Letter: How are teens supposed to get a job?

Posted 2/4/25

To the editor:

I wanted to speak on a topic that might be seen as relatively subjective, but it is an issue I have been facing for about a year now. There is an issue for me and a number of …

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Letter: How are teens supposed to get a job?

Posted

To the editor:

I wanted to speak on a topic that might be seen as relatively subjective, but it is an issue I have been facing for about a year now. There is an issue for me and a number of other people in regards to getting hired in this town. I am 17 years old with a need to find something to do with my spare time.

I’m a full time student who is dedicated to their work, but I just need more. In a plan of 8 months I have been on the search to find a job in the areas of Barrington, Riverside and Warren and have gotten no responses. I have applied to over 20 positions and I am unable to even get an email back that says they are unavailable, and I am not the only person who has this issue. Being a teenager I find it important to have a sense of financial independence, as well as building some experience and it has been close to impossible. 

Many people I have talked to, including fellow students, have explained to me that the only way to find a job is to have connections. I have also spoken to students who have been employed and many of them informed me that they were employed due to mutual family connections, or “favors” between the parent and the owner / manager. To have connections is fine but it is extremely limiting to an entire group of people, mostly being inexperienced students who need somewhere to start.

I’ve been told by family members and adults that i'm not looking hard enough. I’ve been told that I don’t take the initiative and that is just not true. I walk into Barrington CVS and I'm told to fill out their application through their website, that they are looking for people. I apply and I get denied, saying they are not looking for people. This cycle goes on time and time again. Friend’s go to me saying they got a job somewhere I applied to just before and I didn’t even get an email back. I’m told to not submit online applications because they want to hire people with initiative. I take their word at face value and I go biking around town after school, from store to store filling out applications, shaking owners hands just so I can get told they have no positions available, or that they will give me a call in a few days and I have yet to get any response. 

We all know that jobs have gotten and will continue to get more sparse over the next few years, but it's important to me and a lot of other people that opportunities are here for us to find somewhere to start our journey into adulthood, and somewhere we can get a taste of our well earned independence. 

Sean Materne

Barrington

Sean Materne is a Barrington High School student.

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