Summertime is just around the corner, well not really, its sometime after spring fling and finals. But there is no reason not to start looking for work now. Summer may have different characteristics depending on the college student, but there is one thing that can’t be avoided, the necessity for a J-O-B. It’s time to get a real job, for a couple of months anyway. No more two-night a week pizza jobs that you use to survive, stuffing your face while you are at work and using the thirty dollars a week for books. Summertime is when college students make their money to pay off credit card debts, tuition or just to save because sooner or later it will be February again and you will be shuffling down the street in worn out shoes and eating white rice with mustard.
So this summer what’s it gonna be? Back to your parents house, where you will sleep in a room you used to call you bedroom but is now the sewing-storage-guest-dwindling pile of your useless crap that you mother refuses to throw away room. Are your parents really going to put up with your four in the morning curfew, loud music and obnoxious friends?
If spending summer at home is your thing, that’s great. I suppose living at home may have its benefits. There is probably no rent, the food is cheap or free, and of course all of your hometown friends will be there. But there is something about living away from home that can be said in defense of the American college student. Education extends far from a stuffy lecture hall. And it just so happens you can learn a few things spending your summer in Ireland’s rolling hills or on Taiwan’s tropical beaches.
Is it too late to find a great summer job? No, but start looking now.
If you haven’t found out already, there are tons of alternatives to a summer of lawn mowing, dump runs and being scolded for drinking out of the milk container. You can find basically any summer job anywhere in the country, or world for that matter. The idea is to avoid working in some sweatshop gig where you make no money, have no fun and pay $700 a month for a one-room apartment in Newark.
The summer job market has an enormous spectrum. You can be Chuck E. Cheese if you want, sweating to death under that ridiculous costume in Omaha Nebraska, gambling away your pathetic paycheck at some low rate casino while a drunken prostitute breathes down your neck. Or you can feed sharks on the east side of Aruba, preventing hundreds of yuppie tourists from a bloody and horrific death, afterward sipping umbrella drinks at a beach side cabana talking with a gorgeous bikini clad island nymph. Sure. But settling for something in between is ideal for a college student out to see a little piece of the world. Here are a few alternatives to living at home:
Challenge Course instructor; located at the Flying “G” Ranch in Denver Colorado. A minimum of a high school education and a little documented experience “in leading and facilitating on both low and high ropes courses” is required. You’ll be working mainly with kids and other instructors. It pays $150 a week and runs from late May to early August. Housing and meals are provided, along with a travel allowance and end of year bonus. That works out to about $1350 plus your bonus. Don’t forget the kick ass time you had tooling around the Rockies and meeting new people from all over the country.
How about being a cook at Camp Kushtaka in Copper Landing Arkansas. (I told you there were a lot of jobs) A high school education, minimum age of twenty-one, and one-year experience as a cook is all that is required. The job only lasts from early June to mid August and it pays $4,000. Minor setbacks: how the hell do I get to Arkansas?
Remember what happens at band camp? Well you can go, and get paid! “Specific responsibilities: To coach bands and give lessons in your instruments to kids.” Independent Lake Camp in Orson, PA is looking for guitarists, keyboardists, bassists and drummers. They boast great food and a salary of $2,000. You must have experience in the area you are applying.
You can be an ex-car thief turned go-kart instructor at Camp Eagle Hill in Elizaville, NY. You’re responsible for teaching use of karts, maintenance and supervision of the area. Pros: friends may show up and request that you take a stab at stealing 50 of the world’s most expensive cars. And they have a staff lounge. Cons: salary is listed as “competitive and negotiable.”
Some other opportunities include teaching English in Japan, giving tours at Denali National Park (if you don’t get lost yourself), a host of cruise ship employment, working at theatre, science, or film camp, and island bartender. But how do you apply for one of these jobs, and what are your chances of getting one?
There are several summer job employment search engines, and only one that I do not recommend using. A+summerjobs.crap is no good because they request a $14.95 a month membership fee so companies can look at your and thousands of other resumes. Other engines such as snagajob.com and overseasjobsexpress.co.uk offer a variety of cool jobs, contact numbers and easily filled out forms.
There are obviously thousands of students who would love to spend a summer away from home. Most engines recommend that you fill out information accurately and honestly, because many do check references. The idea is to be persistent and who knows maybe you’ll be in Italy serving Galliano to Marlin Brando on his final trip back to the old country.