CHRISTMAS JOBS 2011 - SEASONAL JOBS FOR TEENS

Today is November 1st 2011 and although Christmas seems reasonably far away, it is really right around the corner: especially if you are looking for a job this holiday season.

Remember that the Christmas buying season starts big time right after Thanksgiving but there is a lot of increased buying now all through the month of November. That means retail shops and restaurants are really kicking up their hiring RIGHT NOW! If you wait, you might miss out.

Finding a job has been hard in 2011 but the months of November and December are the one time you KNOW that employers are hiring, at least in the retail and restaurant sectors. Now is the best chance you will have of finding work. You may only find something that is part time or maybe that is all you want anyway. Regardless of what you are looking for, now is the best time of the year to get out there and find work.

Great jobs for 17 year olds this time of year can be found by going to Snagajob. They have all the employers that hire teenagers and you can get a good start by going there. It is free so you don't have to worry about paying and if you have a resume you can submit it online right at their site. You can also use Snagajob to get a good idea of what companies are hiring and what types of jobs they are hiring for.

The first two weeks of November will be when most employers hire the bulk of their holiday staff. If you have been frustrated this year with job searching (and who hasn't?) now is the time to get out there and get hired!

FINDING A JOB = HARD WORK

It is probably true that it is harder to find a job when you are 17 years old than when you are an adult. That can be for a variety of reasons including a lack of experience, maturity, education, and employers hesitancy to hire teenage workers. But one thing is the same for you now that will still be the same for you as an adult: IT TAKES HARD WORK TO FIND A JOB NO MATTER HOW OLD YOU ARE!

A lot of people put their resumes up on job sites like Monster, Job.com, Snagajob and others and then sit back and wait. THAT IS THE WRONG APPROACH. That might work if we had very low unemployment rates but right now with them being so high, you have to go to the jobs and not expect them to come to you!

When looking for jobs for 17 year olds, you need to do everything you can to find them and apply to them. That might include:

1) networking (means letting everyone know you want a job)
2) sending out resumes
3) scouring online job boards for openings and ideas
4) studying the companies you are going to apply to
5) starting to learn job interview skills
6) learning how to always be upbeat and positive
5) and generally working your butt off

Hopefully the economy will someday turn around making jobs easier to find. But the lesson you are learning now that job hunting is NOT easy and TAKES A LOT Of WORK is a great lesson to remember when you get older. Jobs are valuable and everyone wants and needs them. They will ALWAYS be competitive and should never be taken for granted.

HAVE YOU ASKED YOUR PARENTS FOR HELP FINDING A JOB?

It is July 2011 already and a big number of teenagers have been unable to find work. If you are one of them, have you asked your parents for some help?

When I was 17 my mom helped me get a job at a cafeteria. She knew someone who new of a job in a cafeteria and that is often the way things can happen. Your parents have totally different connections than you do and they might be able to get some job leads though people they know or work with.

Jobs for 17 year olds just aren't going to come knocking on your door at this stage. To get a job now you probably need help from someone who has an "in" with an employer or someone who happens to know of an open job. By getting your parents to ask around on your behalf, you will have more of a chance of making a connection with someone that can lead you to a job opening.

Many teenagers are hesitant to ask their parents for help, no matter what the situation is. They are too concerned about getting respect and looking like they don't need anyone's help. Sadly, many teenagers don't even have a good relationship with their parents for a variety of reasons.

But this is the time to put all differences aside and ask them for assistance. The economy is not going to get any better this summer and 17 year olds needing a job need to find one right away. Asking your parents to help in the job hunt is a smart thing to do even if it might not be what you want to do.

TEEN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AT 24%

Are you wondering why you can't find a job?

Last month in May (according to the Labor Department) the unemployment rate for teenagers 16 to 19 years old was more than 24%! That's way up from last year at this time when the rate was about 13%. Things have gotten worse with the economy and teenagers are really being affected.

A 24% unemployment rate means that 1 person out of every 4 people can't find work. It is actually probably even higher than that though, as many teens aren't bothering to look because they don't think they can find anything. If they aren't looking then they are not being counted in the statistics.

If you are out looking for any kind of jobs for 17 year olds, you have probably heard this standard line from employers: we aren't hiring, just taking applications. You give them your application but in your heart you know that you will never be called.

