Part-Time Jobs

Part-Time Jobs, 494

Zack Taylor

Writer

Zacharymtaylor67@gmail.com

Like the old song from the 80’s said, every bodies working for the weekend, and in Athens-Clarke County that includes high school students.

Just because someone is under the age of 18 in this county doesn’t they are unfit for work, at least that seems to be the feeling of three business chains located here in Athens-Clarke County.

Chic-fil-A, Publix, and Target are three business among many in this county that higher people under the age of 18.

For students concerned about balancing school and work, stop worrying, many businesses are willing to work with students. “Scheduling conflicts are not too difficult as we simply staff around such requests,” Shane Todd said, Franchised Restaurant Operator of a local Chic-fil-A.

Students, however, can have some unique needs when it comes to schedule adjustments. “[Teens] want to go to the next party, they have exams to cram for, birthday, family-type events, so they may request more time off then an older person,” Chris Conover said, manager of a local Publix branch.

That fact however, does not seem to be a dramatic deal as long as there is communication. “If finals are going on or they are working on some project [Teens] usually let me know in advance when they need time off.”

Sometimes experience is an important teacher according to Brannon Sikes, executive team leader for the local Target. “It’s an easy enough first job and a good way to get acclimated with the working world,” Sikes said.

A high-school part-time job isn’t always just that, sometimes they can grow into something else.

Sometimes these part time jobs can be forayed into long term part time jobs to help with college. “In Athens, we employ college students that go to UGA and surrounding colleges that worked at Chic-fil-A in their home town while in high school,” Todd said. “I would say that 1/3 of our college employees worked at Chic-fil-A in high-school.”

In fact, a part-time can be a great thing for high-school students looking to go to college. Chic-fil-A offers a chance for student employees to work toward a $1000 dollar scholarship.

There is also the chance that a part-time job can lead to full time employment. “I have been with the company over 30 years now and I started when I was 15,” Conover said.

It’s not all fun and games, however, there are certain limitations that student workers under the age of 18 have to abide by. “If they are minor they can’t work past 10:00 pm,” Sikes said.

For most places 16 years of age does seem to be the youngest that they are willing to hire.

Conover said that they Publix does allow highers as young as 14 or 15 years of age but claims that is very rare. “They can only work so many hours a day and a week,” Conover said “If they break a minor rule, like work more than 30 hours a week, the store gets penalized.”