Extra effort makes difference

Specialist offers advice to students seeking summer job

Students looking for summer jobs need to take a bit of an old fashioned approach to getting hired, says a career consultant.

Heather MacIsaac, an employer engagement specialist with Career Connections Nova Scotia Works, said now is the time of year that businesses start looking for student employees, but to stand out from others an applicant must make the extra effort.

“Students have a different battle because they don’t usually

have the work experience,” she said.

“Employers are looking at attitude and personality. Those are the things we take for granted, but introduce yourself and shake their hands.”

She said students should have their resumes ready listing their involvement in sports, arts or extracurricular activities. Many employers have told her that students involved with group activities or team sports have proven they can follow direction from authority figures so it is an asset in the workplace.

“Students should get a resume ready and ideas of where they would like to work,” she said. “Visit those places and ask for the manager. If he or she isn’t there, when you go, come back.”

MacIsaac said many businesses have recently received word about what grants they’ll receive, although the provincial jobs have been posted for a while now.

Students looking for work can scan career-based sites, visit job fairs and visit Career Connections, which has a binder of all summer job postings for the area.

MacIsaac said many summer jobs posted are geared toward university students because they fall between May and August, but high school students wanting employment shouldn’t be deterred from putting out resumes.

“Apply everywhere,” she said, noting that some employers opt not to post their jobs publicly but rather through a career centre or on their own.

Some businesses are looking for students who can fill in for senior staff who take summer vacation and this can lead to more employment during holidays or even the following summer.

MacIsaac said employers like to rehire students from year to year because it cuts down on training required.