Instead of letting customers decide how much to tip, restaurants are increasingly adding standard “service charges” to diners’ bills, so waiters can count on making more money, Mr Hamilton said. Eighteen percent is common, he said, with the option for customers to increase the amount – but it can’t go lower. Other facilities offer workers free meals during or after their shift, or even give out fuel cards to help workers cover commuting costs.
“It’s a very hot market,” Mr Hamilton said, adding that applicants should be prepared to be hired on the day of their interview.
“We’re definitely seeing strong demand from employers,” said Vivian Russell, executive director of the True North Youth Program in Telluride, Colorado, a nonprofit group that serves teens in the state’s rural Southwest. Known for skiing, the area also has a busy summer festival season that draws tourists, as well as seasonal ranch work. Some ranch and farm jobs pay $18 to $20 an hour, while service jobs can pay $25 to $30 an hour, including tips. True North helps students with resume preparation, interview training, workplace etiquette and other job search skills.
Brenda Gutierrez Ruiz, 20, a junior at Fort Lewis College in Colorado, said she’s been hired for the summer as a youth services specialist at Telluride’s public library. She said she worked as a librarian’s assistant while she was in school and made $12 an hour, but now she would make $21 an hour. “I’ve moved up the ranks,” she said.
Summer camps, which have often closed in 2020 and reopened last year, are hiring counselors, said Tom Rosenberg, president and chief executive officer of the American Camp Association. Many camps pay contract bonuses for advisors who stay all summer, he said.
The camp group is promoting summer camp employment as a welcome antidote to the distance learning work that many students have endured during the pandemic lockdowns, as well as a way to gain managerial skills. Mr. Rosenberg noted that he had worked as a camp counselor as a teenager and that by the age of 19 he was overseeing a staff of 16 staff and “72 energetic seventh graders.” Advisors gain experience, but they also have “so much fun.”
Students from low-income families tend to work fewer summer hours than students from more affluent backgrounds, in part because there are often fewer opportunities where they live and because their parents may not have access to social networks that can help their children find jobs. Mrs. Modestino said. You may have trouble finding transportation to work if the job involves long commutes.