"Hire" Your Teenager

            My nineteen-year-old niece is living with us this summer.  Rather than going home between her freshman and sophomore year of college, where she knew jobs would be scarce, she came to Texas in hopes of finding something she both likes to do and that would help her earn money for school next year.

            Last summer, she worked in a cherry processing plant.  Although she found the experience character building, it's something she never wants to do again.

              "We'd sit along a conveyer belt while thousands of cherries whizzed by," she explained to me and my sons one evening after her arrival, "There were dead birds and leaves and who knows what else mixed in with the cherries, and we had to pick out the stuff that didn't belong.  They gave us a bucket next to our chair in case we got sick from the heat and looking at all that stuff."

            When she arrived at our house, I assured her that she could find a much better job than sorting and packing cherries.

            Sadly, I was wrong.

            She's filled out countless applications on the web and interviewed for some jobs multiple times only to hear nothing.  She had a great lead on one job she thought she'd like.  Unfortunately, turns out the company's only opening is 200 miles away.

            Economists say that the job market for teens this summer is particularly weak.  In fact, the influx of teens into the job market last month accounted in large part for the dramatic jump in unemployment numbers reported by the Labor Department. So now, I not only find my niece sweating out whether or not she can find a summer job, but every time I turn on the television I'm hearing more and more stories of other college and high school kids in the same boat.

            That gave me an idea.  When J.C. Conklin and I researched Comeback Moms, we met a few women who found ways to incorporate their kids into their business ventures as they were starting their own businesses from home.  For example, we interviewed one woman who designed and made children's clothing from her home and then sold her creations to high end retail stores.  She told us how she involved her children in her company with her daughter taking orders over the telephone and her two sons putting labels on the merchandise with a special label gun. The kids loved it.  They felt like they were part of what their mother was doing.

            This website is a business venture of sorts.  It doesn't earn money, but it requires lots of work.  Given the situation, I told my niece that I would make her my Personal Assistant for the summer.  It's an internship since I don't have money to pay her, but all the experience she's gaining in researching projects, shipping books, and helping to keep my calendar straight can appear on her resume as "experience." In the meantime, she's also earning a little money babysitting in the neighborhood, working temp jobs, and taking on part-time jobs as they become available.

            News reports indicate that lots of teens this summer are getting creative in their money making endeavors.  Some are even starting their own businesses.  It seems to me that in some cases it would be a great idea to join forces-with Mom and her teenager working together.

             Just an idea, but who knows?  Maybe you and your daughter can start that business that becomes the next big thing while at the same time building yet another important bond.

            If you're doing such a thing or know someone who is, I'd love to hear about it.