I understand that working never tends to be something we necessarily want to do, but working in the summer is especially dreadful. If you ever moved back home for a summer, you might be familiar with these few reasons ALL summer jobs suck.
Summer jobs want stability- not experience...
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If you told me I'd be able to find a summer job easier as a high school student than a college student, I would've laughed at you. Why would it be easier to get a job in high school when a college student is more qualified and experienced? It's because high school students will still be around for the school year, and not all college students will be. Summer jobs don't care. Broke college students do though.
Summer jobs want stability- not experience. Previously, finding a job in high school was never a problem for me. I applied, I waited, and I was hired. Now it's like a place of employment sees "college student" on an application, and they burn it at the stake. Employers only want to hire you if you'll be around for the long haul. Consider yourself lucky if you went to college in your hometown or close to your hometown. Switching jobs because of school sucks.
Plan ahead or you're SOL.
Ice cream
College students are busy, and the last thing I had in mind during the winter semester of my freshman year was to plan ahead for a job months away in a town I didn't currently live in. I guess that should've been one of the main things on my mind.
Summer jobs also want you to have plans for your summer employment long before summer arrives! What a surprise it was to me when everyone around told me that you need to apply at most places in the winter to guarantee a spot in the summer! Who knew working at an ice cream shop was so competitive?
Working in the summer just sucks.
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When you finally get hired at your last choice of employment because that's all that was willing to hire you, (at a noticeably lower rate of pay than you requested), you're pretty grateful to be working again. You also usually have to start working more and right away because of the time off due to being unable to easily find a job, so there goes your whole summer. Soon you will watch out the dirty pizza parlor window as your friends drive by on the way to the beach.
Nobody wants to spend their entire summer working, but that is the price to pay as a broke college student. The money isn't great. Your job isn't great, but hopefully you can still make the best out of a shitty situation. Yay working!
The bright side of summer jobs is that they're usually pretty easy and effortless. It might suck to get up and do the same thing for low pay every day of your summer, but it's not hard to scoop ice cream for a few hours and then hit the road with your best friends while you complain about your terrible jobs and stay out all night just to get up and do it again the next morning.
