Job websites.

October 1, 2007 4:39 PM

I need to help a student who has just passed out of high school for a job. Any websites for the same. He has not figured out his interests yet...So open for anything... He is currently not planning for higher education... He is in Bay area california.
posted by tom123 to work & money (8 comments total)

well, the usual suspects are craigslist, hotjobs, monster, and careerbuilder. without more information, i don't think we can narrow it down much.
posted by thinkingwoman at 4:56 PM on October 1, 2007

By "passed out" do you mean he graduated, or that he dropped out? (It seems like you're combining two phrases there.) Whether or not he has a high school diploma will be relevant in terms of what jobs are open to him.
posted by AV at 5:06 PM on October 1, 2007

He has graduated out of high school.
posted by tom123 at 5:11 PM on October 1, 2007

Pizza delivery is always easy to get hired into, and if you work making pizzas/answering phones you make a bit less money but you won't destroy your car. If he can't think of anything else and needs to pay the rent and get some work experience he could try that.

Bank teller is a great job (not a lot of advancement but it looks great on resumes when it's time to move on to another job).

Hotel reservations clerk, front desk staff, or other hotel staff.

In a month or so, retail stores will begin hiring temporary staff to fill the Christmas rush - this could bring in some money and get him some experience and a reference. The more upscale-sounding the store, the better it will look when he goes to find the next job. Nordstrom's sales associates make pretty good money and esp in the shoe department get pretty good training I think; that can then help them move on to another similar/better job.
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:17 PM on October 1, 2007

Retail/grocery type jobs are fairly easy to get and will give valuable experience in dealing with the public. For a just-out-of-high school job I think he would have better luck pounding the pavement than going on a website.
posted by frobozz at 5:36 PM on October 1, 2007

Also have him check out Idealist.org -- it has a nonprofits job board that has pretty good traffic for the San Francisco area, including a decent number of entry-level positions. Nothing to make him rich, but definitely positions that will look better than McDonald's on his resume.
posted by gum at 5:40 PM on October 1, 2007

an apprenticeship in a field like electrician, plumbing, machinist, mechanic is the way to go. This leads to the sorts of things that can be careers, and are a lot better than manning a pizza delivery job. Best bet would be to find these sorts of things through friends or relatives.
posted by garlic at 8:04 PM on October 1, 2007

An apprenticeship with potential for a real career would be fantastic, if he can get someone to hire him.

Most kids fresh out of high school need to have a starter job so they can learn to show up on time, interact with others as a respectful adult, dress for work rather than for the basketball court, etc. Depending on his temperament and how he already presents himself (does he seem respectful and adult when you first meet him, or does he seem like a sulky/rude/etc kid?), he will have an easier or harder time getting hired for jobs that presuppose that he can already handle himself like an adult.

With many entry-level jobs, it is a matter of going in with a copy of your resume, giving the manager a firm handshake and showing him/her that you can represent yourself well -- that will make the difference between a fresh high school grad getting hired vs ignored. These might be skills to work on with him.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:28 PM on October 1, 2007