For Iowa teens and summer jobs, now may be the time

CEDAR RAPIDS — For young adults such as Joey Shoemaker, a summer job means a way to save for college or a new car, or at least not having to ask their parents for money.

Now in his second year as a lifeguard at Noelridge Aquatic Center, the soon-to-be high school senior is one of a about 180 people Cedar Rapids's pools have hired for the season.

'Last year, (the money) was just a good benefit. I used it to buy some clothes,' Shoemaker, 17, said. 'This year, I'm trying to save up to buy my own truck so I can drive around and stop asking people for rides.'

A recovering job market, employment experts and managers said, makes this summer a good time for teenagers and younger adults to land a job.

Older workers have found more positions higher up in rank after years post-recession where they may have been stuck in part-time or seasonal positions.

'It's leaving more room at the bottom for teenagers to come into the mix,' said Andy Challenger, vice president of Chicago-based outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

And a tighter labor market — Iowa's unemployment rate was just 3.1 percent in May — mean employers may expand who they look to to fill jobs.

'If a teenager really wants a job this summer, they should not have a problem getting a job this summer,' said Anthony Arrington, branch manager for Manpower's Cedar Rapids office.

It also can result in higher wages, especially among entry-level positions. In the Corridor, some employers have stuck with a local minimum wage hike that began in 2015, despite a recent reversal from state legislation, to remain competitive.

'If you look at Johnson County, for example, when the minimum wage went up to $10.10 and the governor enacted their bill which reversed that requirement, you didn't see employers reverting back to lower wages. I think they knew that would have been a disaster,' Arrington said.

At Noelridge Aquatic Center, Aquatics Supervisor Carolyn Hamilton said the base wage for a lifeguard is $9.75 an hour, in part because of the previous minimum wage raises. Those wages, she said, would not decrease this year, even with the recently passed state reversal.

Kristie Wetjen, general manager of Tanger Outlets in Williamsburg, said all her retail tenants need to fill positions.

'This time of year, everyone is looking to add some staff. There's all kinds of doom and gloom about retail, but traffic still is pretty steady,' she said.

Wetjen said Tanger Outlets feels the pressure from a tight labor market. Iowa County, where the mall is located, had a 2.4 percent jobless rate in April, so Wetjen has told tenants to advertise in surrounding counties with higher unemployment rates, such as Keokuk and Poweshiek counties.

'We want to go where the people are and where they need jobs,' she said.

Another challenge, managers around Cedar Rapids said, is not just filling spots but hiring employees with the right 'soft skills' such as good customer service.

In 'the food service business you already have to know how to take care of the customers and mop and sweep. ...

It's having that initiative to just not be told what to do every five minutes,' said Sharon Cook, a manager at Donutland.

A tighter job market, Challenge said, can mean teens find roles work with more responsibility.

Employers 'are stretching all of their current employees thin, so teens that get hired this summer may actually get to do some real work and gain some really valuable experience that their counterparts five or 10 years older just did not get in their first couple years,' he said.

Those job opportunities for teens come, however, at a time when fewer 16- to 19-year-olds are participating in the job market.

Teen labor force participation in the United States has decreased since the late 1970s when it was 58 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's now about 34 percent among 16- to 19-year-olds. The bureau expects an even lower teen participation rate by 2024.

Iowa has followed a similar trend.

Teen employment in Iowa fell from 58 percent in 2006 to 49 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, the state's teen labor force has gone from 64.6 percent to 53 percent.

While these are annual numbers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has noted that summer teen employment also has dropped.

Challenger and others insist that drop is not because today's teenagers are lazier. Instead, more have chosen activities that can boost a college resume, such as volunteering or summer classes.

'Teenagers understand that they are in much more fierce competition for a limited amount of spots at colleges. They are making decisions on the best way to beef up their application for that,' he said.

Shoemaker, the Noelridge lifeguard, said he chose to get a summer job instead of volunteering or taking the summer off because being a lifeguard comes with a sense of purpose.

'I feel like I'm getting more done here when you're actually saving people and helping them learn to swim,' he said.

The job, he said, also has taught him skills he can take to future jobs. A recent training focused on walking speed and how to walk with a purpose.

Even in high school 'people see you differently when you walk like you're actually going somewhere,' he said. 'You also learn to work with other people, which you can actually use in a workplace.'

Wetjen, of Tanger Outlets, said her three teenagers all would like jobs but can't fit it into their schedules between other commitments.

'It's hard for the teens that are looking for a job to fit a work schedule around their schedule and it's hard for the employer,' she said.

TIPS FOR JOB SEEKERS

Here are some tips for those searching for work from Anthony Arrington of Manpower and Andy Challenger of Challenger, Gray and Christmas:

-- Have a clean, updated resume. Make sure it does not have spelling or grammatical errors.

-- Exude a level of confidence during interviews.

-- Be polite and professional.

-- Keep track of the companies and positions you apply for. Companies will notice in an interview if you don't know anything about what they do or the position.

-- Don't get cocky. Just because it's a better job market doesn't mean a job is a sure thing.

-- Try and connect face to face with a manager, either in-person or over Skype for an interview.

-- If you're rejected but still looking, go back to past places you've applied. Seasonal jobs can come with high turnover and managers may reconsider you.

l Comments: (319) 398-8366; matthew.patane@thegazette.com