Going from shop to shop, business to business, employer to employer, handing out your resume has to be one of the worst feelings ever! It is one of hopelessness, especially now when you know that your chances are so slim.

Make sure you are taking advantage of online job sites like Snagajob where you can find employers that are hiring in your city or town and in many cases apply online. With an unemployment rate this high for teenagers, you have to take advantage of every resource you have both online and offline to find a job. Make sure you also ask your parents for any help and advice they can give you because sometimes they will have connections through friends at their work who know of opportunities.

RETIREMENT COMMUNITY JOBS FOR 17 YEAR OLDS

Our population is aging as the first wave of Baby Boomers is now starting to retire. That generation is the product of a lot of couples giving birth at the end of World War II and these Boomers are starting to create a big demand for retirement communities.

More and more retirement homes are popping up all over the country and the chances are that at least a couple of them are somewhere near you. This is the type of place you might never have considered looking for work but some of them might have hiring jobs for 17 year olds.

In order to work in a place like this you will have to be a teenager who is very respectful, polite, even tempered, patient, upbeat, and enjoys being around older people. If you have a spotless job record you might inquire to find out what types of jobs you qualify for.

I have three cousins who worked in the dining room area of an assisted living home when they were teenagers. It does take a special type of person who enjoys interacting with senior citizens who are often times not in the best of shape. That is why patience and understanding would be two of the top qualities you would have to have.

These types of retirement homes employ maids, waiters, cooks, serving people, and need help in other areas as well so there are opportunities for teenagers. As a 17 year old you might try to locate what retirement communities are near you and stop in to find out if they have any job openings. The turnover rate of employees in this type of business is usually quite high so that means they are often looking for good people.

To find the communities near you please search online for: retirement communities, retirement homes, assisted living communities, continuing care communities and add your city or town.

JOBS AT MCDONALD'S FOR 17 YEAR OLDS

One week from today on April 19th, McDonald's is going to hire up to 50,000 people across America. They are calling it the "national hiring day" and while they are really going to be hiring people, it is sort of just a stunt for publicity. Summer is very close now and they are gearing up for those busy months.

McDonald's has 1000's of restaurants that are hiring all the time so you can always go and apply for a job. You don't have to wait for April 19th. You can go to each individual McDonald's store and apply there or you can go to their website to see what stores near you have jobs that are open.

McDonald's has been a longtime job source for teenagers and 2011 is no different. So, if you want to get a summer job behind the counter at McDonald's, now is the time to start looking.

You can also look for part time and full time summer jobs at Snagajob

COMPANIES THAT HIRE 17 YEAR OLDS

So many jobs require you to be eighteen years or older and that makes it very difficult for teenagers to find work. So, if you are looking for jobs for 17 year olds, it helps if you can find out what companies have jobs for workers that are under 18.

I have gone through the available jobs on Snagajob and this is partial list of the bigger companies that hire 17 year olds along with the job titles in parenthesise of the available positions:

Burger King (Team Member, Shift Coordinator)

AM/PM (Crew Member, Assistant Manager)

Applebee's (Host/Hostess, Line/Prep Cook, Server)

Arby's (Crew Member)

Bed Bath & Beyond (Cashiers)

Bojangles' (Team Member)

Boston Market (Crew Member)

Chic-fil-A (Day Time/Evening Team Member)

Cracker Barrel (Cooks, Servers, Host/Hostess)

Dairy Queen (Cooks, Crew Members, Cake Decorators)

Domino's Pizza (Customer Service Representatives)

Dunkin' Donuts (Crew Members, Shift Leaders)

Golden Corral (Cooks, Line Person, Prep Person)

Hardee's (Crew Members)

Jiffy Lube (Lube Technician)

Kmart (Cashier, Loss Prevention, Replenishment)

Luby's Inc. (Food Attendant, Cashier, Waitstaff)

Marshalls (Merchandise Associate)

Pizza Hut (Team Member, Server)

Sears (Cashier, Sales Associate, & many more)

Sonic Drive-In (Cooks, Carhop/Skater, Drive Through)

Steak n Shake (Servers, Drive Through, Grill, Fountain)

T.J. Maxx (Sales/Merchandise Associate)

Wendy's (Crew Members, Shift Leader)

These are just SOME of the companies that hire 17 year olds and you can find them all and many more on Snagajob. It is free to sign up with Snagajob and in many cases you can apply right there online. At least you can get a great idea of all the different businesses that hire 17 year olds and you can start applying to the ones in your town or city.

