6 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
STUDENT LIFE
NEWS
WEDNESDAY.JUNE 22.2005
Summer job search challenging
BY ERIN M. DROSTE
edroste@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Every year at the end of the spring semester, campus empties of a majority of its inhabitants. Those who remain keep themselves busy with summer classes and in some cases, a summer job.
But finding a summer job in a deserted college town can be a difficult task, often requiring applicants to start looking early in the year.
Ann Hartley, associate director of the KU Career Center, recommends students looking for summer jobs start looking locally, in Lawrence and on campus, and start looking early.
"It's tougher to find a summer job in a college town because there is less business during the summer after the students have gone," Hartley said.
gone. The KU Career Center usually begins posting summer job offers during April and May, Hartley said. Applications for summer internships are posted even earlier, in January or February.
Katie Stoker, store manager at Sheridan's Frozen Custard, 2030
West 23rd St., usually begins hiring summer employees during April and May. Stoker hires about 10 new employees for the summer, Sheridan's busiest season, but has to turn away 30 to 40 unfortunate applicants.
Those still looking for summer jobs are not necessarily condemned to a summer of poverty.
"There is always someone hiring during the summer," Hartley said. "It is just harder to find them once summer starts."
Employment agencies can get unemployed students in touch with summer work opportunities.
Peter Steimle, manager of Sedona Staffing Services employment agency, 825 Vermont St. said seasonal work such as landscaping and construction became available during the summer. She said many of the students she had met with were struggling to find work strictly for the summer.
"I would recommend that students keep an open mind to lots of different kinds of work," Steimle said. "They may have to be willing to work fast food for a couple of months."
CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE
Kendra Finney, Overland Park junior, watches Annie Dykstra speed down the slide in the Dykstra family's backyard. Kendra began babysitting the Dykstra kids, Annie, Jack and Claire, in June. "It's an easy job," said Finney. "These kids are great."