Teens, businesses connect at Arlington Hts. job fair
T-ball instructor. Receptionist. Landscaper. Cashier. Bagger. Dishwasher.
Arlington Heights businesses are looking to fill these jobs — and then some — and they got the word out to their target employment pool Saturday morning at a teen job fair.
Held at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library and spearheaded by the town’s youth council, the job fair attracted a handful of local businesses and organizations and a few hundred teens and their parents.
Some of the companies have immediate openings while others were looking to fill summer positions.
“The goal is to get it out there that we have jobs for them,” said Matt Healy, athletic supervisor with the Arlington Heights Park District, naming off jobs including day camp counselor, boat dock attendant and tennis instructor. “We’re right in town and I don’t think they know we have all these jobs.”
That news sounded good to 15-year-old Lauren Becherer. The Prospect High School sophomore and member of the school’s tennis team hopes she’s a fit for the tennis position.
“Everyone’s looking for a job and working locally is easy for high schoolers,” she said.
Debbie Smart, assistant manager at Tuscan Market and Wine Shop and library trustee, said hiring local teens furthers the shop’s mission.
“We are very vested in the community,” Smart said. “We buy local, we work with local businesses and we definitely want to make an investment in our kids.”
Robert Puleo of Rolling Meadows said having his 16-year-old daughter work close to home would be a plus.
“With my daughter just starting to drive, I would like her closer; not at the mall where she’d be leaving later,” Puleo said.
Jeff Boldt agreed that having his 14-year-old son and almost 16-year-old daughter work first jobs close to home is an attractive prospect. Yet as Boldt kept his son away from the free doughnut table until the teen had talked to all of the job representatives he added that having them understand the responsibility of a job is more important.
Said Boldt: “I want them to get a taste of the real world.”