Dear Auntie, got any ideas for what to do during the summer? I need a summer job.
Good for you! You’ve got time this summer, so you might as well be earning some money, right?
There are a lot of different types of jobs you can get hooked up with; it just depends on what you want to do.
If you find a job that pays minimum wage, which most do, you’re looking at making $2,000-$5,000 (pretax) for a summer’s worth of work, depending on the type of job you get and whether you work full- or part-time.
Some things to think about:
- Hit up your Family & Friends – if you want to keep it low-key, think about advertising your skills as a dog-walker, babysitter, pet sitter, house sitter, house cleaner, car washer, or mowing lawns. You can make up some flyers and post them around town or on social media. Generally asking for $10 to $25 bucks an hour is reasonable, depending on your location and your experience.
- “Teen jobs” – these jobs are pretty typical for teens during the summer. They can be working in the food industry like; at the mall, fast food, busser, dishwasher, and waiter. You can also find jobs working at the Movie Theater, waterpark, amusement park, zoo, working construction, or landscaping. These jobs typically pay minimum wage, which depending on where you live can be from $7.25 to $15 bucks an hour. You can check the Department of Labor’s website to find out what your State’s wage is.
- Volunteer work – if your looking for beefing up your resume for college, or want something a little more fulfilling, you can think about internships, or apprenticeships during the summer.
- Intern at your tribal office
- Volunteer at your local nursing home, library, or daycare
- Youth Engaged 4 Change lists job and internship opportunities as well as directs you to search what your State has to offer.
- AmeriCorps helps you to get involved with your communities needs.
- Youth Jobs+ can connect you to summer jobs and internships.
- Registered Apprenticeships will let you search what apprenticeships are near you.
- Start up your own project. If there’s something you’ve always wanted to do like start a community garden, clean up your elders yards, or start up a Native youth club fill out an online application for We R Native’s mini-grant to help get you started.
Summers only a few short months away, so it’s a good idea to start looking now.
Best of luck and thanks for writing in!
Auntie Manda
