Parenting Daily

Woah, Dude! It’s a ranch! I probably post too many of these kinds of jobs, but these are the kinds of jobs that appealed to me when I was much younger—outdoorsy, adventuresome things. Today, we’re showcasing a job on an actual dude ranch. Located in Idaho, the Red Horse Mountain Ranch is hiring housekeep and serving staff. No, the job itself doesn’t sound all that intriguing, but the location could be very appealing to some teens. Positions are to be filled immediately until October. The obvious complication is school. Perhaps this is a good job for someone in the general area who can commute or someone who is inbetween high school and college, or who is done with school for the time being. Housing is available, as are meals. This is the full job listing.  

Working at the movie theater was one of those jobs in high school that I thought would be horrible. Who would want to clean up all the popcorn and take care of those sticky floors, I thought. I always chose retail jobs, feeling somehow above my peers who had to work with any sort of food (don’t worry, karma got its revenge in many a food job in college!). Now that I’m older, working in a movie theater sounds like one of those great, classic teen jobs that maybe I should have tried. Pass on the word to your teens: AMC Theatres, with locations across the country, are hiring. Some jobs do have a minimum age requirement of 18 (i.e., the jobs where you would have to handle any alcoholic beverages—though I’ve yet to experience one of the theaters with *those* privileges!), but many start at age 16. Concessionists, ushers, cashiers, and runners are all good positions to try for a first job at AMC Theatres. The website allows you to search for jobs, find out more about the available positions, and even apply online. The best benefit, in my opinion: free movie vouchers! Too fun!  

Today, I have an exciting job for outdoors adventure lovers. Trust me, if I was a lot younger and didn’t have any responsibilities, I’d be all over this job. Alaska Travel Adventures, headquartered in Juneau, AK, is looking for whitewater rafting river tour guides! Okay, Moms and Dads, if just reading this is giving you a heart attack, I understand. But if you have a teen who loves adventure and risk-taking anyway, why not funnel it into something productive? They’ll even be paid to use up all that excess adrenaline! The job runs through the end of September, they offer training (doesn’t that set your mind at ease?), an end-of-season bonus, and travel and housing assistance. Seriously, think it over! There’s also an online job application, so check it out.

I’m not a coffee girl (well, occasionally I enjoy a refreshing iced coffee or cap, but that’s very rare) so I’ve never been bitten by the Starbucks craze. But all I have to do is log onto one of my favorite celeb gossip sites (shout out to PopSugar.com!) to see any number of young Hollywood teens partaking in the java fad. On a sidenote: is coffee really a fad? Probably not. At any rate, Miley Cyrus is big on Starbucks, as are any number of the gals from the High School Musical movies, Gossip Girl, etc. And if I’m noticing it, your teens are noticing it. Heck, they may already been well into their coffee addictions already. So why not put one of their passions to good use? Starbucks has loads of online information, hire at age 16 on up, and even offer benefits depending on how many hours you work. Now, the benefits part is probably not that important to your teen right now, but if it’s a job they stick with through high school and college (and what college town doesn’t have a Starbucks?), having a job with benefits will come in handy while they’re looking for “real work.” So, check it out and pass along the info to your teen. Maybe they’ll even be able to bring home some free joe for you!

Ever since my mother first spoke of Adirondack style chairs, I’ve been enchanted with what they bring to mind. Cool weather, lots of green and trees, the mountains, hiking, sitting on the porch of a log cabin or inside in front of a warm fire in colder weather. So today’s teen job du jour is an obvious one: year-round opportunities at the Adirondack Mountain Club. Oohh… Ahhh.  With a staff of 60 and lodging in cabins or Platform Tents, this is another job that I would have loved as a teen or 20-something. Jobs include: North Country operations crew members, Internships, Naturalist, and Wilderness Trip Leader. Pay is every other week, employees get a free one-year membership to the Club, free use of kayaks and canoes on Heart Lake, and ski and snow shoes free mid-week to staff. Lots of recreational activities await during free time. So check out more here and let your teen know!

If your teen likes children and has significant nanny or babysitting experience, he/she may be interested in a position as a nanny or a “manny” (slang for male nanny). But beware if doing an internet search for these job opportunities. I came across one ad that sounded delightful—part time care of a three year old, car provided for use while working (presumably for taking the child to the park or on errands, appointments, etc.), a room available should the nanny need to (or want to, per the ad) sleep over, and the potential to eventually take a vacation with the family “as our last nanny did.”

But the skeptic in me said, “Check out their names, find verification that they actually exist.” And while I found plenty of people with their names, I didn’t find any proof that they existed as a couple or in the positions they claimed to be in. Further research brought me to this site, which highlights the nanny-scams they know about. Sure enough, the particular job ad I had found has been in circulation as a scam, under different names, for awhile.

Lesson learned. Do your research. Use a reputable website. 4nannies.com even has a page on safe job searching for nannies and protecting your teen from scams. Local searches in your hometown’s newspaper, face-to-face interviews, and talking to other nannies/mannies can also go a long way towards protecting your teen from that scam job that just seemed too good to be true (and was!).