High school students snag unusual summer jobs
Even in a tight job market, some local high school students and recent high school graduates have found interesting summer work.
Perhaps the most interesting summer job opportunity available locally is driven by the unfortunate number of disasters that have wracked the southern Midwest this spring. State Farm hired 32 temporary employees this summer to man a call center handling disasters in its five-state zone that includes Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Louisiana.
State Farm Insurance requires employees to be 18, so that limits the amount of high school employees at its local headquarters on South Providence Road, but a handful of the company’s 32 temporary student workers provide the first line of assistance to people reeling from such catastrophes as the Joplin tornado. For instance, they help customers get assistance for making temporary repairs to homes until a licensed adjustor can reach them and remind them to save their receipts or to set up appointments with drive-in field inspection centers set up to assess damage to cars.
“If you were to take all the storms in April and May together, it would represent the fifth most costly catastrophe in our 90-year history,” said Jim Camoriano, public affairs spokesperson for the regional office, noting that hurricane season only began in June and will last through November. “They are the first responders. They handle calls for both auto and home.”
Technically employees of Kelly Services, which screens the potential temporary workers in pre-interviews, the students earn well above minimum wage, now $7.25 an hour. They receive one to two weeks of training in business and telephone skills; the experience provides the potential for future job opportunities with State Farm. More than a dozen of the previously temporary employees have stayed with the company and are now full-time claims employees, Camoriano said.
As with other temporary employment services, Kelly offers other jobs for high school students and recent high school graduates as well, said Allen Jennings, district manager for Kelly Services. Such jobs include telephone survey work in call centers at the University of Missouri and light industrial work. However, Jennings said the State Farm catastrophe center is probably the most intriguing summer job in his arsenal at present, partly because of the newsworthiness of the work.
High school youth often face tough competition from college students, who are usually more experienced and finish their educational commitments a month earlier. MBS Textbook exchange hired 290 summer employees this year, 28 of whom were high school students or recent high school graduates, to perform warehouse operations and ship books to customers.
“The vast majority of our hires are college students because they are available in mid-May,” said Jerome Rader, MBS human resources director.
Some high school students sign on with various camps held throughout the summer. For instance, recent Rock Bridge High School graduate Marie Schaller served a week as a residential advisor for the university’s College for Kids, which she said she had attended as a camper since the sixth grade. “Being responsible for eight girls was a learning experience,” she said. “It’s always been really inspiring to me when I was a camper there, and now it was even more rewarding to be an adviser.”
That need to gain experience is paramount for student employees, and it is the prime goal of Columbia’s Career Awareness Related Experience program, which currently employs 175 youth, ages 14 to 18, at one of 88 job sites. The program runs eight weeks, from June to August. The city pays the students minimum wage for work in retail, clerical or manual labor jobs for such varied businesses as Stephens College, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and boutique stores downtown, said Kara Kort, the program director.
The students take classes in professionalism, personal finance and budgeting and then specific orientation for their jobs, Kort said. Six job coaches visit weekly with the students to provide mentoring. Applications for the program are open to any Columbia youth; acceptance is based on financial need, motivation, independence and commitment to the program. At the end of the program, an awards reception for the students is held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Activity and Recreation Center.
“The purpose is to expose youth to job sites and career fields to give them a preview of future job opportunities,” Kort said. “Financial need is one of the major criteria but not the only one.”
One segment, including 14 of the high school employees, works with C.A.R.E. Gallery, in which students get paid to be artists for the summer. Their work will be exhibited in a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at PS:Gallery, with sales helping to fund the program.
A major summertime employer of high school students, the city of Columbia hires students in its Parks and Recreation and Public Works departments. Parks and Rec commands the largest contingent, hiring about 100 15- to 18-year-olds each year as lifeguards, swim instructors, cashiers and concessionaires. Typically, the lifeguards get 36 hours of training each year for certification, including first aid and CPR, and then an additional hour of in-service training each week, according to Erika Coffman, recreation services manager at the Activity and Recreation Center.
Working as a lifeguard is often a first job for high school students, so the training is accompanied by much mentoring, said Janel Twehous, recreation supervisor of aquatics. “With lifeguarding, we expect a lot from them. The job of lifeguarding is not to be taken lightly.”
Haley Evers, a junior next year at Rock Bridge High School, said her job as a lifeguard and swim instructor at Pirate’s Landing at Little Mates’ Cove has been fun but stressful at the same time. She said lifeguards train to scan their assigned area every 10 seconds, spend 40 minutes on the lifeguard stand and then get 20 minutes of downtime, during which they perform other duties such as picking up trash.
“When you start off, you think that it’s not going to be that hard just sitting around and watching kids, but you are really responsible for their safety,” she said. “I finally feel like I’m responsible for my actions and myself. When you have a job, you’re the one who’s employed — you’re parents aren’t — so everything’s on you. You have to call in when you’re sick; you have to make sure you’re on time.”
The Public Works Department hires about a dozen high school students: three from Douglass High School who are chosen by the Columbia Public Schools and eight to 10 through JobPoint, a nonprofit job skills training and placement agency, said Jill Stedem, public information officer for Public Works. The employees provide an additional workforce for the summer while receiving training with various forms of equipment. At present, she said, the high school crew is repairing sidewalks in residential areas and downtown but also receives training in other maintenance such as mowing and minor street repair.
“It’s our third year working with high school students,” Stedem said. “It’s good to see them learn trade skills. One employee has returned and is starting full time with the Street Division.”