HOW TO SIFT THROUGH THE FLUFF TO FIND REAL JOBS FOR 17 YEAR OLDS

Looking for jobs for 17 year olds? If you have been looking through all the "jobs for teenagers" websites hoping to find some real job leads, you are probably very disappointed.

There is a lot of advice out there and a lot of useless fluff but very little REAL help finding jobs that are hiring. You don't need tons of advice, you need a place to go that has REAL companies that have REAL jobs that are open. Right?

By far the best free place online to find real jobs for 17 year olds is Snagajob. You can find a part time (or full time) job there in or close to your city by following these steps.

1) First put in your zip code. That will bring up a list of all the jobs in that zip code and probably a few in the neighboring zip codes.

2) Narrow down your search by clicking the city (in the right drop down box) where you live or want to work. This will then just show the jobs in those locations.

3) There is also a drop down box on the left where you can pull up all jobs for each company that has jobs in your location if you prefer to do it that way.

4) Now is the hard part. Since you are under 18 years old, you need to find the jobs that will take anyone older than 16 year olds. Most jobs will require you to be 18, so you have to manually find those that will take 17 year olds.

4) Look for job titles like cashier, team member, customer greeter, and merchandise support. These are often the ones that DON'T require you to be 18 and so those would be the jobs you would want to apply to. Jobs that have "manager" in the title are the ones that you will rarely qualify for.

5) You will need to click on each job you are interested in and read about the job. Somewhere in the description it should give the age requirements. Some of the companies that hire 17 year olds are Sears, Pizza Hut, KMart, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and others.

6) Make sure you sign up to SnagAJob (it is 100% free) so that you can get more information about each job and apply right there online.

Snagajob is the best place online for teens who are serious about finding a job. You can find some good jobs in your city and the surrounding areas if you take the time to go through all the opportunities.

No longer is there a need for you to surf the Internet trying to locate some jobs that you might be able to get. Snagajob is all you need with all the part time and hourly jobs right in one place.

CHRISTMAS JOBS FOR 17 YEAR OLDS IN 2010

Every 17 year old should be aware of how hard it is to get jobs. Take a look at that unscientific poll on the right sidebar of this blog and you will see that more than half you have been looking more than 6 months for a job!

The Christmas shopping season will be here soon and now is the time to start looking for Christmas jobs in 2010. It may seem early being that it is only the beginning of October now, but you should have learned that you need to be one of the first ones out their hunting to get a better chance of finding employers that need help.

There will be lots of jobs for 17 year olds this Christmas and one of the best places to start looking is SnagAJob.com. They are the biggest online job site that specializes in exactly what you want: jobs that are part time and pay by the hour.

You should start your job search by looking through Snagajob to see what companies are hiring and what is available. However, you should also conduct your own job search by going from store to store, restaurant to restaurant, or where ever you want to work and personally asking about Christmas jobs. Start out by going to the places you want to work the most and ask for a manager. Ask him or her whether they are hiring or will be hiring for the Christmas season.

Going in person this early shows any manager that you are serious about finding a job and that you are thinking ahead. You should even have a resume with you to give them if you have one so that they don't forget you. While you might not be hired on your first visit, it is a great idea to go to as many places as you can and put "feelers" out. Find out whether they will be hiring, when they will be hiring, and what you need to do to apply and get accepted.

The more work you do now upfront before the job rush starts, the more chances you will have of getting hired somewhere. You know that there will be a lot of teens and adults out looking for jobs this holiday season. It is up to you to do your best to beat the crowd and get in early to secure your Christmas job in 2010.

LESSONS FOR TEENS THAT CAN'T FIND JOBS

It is already August and summer is almost over. It's hard to believe that time goes so fast but for those teens that have been looking for jobs for 17 year olds, maybe this summer has been a slow and discouraging one.

If you are one of those that hasn't found a job yet, please make sure you learn a very valuable lesson out of all this: nothing in life will be given to you and sometimes your situation will be very stressful and tough. Additionally as you have found out first hand, you are not entitled to anything and you must work hard to get ahead.

