UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesdav. November 29, 1995
5A
Grads are finding the McJob more appealing
Continued from Page 1A
For Phelps, these statistics prove themselves every day. He is recruiting constantly. There is always room for advancement in the service industry, he said. The company he works for now blossomed from a one-store operation in just 15 years.
"We just opened two restaurants within 10 days of each other. That's unheard of," he said.
"If it's your interest, there is opportunity
"If it's your interest, th
for advancement, especially now that
the work force is changing.
Someone with a college degree would start as a salaried manager."
In a survey conducted for the National Restaurant Association, the median salary for managers in fastfood restaurants was $24.00 in 1993.
Most college graduates going to work for the federal government as foresters, range managers or soil conservationists started with salaries between $18,340 and $22,717 in 1993.
Sociologists with a bachelor's degree could earn between $18,300 and $22,700 a year in 1993.
have just got to know where to find it."
The Occupational Outlook Handbook predicts that the demand for restaurant and food service managers will increase much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005 as population growth, rising personal incomes and increased leisure time cause more people to dine out.
"We provide a place for the lawyers and doctors to come and relax and forget about being a lawyer or doctor."
Phelps has turned a job slinging fries into a career that pays on the same level as the $51,210 average salary of a KU professor.
Kirsten Lunghofer manager, Old Chicago restaurant
He oversees line workers, line managers and area supervisors. His job was created recently by Tom and Marilyn Dobski, owners of Dobski and Associates, because of the rapid growth of their business.
Like Phelps, Kirsten Lunghofer supported herself as an undergraduate at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs with a part-time service job. She graduated with a degree in psychology in 1992.
"I feel like I've gotten much the same experience as a lot of people get with a formal degree," Phelps said. "The knowledge isn't in school, it's out there. You
"I'd wanted to go into research at first," she said. "I was waiting tables at Old
Chicago, and I was going to take a year off before I looked for a job. It turned into another year and another year."
Lunghofer, 28, eventually did apply and receive an offer to work as a paralegal with an attorney in Denver, but she turned it down and worked her way into a management position, transferring to Lawrence's Old Chicago, 2329 Iowa St.
"Two years ago, old Chicago became corporate and began expanding," she said. "I knew everybody throughout the corporation. I was at a huge opportunity to gain
management skills."
Lunghofer isn't alone.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook predicts employment for wage and salary managers in eating and drinking places to increase more rapidly than self-employed managers as new restaurants become increasingly affiliated with national chains and fewer owners manage their restaurants.
"I've seen people, either my manager or my co-workers, move up to be people who are managing the company in a matter of five years," she said.
"I don't know that I'm unique. The regional manager was someone I always felt comfortable talking to. He already knew about me, it was just a matter of there being an opportunity, and there was."
Managers of full-menu restaurants with table service have a median base salary of
$30,200 a year, according to the National Restaurant Association's survey. The median base salary for all restaurant managers was $27,900 a year in 1993. Managers of the largest restaurants had annual salaries in excess of $45,000.
Movies such as "Reality Bites" continue to paint a picture of a bleak and barren wasteland beyond graduation, where the only work available is in second-class jobs. Stigmas do cling to certain jobs such as food service.
"It's the 'I'm-not-going-to-be-happy unless I-look-like-Barbie image," Phelps said. "Some people like to be waiters or waitresses, or bartenders, or work for the sanitation department or be plumbers. It makes them happy. People should do what they want to do, and everything will fall into place."
"There are doctors or lawyers or New York Times writers who do it for the status, and they are really unhappy. You need to disbelie that myth."
Lunghofer believes her job and others like hers are valuable to a functioning society and shouldn't be viewed as having less worth than other occupations.
"I think we provide a needed service," she said. "People can come in here and have a good time. It's a time where they forget their worries. We provide a place for the lawyers and doctors to come and relax and forget about being a lawyer or doctor."
--into a salary position," Taylor said. But he still thinks of his job as second-class. So he won't pursue that route.
But not everyone is suited for a service job.
Scott Taylor is a relief manager at Taco Bell, 1220 W. Sixth St. He has worked for Taco Bell for three years, earning money while he studies music education at KU.
"I am about 100 percent positive they would make me first assistant," Taylor said. "If I decided to put up with all the crap between the customers and the employees who aren't working, I could be a store manager."
Taylor sees the opportunity to advance to the position of district manager if he would move into the corporate arm of Taco Bell.
The franchise in Lawrence is doing well, he said, and may expand to three restaurants. The franchise also has stores in Emporia and St. Joseph, Mo.
"I know that, providing the right people are still here, I could easily work my way
The following are median annual earnings of college graduates listed by occupation:
Sizing upsalaries
Teachers, secondary schools ... $32,883
Librarians ... $31,776
Editors and reporters... $31,163
Managers, food service
and lodging establishments... $29,872
Computer operators... $29,756
Social workers... $28,037
Painters, sculptors, craft
artists and artist printmakers... $24,503
Source: Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Summer 1994
He plans to continue studying music and is part of an Air Force band.
--plan, she said.
Although the stigmas do hang heavy over service industry jobs, the skills and benefits they offer still attract college-educated people.
Elizabeth Jones is an assistant manager at Kinko's Copies, 911 Massachusetts St. She decided to quit Kansas State University after three and a half years and take a full-time position in Lawrence.
"I never thought I'd like business," she said. "I always saw myself finishing my fine arts degree. Then I would get my master's in ceramics. Then I'd teach. Kinko's has opened a whole new world for me."
Jones, 25, said Kinko's had been more rewarding than a frustrating degree plan.
However, she plans to go back to school for a business degree with the help of a Kinko's tuition-reimbursement plan.
Jones began working at Kinko's in high school. She continued in college, moved up to shift leader and now is an assistant manager, Kinko's starts salaried employees at $1,100 a month and provides medical and life insurance and a retirement
Amanda Traughber/KANSAN
Jones applies the talent and creativity gleaned from her fine arts experience to her work with copies.
"Patience is a key, of course," she said. "I think to be really service-oriented, you need good listening skills. It requires a lot of creative solutions."
Her long-term goal is to combine her interest in business and art and open a small business, such as an art gallery or a fine-furnishings store. Until then, she is working to become a Kinko's manager.
"If it's something you enjoy, there is opportunity to advance," Jones said. "It's all in your attitude toward your job."
Bobby Phelps' degree and job also overlap. Many of the directing skills he gained in theater help him manager, he said.
Lunhofer also applies her degree to her job.
"Managing a restaurant is so people-oriented," she said. "I am dealing with all kinds of people from staff to customers. It's hands-on. You see it instead of reading about it. You can go to school for anything and still learn a lot outside of it."
Phelps, Lunghofer and Jones may not have gone the traditional job route. But they say they're happy, comfortable people with goals and the resources to achieve them.
"I'm not embarrassed about my job. I'm proud of what I do. As long as my grandmother continues to be proud of me," Phelps joked, "I'm OK."
NEED SHOES?
WE'VE GOT'EM.
NEED A SALE?
WE'VE GOT IT!
20% OFF
DOC MARTENS VANS ALL STYLES SIMPLE AIRWALK
SHARK'S SURF SHOP
813 MASS 841-8289