Perhaps the most interesting summer job opportunity available locally is driven by the unfortunate number of disasters that have wracked the southern Midwest this spring. State Farm hired 32 temporary employees this summer to man a call center handling disasters in its five-state zone that includes Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Louisiana.
State Farm Insurance requires employees to be 18, so that limits the amount of high school employees at its local headquarters on South Providence Road, but a handful of the company’s 32 temporary student workers provide the first line of assistance to people reeling from such catastrophes as the Joplin tornado. For instance, they help customers get assistance for making temporary repairs to homes until a licensed adjustor can reach them and remind them to save their receipts or to set up appointments with drive-in field inspection centers set up to assess damage to cars.
“If you were to take all the storms in April and May together, it would represent the fifth most costly catastrophe in our 90-year history,” said Jim Camoriano, public affairs spokesperson for the regional office, noting that hurricane season only began in June and will last through November. “They are the first responders. They handle calls for both auto and home.”
Technically employees of Kelly Services, which screens the potential temporary workers in pre-interviews, the students earn well above minimum wage, now $7.25 an hour. They receive one to two weeks of training in business and telephone skills; the experience provides the potential for future job opportunities with State Farm. More than a dozen of the previously temporary employees have stayed with the company and are now full-time claims employees, Camoriano said.
As with other temporary employment services, Kelly offers other jobs for high school students and recent high school graduates as well, said Allen Jennings, district manager for Kelly Services. Such jobs include telephone survey work in call centers at the University of Missouri and light industrial work. However, Jennings said the State Farm catastrophe center is probably the most intriguing summer job in his arsenal at present, partly because of the newsworthiness of the work.
High school youth often face tough competition from college students, who are usually more experienced and finish their educational commitments a month earlier. MBS Textbook exchange hired 290 summer employees this year, 28 of whom were high school students or recent high school graduates, to perform warehouse operations and ship books to customers.
“The vast majority of our hires are college students because they are available in mid-May,” said Jerome Rader, MBS human resources director.
Some high school students sign on with various camps held throughout the summer. For instance, recent Rock Bridge High School graduate Marie Schaller served a week as a residential advisor for the university’s College for Kids, which she said she had attended as a camper since the sixth grade. “Being responsible for eight girls was a learning experience,” she said. “It’s always been really inspiring to me when I was a camper there, and now it was even more rewarding to be an adviser.”
That need to gain experience is paramount for student employees, and it is the prime goal of Columbia’s Career Awareness Related Experience program, which currently employs 175 youth, ages 14 to 18, at one of 88 job sites. The program runs eight weeks, from June to August. The city pays the students minimum wage for work in retail, clerical or manual labor jobs for such varied businesses as Stephens College, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and boutique stores downtown, said Kara Kort, the program director.
The students take classes in professionalism, personal finance and budgeting and then specific orientation for their jobs, Kort said. Six job coaches visit weekly with the students to provide mentoring. Applications for the program are open to any Columbia youth; acceptance is based on financial need, motivation, independence and commitment to the program. At the end of the program, an awards reception for the students is held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Activity and Recreation Center.
“The purpose is to expose youth to job sites and career fields to give them a preview of future job opportunities,” Kort said. “Financial need is one of the major criteria but not the only one.”
One segment, including 14 of the high school employees, works with C.A.R.E. Gallery, in which students get paid to be artists for the summer. Their work will be exhibited in a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at PS:Gallery, with sales helping to fund the program.
A major summertime employer of high school students, the city of Columbia hires students in its Parks and Recreation and Public Works departments. Parks and Rec commands the largest contingent, hiring about 100 15- to 18-year-olds each year as lifeguards, swim instructors, cashiers and concessionaires. Typically, the lifeguards get 36 hours of training each year for certification, including first aid and CPR, and then an additional hour of in-service training each week, according to Erika Coffman, recreation services manager at the Activity and Recreation Center.
Working as a lifeguard is often a first job for high school students, so the training is accompanied by much mentoring, said Janel Twehous, recreation supervisor of aquatics. “With lifeguarding, we expect a lot from them. The job of lifeguarding is not to be taken lightly.”
Haley Evers, a junior next year at Rock Bridge High School, said her job as a lifeguard and swim instructor at Pirate’s Landing at Little Mates’ Cove has been fun but stressful at the same time. She said lifeguards train to scan their assigned area every 10 seconds, spend 40 minutes on the lifeguard stand and then get 20 minutes of downtime, during which they perform other duties such as picking up trash.
“When you start off, you think that it’s not going to be that hard just sitting around and watching kids, but you are really responsible for their safety,” she said. “I finally feel like I’m responsible for my actions and myself. When you have a job, you’re the one who’s employed — you’re parents aren’t — so everything’s on you. You have to call in when you’re sick; you have to make sure you’re on time.”
The Public Works Department hires about a dozen high school students: three from Douglass High School who are chosen by the Columbia Public Schools and eight to 10 through JobPoint, a nonprofit job skills training and placement agency, said Jill Stedem, public information officer for Public Works. The employees provide an additional workforce for the summer while receiving training with various forms of equipment. At present, she said, the high school crew is repairing sidewalks in residential areas and downtown but also receives training in other maintenance such as mowing and minor street repair.
“It’s our third year working with high school students,” Stedem said. “It’s good to see them learn trade skills. One employee has returned and is starting full time with the Street Division.”