Not being able to find a job this summer is VERY frustrating. You are willing to work but no one will hire you and there just aren't enough jobs out there. It is a feeling of helplessness and at some point you might have even questioned whether you are good enough to get a job.

Not being able to find a job this summer was probably not your fault. This is one of the worst economies we have had in a long time and the unemployment rate is around 10% which is more than double what it normally is. So, many of you never had much of a chance and it took some luck or some good connections to find someone who would hire you.

It is important that you learn from this experience. Next year or next month if you keep searching, you should now have learned to take nothing for granted. Just because you want a job (and maybe even are qualified for it) doesn't mean you will get it. There are many things in life like this that will lead to disappointment so it is good that you are learning this early.

Jobs are sometimes hard to get even when the economy gets better and competition is always high. That is why finishing high school is important and going on to college will increase your chances of getting a better job down the road. Now that you have learned first hand how hard it is to get a job, school should look a whole lot better to you than it did before!

JOBS FOR 17 YEAR OLDS - DON'T USE A STUPID EMAIL ADDRESS!

One of the big mistakes you can make when applying for jobs is to use an email address that is unprofessional. If you are on the hunt for jobs for 17 year olds, make sure you make an email that you set up especially for employers.

Think about it, does an email address like "Iamhottoday@aol.com" or "sexyrachel@yahoo.com" sound like an email you should use when you apply for a job? Many employers, when they see an email like that, will immediately go on to the next applicant because they don't want to deal with immature children.

Your email address as well as the message you have on your voice mail, speak volumes about who you are and what type of person is applying for the job. You have to remember that if you want a job this summer or anytime in the future, it is adults that are going to be evaluating and hiring you.

Getting a job is a serious step into the real world that is run by adults. Getting jobs for 17 year olds is tough because of all the competition out there but you don't want to knock yourself out of the running for a job before you ever have a chance. Make sure you don't use a silly email or a silly voice mail!

JOB REFERENCES FOR 17 YEAR OLDS

While you are looking for summer jobs for 17 year olds, one of the things that could help you is a good reference. When you apply online or in person, you might be asked for one or more references that can vouch for you and say that you are a hard worker, honest, show up on time, etc.

Important---> It is very important to note that before you use anyone as a reference, no matter who they are, you should ask them first if it is alright. That includes your teachers, parents, other family members, and past managers. You have to make sure they know that they could be getting a call from someone who will be asking about you so that they are not caught off guard.

Since you will be trying to get a job, the absolute best kind of reference is from a manager you have had in the past from another job. If you did well at that job and the manager is willing to speak highly of you, that will be the strongest kind of recommendation you can get.

If you have never had a job before, you will obviously not have a reference from a past employer so you will have to use someone else that can speak highly of you. This includes teachers, parents, Aunts or Uncles, and adult friends of the family. You should not use your personal friends as a reference and instead try to find the most important adult in your life.

Employers are looking for ways to figure out who you are and whether you will be a good match for the job. They want 17 year olds that are going to show up on time, take the job seriously, and add value to their company in exchange for the paycheck they will be giving you. Unless they know you personally, calling on references may be the only way a manager has of determining whether they should hire you or someone else. Getting a summer job can be quite competitive now and those teens that have the best credentials will have the best chance of scoring that job.

WHERE TO FIND GOOD JOBS FOR 17 YEAR OLDS

The summer job hunt is beginning to heat up for teens now and many are wondering where to get the good jobs. Another question might simply be: what is a good job?

Right now, with the economy being so awful, any job might qualify as a "good job". If you can get any type of job at all, you might seriously think twice before turning it down.

Take a look at the poll in the right column of this blog. As of 4/14/10, it shows that over 50% of you have been looking for a job for MORE THAN 6 months! Now that is an unscientific poll but judging from all the bad news about jobs you hear, the poll is probably pretty accurate.

Snagajob remains the #1 online site for teenagers to find jobs for 17 year olds and other ages. They have the best selection of companies that have historically hired teens and have the types of jobs that teenagers can do and like doing.

Looking online together with searching offline is your best bet to find a job this summer. But if you wait too long you will end up with nothing as demand for jobs is high. Even though it is only April, many 17 year olds are already out there looking and trying to nail down summer work. You need to start right now too, if you are really serious about finding a job!