Helping Teens Find Work

By Deborah Weksberg, Career Counselor

Think your gum chewing, iPod-tethered teen texter is “job ready?”

Chances are, if you have a “typical teen,” not so much. Think it’s too soon to worry about it? You would be wrong.

There is no tougher employment challenge than matching a young person age 14-19 to a paying job. They suffer a 23.7% unemployment rate and are regularly outcompeted by their Bubbies for barista, fast food and babysitting jobs.

They take a much longer time to find a job than their older job seeking siblings, since besides experience, they lack certain “soft skills” of small talk, eye contact, smiling and paying close attention to directions and customer needs.  Read more...