Finding a summer job in a bad economy?!

March 1, 2009 8:12 PM

I'm a graduate student in NYC (social work) who is looking for a summer job. I saw this thread but it was written when the economy was much better! What is it that people will pay for in these times? I'm totally unsure what it is I should be looking for. I check Craigslist (jobs and gigs) almost every day, and have also done all the search engines. I thought that I'd just temp, but that seems unlikely given the financial situation. I'm great with kids, but I worry about making $8 working my butt off at a day camp. I'm on care.com and sittercity.com looking for babysitting gigs, but nothing's coming up! What is it that I could do?!
posted by iliketolaughalot to work & money (4 comments total)

What's your question? No offense, but it looks like you wrote this out in a panic. Maybe if you made it a bit more specific to what you want to do you might get some answers.
posted by sweetkid at 9:12 AM on March 2

Try seasonal work. Ice cream, farming, etc.
posted by lunit at 9:27 AM on March 2

I guess I see the panic, but that really wasn't it. The question is, what kind of work will people still be willing to pay for?
posted by iliketolaughalot at 1:20 PM on March 2

You say that temping seems unlikely. It might a little harder, but at the moment, I've little trouble bouncing from random temp job to random temp job before school in the fall.

Have you simply dismissed temp agencies as unrealistic given the economic situation, or have you actually taken a closer look? A lot of them will list job openings and the individual agents assigned to them online -- Randstad and Volt come to mind -- and I've had no problem finding work, though I'll admit I'm not in NYC.

Keep calling the agencies -- every day, if need be -- when the time comes. These jobs are out there; they just require only a bit of persistence in keeping the attention of the agents until all your paperwork and such goes through.
posted by SpringAquifer at 12:08 AM on March 3