Sean Wilson mans the grill at Tony’s Sausage, Dogs & Cheese Steaks on the boardwalk in Asbury Park on June 28. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR Summer in New Jersey typically means beach days, barbecues and time away from the office. But for many young people, the warm weather sparks a rush to nab seasonal jobs that promise to fatten their bank accounts and boost their résumés.
In 2012, the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds in the state hit 24.7 percent, which dwarfed the figures for every other age bracket, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For young adults, the 40,000 jobs that open in the leisure and hospitality sector each summer have become a source of salvation.
Many of those interviewed by Greater Media Newspapers last week said they enjoy their service-oriented gigs, despite demanding schedules, uncomfortable working conditions, and in some cases, inadequate pay. In a cutthroat job market, they said, you can’t put a price on a steady stream of cash.
Sean Wilson looks out the window onto the Asbury Park boardwalk. Wilson, who studies food service management at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, said his summer job translates to pocket money for the semester. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR “It’s so important,” said Sean Wilson, who mans the grill at Tony’s Sausage, Dogs and Cheese Steaks on the Asbury Park boardwalk. “Now, with the economy, some of my friends don’t even work during the summer, because they can’t find a job. I’m very lucky.”
During the school year, Wilson studies food service management at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. He said the on-the-clock time that he racks up in the summer translates to pocket money for the semester.
Farther down the boardwalk, Sam, a high school student, scoops ice cream a couple afternoons each week. She said she also spends five mornings a week as a camp counselor. Although the young woman has yet to leave home, she said she knows that the milestones that lie ahead will come at a cost.
“You want to save up for things, like I know I want a car to drive when I turn 17,” Sam said. “I have to save for college, because I know the prices are getting so expensive.”
The cool ocean breeze that floats off the Atlantic Ocean is a perk of the boardwalk jobs, both Wilson and Sam said.
But the small things that push Wilson through the day mean little in the face of the valuable knowledge that he acquires at Tony’s. He said he believes the skills that he picks up at the business could one day fuel his career, making the job even sweeter. “I wake up, I go right into my car and head right to work. It’s great,” he added. “I can’t even think of one drawback.”
For Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, the possibility of professional experience is key to drawing the 4,000 seasonal employees required to run the theme park, said Jayson Maxwell, the director of administration.
“We want to figure out how to give them that real-world experience to help them out in the job market and make them competitive,” Maxwell said. “At the end of the day, I want our name on their résumés as where they got the bulk of their experience.”
For the most part, high school and college students make up the labor force at Six Flags, Maxwell said. They take on a variety of roles in games, retail and food service, and work anywhere from 18 to 40 hours per week, he added.
Pay at the amusement park starts at minimum wage and can climb to $15 an hour, he said. To foster loyalty among staff members,
Six Flags offers scholarships, free tickets and the possibility of promotions, Maxwell said.
“That’s what has cornered us as the No. 1 employer for seasonal folks in New Jersey,” Maxwell said. “It’s not just about you coming in and having a job.”
Travis Samson, 24, spent a summer on the game circuit at Great Adventure about seven years ago, he said. While his paycheck didn’t exactly fulfill his dreams, and eight-hour stretches of standing in the boiling heat proved difficult, Samson learned several lessons during his first foray into the working world, he said.
“It taught me how much money is worth. It sucks to work a minimum-wage-paying job, doing crappy work, but it was an experience that had to be done,” Samson said. “One good thing that I got out of it is that I got to talk to people. You really have to expose yourself.”
As Samson prepares to launch a food truck business within the month, he said he is thankful that his stint with the theme park taught him how to properly handle money.
Great Adventure’s small army of seasonal workers makes up roughly one-tenth of the state’s total number of summer job openings. Even so, the thousands of candidates who land positions at the park are plucked from a pool of up to 15,000 applicants, Maxwell said.
To further reduce the odds of finding such a job, seasonal work now attracts individuals who once relied on year-round occupations, said Brian Murray, a state Department of Labor spokesman.
“The typical summer hire — teenagers and college students — have experienced competition for jobs, as some of the workers displaced as a result of the economic downturn looked to seasonal employment as a means of making ends meet,” Murray said.
And recent college graduates have joined the mad dash for summer cash, too. The unemployment rate for people ages 20- 24 reached 15.7 percent in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The minimum wage in New Jersey is $7.25, the lowest allowed under federal law, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Dan, a 24-year-old who graduated from Rutgers University in 2011, began a spell with a contractor this spring. He earned an under-the-table hourly wage of $15 and worked anywhere from 28 to 45 hours per week renovating houses that were ravaged by superstorm Sandy, he said.
Although he made more money than some of his peers who found gigs in their fields, the job seemed like a dead end, Dan said.
“It gets frustrating some mornings when you wake up and throw on your work boots, and you already have a bachelor’s degree and you’re still paying off student loans,” Dan said. “You’re going back to graduate school, but you’re doing such mindless labor.”
Like so many others, he took the job because he needed the money, Dan said.
As the summer heated up and the work became less satisfying, Dan resolved to find a white-collar position, he said. The young man completed his first shift as an office employee this week and hopes to keep the job through the fall.
Dan’s departure from the seasonal labor force might come as a welcome sign for the next wave of young adults who are gearing up to vie for the highly sought-after jobs, no matter how taxing the workload may be.