From Gym Class to Working Class

Though one of her friends gets to drive Lexuses at her job at a car dealership, Meghan Mazzola still thinks she has the better summertime gig.

“I would rather eat ice cream than fill out paperwork,” said Mazzola, 18, who works at the Sundae House in Milford, and is graduating from Foran High School on Monday.

Mazzola has worked at the ice cream shop every summer since 2008. It’s been her one and only summer job.

“I have one of the best jobs,” she said. “I get to eat ice cream and a lot of friends come and visit me.”

Although the current summer job market is “rather tight, there are a number of industries that are seasonal in nature and new jobs in those industries will come on the market,” said James Thorson, chairman of the Department of Economics and Finance at Southern Connecticut State University.

And what screams summer more than ice cream?

“For many of these jobs, high school students can be attractive employees,” said Thorson. “An employer may prefer a high school student because they have less fear of losing them midsummer to another job.”  

Northford Coffee & Ice Cream prefers hiring high school help to the extent that the entire staff is made up of about eight North Branford High School students, said Lindsay Doebrick, who was employed by the ice cream outfit a couple months ago.

“They asked when we would be free, if we did sports, if that would interfere with work,” said Doebrick. The NBHS senior said she likes spending her nine-to-five with people her own age. “I can relate to the people, it makes it fun.”

On the other hand, soon-to-be NBHS graduate Jeremy Downer remembers a summer job two years ago that he said was impossible to enjoy.

“It was dreadful,” said Downer, 18, of a summer when he worked at a garden center in North Branford. “I had to work outside in the heat moving a lot of heavy stuff.”

For the summer of 2011, Downer has lined up a job working as a busboy at a local deli. He said it’s the best job he’s had in his first few years in the workforce because it’s not as stressful as other jobs and he enjoys the people who come in. Downer said he scored the deli job through a high school health teacher who recommended him for it, but that he has friends who aren’t as lucky.

“A couple friends that are trying to find a job aren’t getting hired because they haven’t had previous jobs,” he said.

Mazzola said she has many friends who are sans jobs this summer. She said her friends say they are looking for employment but she doesn’t know if they actually are, adding that once school is officially over their searches will probably gain momentum.

“My advice to high school students looking for a job this summer is to treat looking for a job like a job,” said Thorson. “Get up in the morning, check the job-hunting websites for openings but don't stop there. Call prospective employers and ask if they are hiring. If they are, apply promptly and if they call back, respond promptly.”  

“In a job market like this," he said, "persistence is a key asset."