Where should I work this summer?

March 15, 2015 5:13 PM

I have a 10-month contract position at a school and I'm kind of stumped about what I should do/where to look for income during July/August. Any ideas?

I'm not really sure where I should work this summer/or where I should look for work this summer to earn some money. My position at the school is just part time (I'm actually not a teacher/admin) and I also pick up temp. gigs at other schools on the days that I don't work. So far it's been all right.

I also have a weekend retail job I've been at for over 2 years. I don't really mind it, it's at a women's clothing store and I'm pretty comfortable there. I'd probably be able to get more hours there (maybe not quite full-time) during the summer and I make a teensy bit about minimum wage (which is less than half of what I make at my other job).

I'm DEFINITELY interested in seeing if I could find a retail job that paid a bit above minimum wage, that I could (hopefully) still keep during the school year. I'm not sure what's out there or where to look. Any ideas?

Are there any jobs that exist only July/August that I should probably think about applying to? Lots of summer jobs exist where I am, but they're mostly for university students and run from May-August.

My skills are sort of limited to customer service, retail, library, and admin-ish stuff. I'm also in Canada.

Here's a throwaway email: [e-mail]

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Would you consider a summer camp? I don't know how well they pay, and it obviously wouldn't go into the school year, but it was what popped into my head reading your question.
posted by firei at 5:29 PM on March 15, 2015

You could check with a temp agency to see if they have any temp needs during that time (someone who is on vacation or maternity leave?).

If you like kids, families often need babysitters during the summer for fairly long hours. Also house/pet sitting.
posted by radioamy at 5:30 PM on March 15, 2015

I taught vacation swimming lessons over summer. Not sure how it works in Canada, but in Australia there's a course to get accredited. You do have to be able to swim, obviously.
posted by kjs4 at 5:41 PM on March 15, 2015

I wouldn't discount the options for jobs that run May-August even if you can't do the whole summer, especially tourism jobs: When I've worked in tourism, there seems to be a large turnover in July or so when temporary workers have to cut their summer short for whatever reason. This seemed to run across retail, hospitality, and restaurants. Pay was better than average to entice fresh people to open positions.
posted by mochapickle at 5:58 PM on March 15, 2015

How's your memory? Summer time tour-guiding may be available if you're in a tourist heavy city, esp. with those offering periodic bus tours. San Francisco is lousy with them. :D
posted by kschang at 12:00 AM on March 16, 2015

Seconding a summer camp. There may be a few for students who are learning English.

If you are religious (or you are able to sympathize with those who are), a religious camp may work, but be sure to check it out first. I enjoyed my experiences as a teen at one of these. (It was a simple "Bible lessons for teens camp" however.)

You can also try work at local amusement parks/water worlds.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 3:58 AM on March 16, 2015