Wall Street Journal Sunday - May 28, 2000
Help Wanted: Where to Get the Right Summer Job

Have plans for the summer yet? If not, there are plenty of jobs this year where you could earn around $300 a week.

Restaurants are a good place to start. Perks include a choice of shifts and "probably a lot of free food," says Steven Anderson, president of the Nation Restaurant Association.

Red Lobster, which has restaurants in most states, actively recruits teenagers. "We'll even advertise in high-school newspapers," a company spokesperson says. Sixteen- and 17 year-olds can earn about $7 an hour as a host or bus person. (You need to be 18 to wait on customers.) Shifts typically last five hours and no experience is necessary.

Hotels and amusement parks also hire a lot of teens. Lakeside Amusement Park, in Denver, Colo., employs kids 16 and above to run game booths and operate children's rides. (You need to be at least 18 to run the major rides.) No special skills are required and new recruits get a four hour orientation, including safety instruction.

Pay starts at $5.35 an hour. And on your night off, you and up to five friends get free use of the park's rides such as the white-knuckler Cyclone Coaster and the corkscrew-like Wild Chip Monk.

If you like water sports, being a lifeguard can be a good way to spend the summer. You can earn "anywhere between $7 and $11 an hour," says Carmelita Gallo, program director for YMCA. "There are a lot of job openings out there." You'll need a certificate from a nationally recognized agency and -for most jobs- you must be at least 15 or 16 years old.

The YMCA, for example, has a 28-hour certification course that costs about $40, after which "you would be able to lifeguard in a pool environment, a water park, or a beach," Ms. Gallo says. Some jobs, on beaches in particular, require additional certification.

Of course, there's always work at summer camps -and it's not too late to apply. "Campers really need staff," says Nancy Diamond of CampJobs.com, an online directory of jobs at camps around the country. Some camps even recruit up to the day a session starts.

Where to look for jobs online
www.summerjobs.com
www.campjobs.com
www. ymca.net

Age requirements vary, but if you're 16 or 17 you're more likely to find a job at day camp than an overnight facility, Ms. Diamond says. One New Jersey day camp has a posting seeking a counselor 16 or over, whose job is "to ensure a fun and exciting day of camp." The salary is between $1,000 and $2,300 for eight weeks, starting June 26.

If you want to do something a little different, many local and county governments have summer youth programs. Jobs range from working with the local parks departments to the town's public-affairs office.

Most of the office jobs involve clerical work, says Dwayne Patterson, coordinator of the Raleigh, N.C., Youth Employment Program. The experience can still be interesting. Some kids as young as 14 have been placed in jobs with the local police department or community television station, Mr. Paterson says.

Recruiting usually starts in early spring, but it's worth calling your local town or county government to find out about last minute positions.