Summer jobs for teens may be in short supply

This summer's job market in Dundee Township will be just as tight for teens as it was last year.

Most of the 300 seasonal jobs the Dundee Township Park District offers at its pools and golf courses are already taken. And the rest will likely be gone at the end of Tuesday's job fair, said Helen Shumate, the district's marketing directors.

"We'll only have about 100 jobs available at the fair. The others will be filled with college students who have worked for the park district in previous years," Shumate said. "We already know what type of workers they are, and they've already been trained."

The fair will be from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 9 at the park district's senior center, along Barrington Avenue in Carpentersville.

The remaining jobs will be filled with Dundee Township residents who are at least 14 years old and have no other plans for their summer. The youngest employees will work in the concession stands at Dolphin Cove Aquatic Park in Carpentersville. Older residents will work as life guards at the swimming pools, camp counselors, guides at the petting zoo at Randall Oaks Park and in the restaurants at Bonnie Dundee and Randall Oaks golf courses.

The park district is the township's largest summer employer. In good economic times, high school and college students could depend on paychecks from it from May to August. As students grow older, they usually move on to other employers. This year, they are returning to a sure thing, said Shumate.

When those jobs are gone, teens will have to knock on the doors of retailers such as Walmart or area restaurants. They can't rely on Dundee Township villages for work, as they have in years past. West Dundee will have four to five seasonal jobs in its public works department, said Joe Cavallaro, village manager. But Carpentersville may not have any.

"We've budgeted about $28,000 for seasonal employees, but that could be gone by time it gets to the end of the committee-review process, said Craig Anderson, Carpentersville village manager.

"Anything could happen, he said. "If you're asking if we'll hire teens as we have in the past, I'll say it's a definite maybe. There are some advantages to hiring the teens. They can do jobs that will free up other public works employees for bigger projects. They can water our flower gardens. But then again they cost money."

And with that money being in short supply for every taxing body in Illinois this year, better reasons can be found to spend it.

Teens who attend the park district's summer job fair must bring with them their Social Security cards, the addresses and telephone numbers of three references and information about extracurricular activities they participate in at their schools. Patience would also be good to have.

"Last year we had about 400 teens attend the job fair," Shumate said. "Who know show many we'll have this year."