Ayanna Kirton, Staff Reporter
THE HOLIDAYS are finally here and many high school and university students have already begun or are gearing up for summer jobs.
Due largely to budgetary constraints, some companies have opted not to embark on summer employment programmes this year. However, several others have recruited students to provide them with valuable work experience and a bit of spending money to reward them for their efforts.
"Budgets are tight, but as corporate citizens we think it is important to provide the work experience opportunity for as many students as possible," says Lisa Officer, vice-president of human relations at Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&W). This year like most companies, C&W has cut its summer employment period in half to accommodate more students.
SCHEDULED
Explains Ms. Officer, instead of working at C&W for the entire summer, one batch of students is employed by the company for a maximum period of six weeks while a second batch is scheduled to begin working once this period is up. This year Cable & Wireless summer employee wage rates are $3,000 per week for high school students and $5,000 weekly for students at the tertiary level. The company has recruited some 120 students this year to work on special projects in various departments within the company.
Sandals Resorts International is another company providing employment for students this year. For them, "It's a win-win situation," says Dr. Ben Henry, head of the Sandals Corporate University, the hotel chain's training and development centre. "Many of our summer employees end up working with us after graduation. When students work here for the summer we take a good look at them and the outstanding ones usually become future employees." Dr. Henry explained that many summer workers often return as management interns and trainees.
Executive director of the Jamaica Employers Federation, Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd, agrees that a summer job is one of the best routes to recruitment.
"A summer job can be a long-term investment for students who stand a greater chance of being rehired the following summer and after they've graduated," she said.
According to Mrs. Coke-Lloyd, in her talks with persons who have been given the opportunity to work during the summer holidays she has found that these young people often leave their holiday jobs with a clearer understanding of where they want to work and what they want to do with their lives.
Although many companies have reduced their summer employment periods, Mrs. Coke-Lloyd advises students that a four-week period is sufficient enough to provide an introduction to the work world.
LEARNING A LOT
"You can learn a lot about an organisation's standards, the basic expectations of employers, and how persons conduct themselves in the workplace. Any experience is good experience because your life can be changed in one moment," she says.
She gives the following tips on how to get maximum results out of your summer employment experience no matter how minimal the time frame:
Set reasonable goals for yourself. At the end of the employment period you should have achieved something worthwhile which can often be applied to individual courses or your approach to school in general. Gravitate towards positive people in the organisation. Some people take pleasure in showing new employees the ropes and can even act as mentors for students guiding them in the right direction within the organisation. A mentor can also recommend areas of study that will as well as give them a better understanding of the field and in some cases make them more marketable for a career in the organisation.Don't be a 'clock-watcher'. Working as long as you can teaches you valuable lessons about the job you've been hired to do.Make yourself available to other departments. Even if you are not assigned to a particular department, volunteering to work in other areas makes a good impression and indicates interest in the organisation as a whole.Although a summer job can provide excellent work experience, many people might describe their first summer jobs as filled with tasks that they considered more menial than meaningful.These days, companies appear to be making an effort to place summer employees throughout the organisation to perform various tasks in departments that they feel that students will function best.Red Stripe considers the tasks performed by its summer employees very beneficial to the company. The students are employed in various departments across the business, e.g. engineering, accounting, training, technical services, marketing, safety & occupational health where they make valuable contributions. Some of the activities that they are involved in include assistance on small projects, data gathering and analysis, records management, research, accounts reconciliation and telephone operating.
Michael Jones, general manager for human resources at Scotiabank Jamaica, says that the commercial bank is also open to assigning their summer recruits to meaningful tasks once the business is not compromised.
"Because of the type of business that we are in we have to ensure that information is handled carefully," says Mr. Jones.
In order to ensure that this requirement is met the human resource manager says the company hires "mature people who we place in different sections of the organisation. Their tasks range from data entry (depending on the nature of the data), filing, preparing reports and spreadsheets, and performing support tasks for marketing campaigns and promotions."
Nikiesha Welsh, a first-year student at the University of the West Indies with a major in marketing, says working with Scotiabank has been a great experience particularly since she is regarded as part of the company's corporate affairs and marketing team.
Now in the third week of her six-week summer employment programme, Ms. Welsh says, "I am learning a lot here. I enjoy working in this department and I have additional responsibilities since one of my managers has been ill and out of office so I am basically helping to run the office with my supervisor in her absence. It's good to know that I am making a contribution," she says.
This summer, the bank has also employed Andre Dias, a third-year business administration student at the University of Technology.
As a self-service banking representative, Mr. Dias says that, among other things, his role involves promoting Scotia Cards to the bank's customers as the bank will soon require them to use these cards to carry out all their transactions. This position has been both challenging and rewarding for him since he was not the most outgoing person but now he is not as shy and is able to speak confidently about the bank's products and services.
While summer job salaries may rarely finance all of a student's expenses, most say they are able to save some of their earnings to fund books and some of the other costs associated with the new school year, as well as to help cover the cost of entertainment during the holidays.
GENERAL TIPS
At the end of the day, Mrs. Coke-Lloyd says monetary gain should not be the primary motivation for seeking a summer job: I don't think students should be too concerned about pay at this stage in their lives. Although the money helps many students, they should not rely on a summer job as the first resource to fund their future education."Although it may be too late to apply for a summer employment this year the following tips are likely to help you score a job next summer:
Apply early. Companies like Sandals and C&W encourage applicants to apply many months in advance so that they will have the greatest chance of being employed.Do some research on the company that you're interested in. "This will let you know whether you want to work there," says Lisa Officer. "It also demonstrates a keen interest in the organisation which will be recognised during an interview." Try to pinpoint a particular area of interest within the company - this lends itself to better placement, says Ms. Officer.Don't limit yourself to jobs in large corporations. According to Chris Bond, group employee relations manager at Grace, Kennedy & Company (GKCO), community service is also a great way to get references for future jobs while working in an institution that is in desperate need of help.
Each year GKCO employs over 200 students to work in children's homes, humane societies, homes for the disabled, libraries and infirmaries.They are also paid a salary for their contribution and are monitored and rated by Grace, Kennedy and the institution to which they are assigned.
