's SOOO much better than coming back empty-handed!  There were actually quite a few places that gave them applications, and many places that either rejected them or told them to apply online.  I hate the whole online application process.  Who even looks at that stuff?  No one.  They'll never call you back.  But such is life... finding a job is hard!

Here are some of the businesses we visited today:

      

         

     

                          

                                              

                                  


                    

     

So here's the thing.  I knew many of these places probably wouldn't hire a 16 yr old kid.  But they were on fire and didn't even need me to talk them into going in-- they wanted to!  It reminded me of going tracting as a missionary and how it felt so scary and difficult those first few minutes.  After a few fun and positive conversations with people at the door-step it got easier and more enjoyable, and soon it was just a good experience overall!  I think that's how our job hunt was for a lot of these kids today.  The more places they went in, the higher the likelihood that someone would give them an application.

We laughed lots.  The kind where tears were rolling down my cheeks.

I told stories of some of my first jobs and the dumb things I said in my very first job interview:

"What is one of your weaknesses?" --> My response:  "Oh, I'm late all the time!"  The manager's response: "Oh, but you won't be late for this job now, will you."  My response:  "Oh of course not!"  Yeah, I didn't get that job.  Duh.  (Olive Garden, haha).

I hope they went home and told their parents of our productive and entertaining adventure.  Their parents need to know that I actually do helpful and responsible things for their kids some times, rather than just play and hang out all day.  I'm going to type up a little "report" of our findings from the job search and include tables and graphs based on what the teens found out.  It was a great experience and I hope the teens enjoyed it as much as I did. :)