Find the perfect summer job

No more school. No more homework. No more stress.

Two-and-a-half months of free time to do absolutely whatever you want. Or not?

After the first two weeks of hibernating in your room with Netflix and lots of food wrappers at your side, you begin to contemplate your life.

Crawling out of bed, you begin to search for something that will help keep you occupied for the duration of the summer. Finally, you realize that what you need is a summer job. You need not just any summer job, but one that appeals to your personal interests, one that you will enjoy doing all day, every day for the entire summer.

Summer jobs can be either a nightmare or a gift. You can get paid for doing what you love, or you can painfully suffer every hour to only receive minimum wage in return.

Take the quiz to figure out what kind of summer job is for you. Afterwards, read about students talking about the five different types of summer jobs in depth to get to know your recommended job better.

Take the quiz here.

After you’ve figured out what type of job you should pursue, read about students who have had experience in your area of interest.

Cashier

Frank Martin, junior

Works at Sendik’s

Describe an average day at your job.

“I usually start off the day at my register checking people out. Later in the day, as it starts to slow down, my responsibilities extend past simply checking people out to making sure that the shelves in front of my register are neat and that all the baskets are put away, as well as various other occasional duties such as taking out garbage, making sure the trash is taken out, putting away flowers, cleaning the coffee station or bagging.”

What’s your favorite part of your job?

“My favorite part of my job depends a lot upon the day. I like working with flowers because the flower cooler smells nice. Also, carts are nice when I am not feeling up to interacting with people.”

How did you get your job?

“My grandma told me that Sendik’s was hiring, and I filled out an application and was hired within a week and a half. There was a phone interview and an in-person interview; both were very casual and low stress.”

What type of skill set is required for your job?

“The main part of the learning curve for becoming a cashier is learning how to use a cash register and memorizing the four number code for produce. It feels like a lot, but it’s definitely manageable. There are certain odd products that you have to either find in a drop-down menu or scan in a certain way to ring them up. Additionally, there are tons of produce codes to memorize. At Sendik’s, there are at least 100 codes to know, but you do get a sheet and, eventually, they come naturally. I have about 40 memorized at this point and rarely have to look things up.”

Lifeguard

Patrick Norman, senior

Mequon Pool

Describe an average day at your job.

“I show up at noon, do a little bit of setup and then mess around on the diving boards until the first patrons show up. You work for a fraction of the time, and when you aren’t, you’re playing board games, going off diving boards and eating infinite amounts of popsicles.”

What’s your favorite part of your job?

“All of your buddies work there, so it doesn’t even feel like work. That means that, when you get off work, you can just go hang out with them some more.”

How did you get your job?

“I applied and filled the requirements needed.”  

What type of skill set is required for your job?

“You gotta be ready to go at all times; lifeguarding is no time to be timid. If you see a kid that’s struggling, you have to go get them. Along with that, you must be fun. Nobody likes a lifeguard that is a stickler for the rules, and nobody likes working with one either.  Of course, you are serious when you need to be, but when a kid asks you to play with him or her or to help him or her with a trick off the boards, you gotta play with him or her.”

Maintenance

Will Aucter, junior

Describe an average day at your job.

“On an average day of work, I start between 6-7 in the morning and work usually until 5 p.m. or later. I travel often, usually to Illinois or Iowa, and stay the night. I usually do recoats of floors; however, the company I work for installs new floors, which are generally wood, but can also be synthetic and epoxy.”

What’s your favorite part of your job?

“My favorite part of my job is traveling the state and the Midwest and going to new cities.”

How did you get your job?

“I got my job because I knew the owner of the business, who is close friends with my dad. Two summers ago, the company needed an extra employee, so they asked me to come and work for them.”

What type of skill set is required for your job?

“The skill set that you would need to do this job really differs. The toughest thing to do is sanding, and it would, in general, take a few years of work to learn how to do well. On the other hand, buffing is easier to do, and after a few times, most people can do it. As long as you want to learn how to do the tasks at hand, you will be able to gain the skill sets needed to do the job.”

Nanny

Charlotte Doering, junior

Nanny for children

Describe an average day at your job.

“An average day is taking the kids to their country club and helping them get changed so that they can swim and play tennis and golf. I then would drive them back to their house for lunch and take them to the Audubon center!”

What’s your favorite part of your job?

“My favorite part of the job is having fun with the kids; I get along with them really well and they always somehow make me smile!”

How did you get your job?

“My sisters used to babysit for this family, then I took over for them when they went to college. Our moms are also good friends.”

What type of skill set is required for your job?

“You need to always be on the lookout for hazardous things or situations that the kids can get themselves into, depending on their age, and be willing to teach the kids new things and always listen to them, even if they are telling you something with no point.”

Waiter

Joe Verespej, senior

Mama Mia’s

Describe an average day at your job.

“An average day would probably consist of waiting on tables primarily. But in addition to that, we also have to stock items and help out other servers with their food when they are busy.”

What’s your favorite part of your job?

“The best part, in my opinion, is the tips we make. As high school students, we are always looking for ways to pay for what we want, and being a server is a great way to do this.”

How did you get your job?

“I started working at Mama Mia’s during my freshman year when it opened in Mequon because of the owner’s daughter, Bella Barbiere, senior. Her parents were looking for people to work, so I stepped right in. I started as a busser and have worked my way up to a server.”

What type of skill set is required for your job?

“The two biggest things I believe you need to have to be a server are people skills and a good memory. Obviously, you need to be good with people in order for them to enjoy their meal, but it is also crucial that you can remember your different tables and what needs to be done for each of them. This was hard for me at first, but, like everything, you adapt and get used to it.”