Finding a summer job in New York

March 29, 2008 7:49 AM

What are good ways of finding temporary non-retail jobs in NYC?

My girlfriend has the summer free before starting grad school, and she's going to be spending it in New York City. What can she do while she's there? She'd like to take a break from working in academia (so research assistant is out), but would rather not work retail if possible. She's got lots of tutoring experience, and a fair amount of clerical experience, and is a fast typist.

-How hard is it going to be for her to find something to do for 2 or 3 months?
-Where are good places to look? Craigslist? Temp agencies? Something else?

Thanks!

posted by goingonit to work & money (5 comments total)

I recently started working in the guts of a temp agency in NYC. She honestly can't go wrong just shooting her resume off to a few of the no-fee ones (and possibly going on the interviews if you have to). If you're skilled enough, you can say 'no' to as many offers as they give you and still be regularly considered for work, if you're skilled enough.

However, the labor itself (at least at my agency, which focuses on clerical work) has a tendency to be barely-entry-level and low-paying if you lack experience (as measured by years).

If I could give a piece of advise re: temp agencies, though: she should make sure her resume is clear as a crystal bell. We're understaffed and overworked as it is, and convoluted resumes make it much harder to match up temps to job specs, eliminating perfectly good people that try to sound overly-professional on resumes used to qualify them for data entry and word processing jobs.

Hope this helps.
posted by griphus at 8:26 AM on March 29, 2008

I second not going into retail. I've gotten a few jobs on craigslist, but from what I see most of them are specialized. No hurt in trying though...
posted by saxamo at 11:16 AM on March 29, 2008

temp places in nyc

Temping can be boring, on the other hand, if she's on top of it, she can really advance and start doing interesting work.

Also, have her contact her grad school and ask about their alumni network and/or career center--maybe they can hook her up with a (paying) internship or an office job in the field that interests her. I can't overstate the importance of people when it comes to getting a job in a market like NYC.
posted by sondrialiac at 1:06 PM on March 29, 2008

Oh, have her check out college board (ie tutoring). She can also call some private schools and ask if they have student who need tutoring in the summer. She will have to do some legwork, but tutoring is relatively easy and pays relatively well. Office jobs aren't really all that swell.
posted by sondrialiac at 1:08 PM on March 29, 2008

I haven't done it for full-time work, and am not sure it could cover rent in New York, but craigslist (Boston) always worked out great for me when I was in a need-to-save-now or between-jobs-need-work space. The types of jobs I liked best and took most often were focus groups ($100+ for 1 or 2 hours), translation ($25-40/page - since it's a side job I do this more on a "whatever's interesting" sliding scale), type-setting/layout ($20/hr), psychology studies (decision-making, non-invasive, $8-12/hr). People do also look for tutors on CL, particularly in math/science, English (ESL/writing), and foreign languages.

You need to make sure you're looking at the right categories though. I'd usually go through jobs (education, writing/editing, ETC, part-time) and gigs (labor, computer, writing). Her cruising may vary depending on her particular interests and talent.
posted by whatzit at 9:22 PM on March 29, 2008