Landing a summer job has become much more difficult since I was a teenager. My generation had our pick of interesting, albeit, challenging summer work: Fotomat (not for the claustrophobic!). Selling Kiss and Jackson 5 posters and scented oils at Spencer’s Gifts or handing out numbers for the fitting rooms in the mall. Taking orders at Jack-in-the-Box, slicing pizza at La Rosa’s, or not slicing our fingers off while making sandwiches at the sub shop. Selling movie tickets and chasing out kids who snuck in without paying. Bagging groceries without breaking Miss Davidson’s eggs. Selling magazines and encyclopedias door-to-door without getting bitten by a menacing dog. Washing cars (remember that movie? Sure you do!) Sweeping up hair at the local barbershop, or typing patient information on index cards for the dentist. Early on, my aunt made my cousin get up at dawn to run a paper route and “learn responsibility”. (Years later, you couldn’t pay him to get up before noon or work out in the rain!) I was once paid to fold sweaters at Millie’s Boutique, and when I was 13, armed with my working papers and sheer chutzpah, I dragged my friend, Gayle, up and down Main Street to every office and store until I finally got hired as a library page (the Director didn’t look at the age on my papers until later), keeping the job until I left home for college when I was 16. In those days,even Gayle’s mom was guaranteed a part time gift-wrapping job every Christmas season.
But most of those jobs are obsolete now. Department stores, movie theaters and fast food restaurants have replaced teen employees with self-service check-out machines. Paper routes soon taken over by adults (with better aim!) flinging newspapers from their car windows each morning before leaving for full time jobs, have gone the way of the newspaper offices that printed them (The Trenton Times building on Perry Street was sold not long ago , taking on a new life as a ninth grade academy). Ordering food online has eliminated the need for the ubiquitous “go fer”, once a staple of every office, and a stepping stone to higher positions in many corporations. (I could never get the hang of it: “Did the boss say, ‘Coffee, black’ or ‘regular’? I was worse at waitressing. I had no clue that “Adam and Eve on a raft, and wreck ’em!” hollered from a diner kitchen actually meant “two scrambled eggs on toast”! Get outta here, kid! ) Record store clerks and the beloved Blockbuster Video store jobs are as distant a memory as working at an arcade or retrieving a customer’s bowling shoes or roller skates.
Now it takes a dedicated collaborative “village” of committed individuals in the private and nonprofit sectors to replace government funding for a network of jobs and training programs available to us so many decades ago. So who are these “committed individuals”? You and I, of course. Remember that worn out adage, “Each one, teach one”? Ask your supervisor or HR department about available summer positions this summer (and not just for your own kids). Go to OTES@mercercounty,org if your business would like to be a worksite for the summer.
The Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program includes a workforce development track for tenth graders and an employment track for ages 16 to 21 who are matched with professionals of like interest. Call (609)989-7333, or go to http://www.millhillcenter.org .
For information about The Summer Youth Jobs Connection Program, go to http://www.mercercounty.org . For The Greater Trenton College Access Network, go to https://gtcan.princeton,edu .
Consider becoming a speaker for a summer program to talk with teens about what you do for a living and how you began your career. Contact The City of Trenton’s Department of Recreation, Natural Resources and Culture at (609)989-3635 or go to
Here are some suggestions for summer positions at Trenton institutions and programs:
1. assistant to summer instructors at Rider University, The College of New Jersey, Mercer County Community College, and online for Thomas Edison State University (Years ago, I was paid for assisting test evaluators for Advanced Placement tests at TCNJ)
2. translating assistants for patients at the Henry Austin Center, The Robert Wood Johnson Hospital Wellness Center in Hamilton, and local clinics and senior centers.
3. assisting coordinators for Trenton festivals, and ArtWorks’ “Art All Day” and “Art All Night”
4. assisting with research in public library branches and Trentonianna’s Trenton archives and ancestry projects
5. assisting with scheduling and marketing at department stores and boutiques
6. teaching technical skills and social media navigation in libraries and at senior centers
Recruit your neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family (retirees always welcome!) to form a network of caring, dedicated individuals with a commitment to finding summer employment for our graduates. Summer’s nearly here, so let’s get started, Trentonians! We’ve got this!
FYI: Friday, May 30th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. there will be a job fair at Quakerbridge Mall in Lawrenceville.
Baseball 2025:
“Baseball been very, very good to me.” If you’re in my age range, you remember SNL actor Garrett Morris’s character, baseball player Chico Escuela. That was his tagline on SNL back in 1979.
If you missed registration for the West Ward Little League softball and baseball in Cadwalader Park, email them for info about where and when to attend games. Westendlittleague1956@gmail.com or call (609) 817-5062. I’ll have a soft pretzel. Hold the mustard, please!