Jobs around the house such as lawn mowing and raking are easy enough for kids to pick up.Bill Grove/Getty Images/iStockphoto
For students in high school, college and university, summer is prime time to beef up their bank accounts to help pay for school.
But summer jobs – especially full-time ones – are hard to come by these days. The unemployment rate among young people is higher than the rest of the population, and has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
The problem is especially acute for teens, but university-aged students are also feeling the impact. And many seasonal jobs such as camp counselling and lifeguarding don’t start until the end of June, leaving college and university students sitting around for two months.
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Kids who are eager to work but can’t find a full-time job might have to take matters into their own hands by creating a job for themselves. Not only does this help their bank account, it also builds their résumé, making it easier to find a job in the future. Here are some ways older teenagers and young adults can make money.
Child care
Parents – especially working parents – need occasional help looking after their children. This goes beyond an evening of babysitting. During the dog days of summer, stay-at-home parents will need and appreciate some time away from their kids. They might want to have their kids hang around the house on some days instead of going to camps or daycare all summer. Parents might want a break from daycare pick-up.
In my neighbourhood, two teenage boys offered informal sports mornings during the summer months, where younger children could meet them at the park to learn and play sports. All it takes is a few kids to show up for a nominal fee to make it financially worthwhile for your kids.
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One summer I hired a local teenager to get my kids from daycare once a week so I could go for a run and enjoy the beautiful weather. Parents might need help picking their children up from summer camps, since they usually end earlier than their workday or they just need someone to keep the kids occupied while they make dinner or do other household jobs.
Running errands
This is a great job for older kids with a driver’s licence and access to a car. The job pitch is simple: Offer to get through a client’s list of errands that require driving around town. A trip to Canadian Tire, buying groceries, picking up items ordered online – there are tons of errands that can be farmed out. For kids who live in a city, a bicycle might do the trick .
Websites and social media
Learning to use a website design program like Wix isn’t that hard for today’s computer-savvy kids. And there are plenty of folks who would be tempted to throw their laptops across the room if they had to build their own website.
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Kids can offer their design services to small business owners who need a simple website. Self-employed plumbers, carpenters, electricians and other trades are top contenders for needing this kind of assistance, along with help using social media to promote their businesses.
Manual labour
Jobs around the house such as lawn mowing and raking are easy enough for kids to pick up. A post on my local Facebook group offered car detailing services. The kids had invested in the supplies to fully clean the interior of cars – with capital probably provided by their parents – and they offered their services at a lower rate than the local detailing shop. As an additional incentive, kids can even offer to travel to the client’s location.
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Summer is the time people go away for long periods and that means needing someone to water their gardens, feed their cats, put out the garbage and so on. An acquaintance of mine has a high-schooler who dog-sits while the owners are away.
It’s not easy to find this kind of work. It requires putting yourself out there, advertising and spreading the word. It’s a real effort, and not everyone is naturally inclined to do this. It probably won’t be a full-time gig, but any money they can earn is better than none at all.
Deciding how much to charge for these services can be tricky. A good starting point is to look at the minimum wage, which ranges from $15 to $18.25 an hour across provinces. You might also need to consider the rate for this kind of work in your area. It might be a bit of trial-and-error to find the right number.
Anita Bruinsma is a Toronto-based certified financial planner and a parent of two teenage boys. You can find her at Clarity Personal Finance.
