Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 10, 1990 TAG: 9006100226
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH EVANS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
High school and college students alike are picking up advanced skills that prepare them for something more than stocking store shelves or serving up hamburgers. Yet these young job-seekers are finding they may have to settle for less in an already tight job market, where few resume-enhancing, glamour jobs are available this summer.
As of April, unemployment was 2.3 percent in the Roanoke Valley, compared with 3.4 percent statewide and 5.2 percent nationally.
Paige Cochran, 20, a junior majoring in criminal justice at Virginia Commonwealth University, started last March looking for a summer job that would give her experience in her chosen field and help defray college costs.
Instead, Cochran was forced to accept the only job she was offered - packing boxes in a warehouse on the graveyard shift for a pharmaceutical company.
The job pays nearly double the pay of the career-related jobs she was unable to find. Still, career preparation was more important to Cochran, so she still looks for summer work.
Some youth employment experts say a part of the problem this summer is that some students are being too picky, holding out for prestige jobs and ignoring the numerous jobs that are available.
Retail, food-service, and telephone sales jobs are out there, and most pay more than the $3.80 minimum wage, said Gary Sheffler, student representative with the Virginia Employment Commission.
"All you have to do is look around and you see `help wanted' signs everywhere you go," Sheffler said.
"So many more people are taking computer and word processing, business-related courses, and finance and banking. . . . If we had 20 or 30 [clerical] jobs come in this week, I bet we could refer everyone, just about."
Unemployed students may simply need a strong dose of reality, said Marion Crenshaw of the Roanoke City Office of Youth.
"You may not get the top dollar until you get the experience behind you," Crenshaw said. "It is not easy, but if they go along with it, it could be a positive thing for them."
Keith Roberts, a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in mass communications at Emory & Henry College, faults himself for beginning his summer job search too late to get the sportswriting position he really wanted. Through friends who work there, Roberts learned that the Hunting Hills Wal-Mart was hiring, and he got a job helping out in the garden shop.
"Once I figured out the right place to go, where I knew they were hiring, it wasn't that bad," Roberts said of his job search. "I am not saying I wouldn't like working in air conditioning all day long, but I'm not stressing myself."
Sheffler said more than 200 students, from 14-year-olds to graduate students, filed applications through the VEC in about the past seven weeks.
The influx started in March with college students out on spring break. The "critical period" began in early June, Sheffler said, when "panicky" college students who still did not have work were joined by "anxious" high school students who were just beginning their search.
Students' choices may be further limited as a result of recent crackdowns on violators of child labor laws. Some employers may avoid hiring students for fear they may inadvertently break the law, Sheffler said.
In March, the U.S. Labor Department made a nationwide sweep of businesses employing teen-agers and found 207 minors working illegally in 72 Virginia businesses. Students were found working too many hours, too late on school nights or in restricted jobs.
"There is a whole spectrum of potential jobs that 14- and 15-year-olds could be eligible for if employers would work with the hours and hire them," Sheffler said, explaining that students as young as 14 are allowed to work some jobs as long as they obtain the proper permits through their schools.
Sara Holland, youth services director for Total Action Against Poverty, said employers do not have to be afraid to hire teen-agers, just knowledgeable of labor laws. Copies of the laws are readily available and simple to understand, she said.
Holland, too, has had her hands full trying to match students with summer jobs. She coordinates a federally funded job program for low-income youth, which was cut from 300 to 170 jobs this summer. Holland said she receives as many inquiries from college students as she does from her usual clients.
Holland worries that some college students may be forced to drop out of school because they cannot earn enough tuition money.
A number of retired people are moving into the market, competing with students for the best jobs. Employers may look more favorably on hiring retirees because "older people have a proven work record and some proven stability that youth don't have yet," said Holland.
by CNB